Trump’s second inauguration brings to power an experienced executive with a clear agenda and strong backing.
President-elect Donald J. Trump returns to the White House as a seasoned executive intent on ending a decades-long approach to governance in ways that could reshape the presidency and the country well into the future.
Trump plans an about-face from the expansion of domestic programs and regulations and globalist foreign policy of the post-Cold War era. Instead, he’ll govern by an “America First” doctrine focused on border security, deregulation, energy production, and strategic engagement with other nations.
To achieve that, he proposes a further expansion of presidential power and a reduction of the size and authority of the federal bureaucracy.
Trump’s sweep of all six battleground states and 86-vote margin in the Electoral College provides support for significant change, and initial signs indicate that he has governing momentum.
Yet there will be obstacles. Republicans hold a slim majority in both houses of Congress, which complicates Trump’s legislative agenda. And the ratio of Trump’s favorable-to-unfavorable ratings is an almost even split in an average of recent polls.
Even so, Trump’s dramatic and improbable comeback sets the stage for reshaping the executive branch of the federal government.
Tumultuous Campaign
Shortly after announcing this third presidential campaign in November 2022, Trump was indicted on dozens of charges in four criminal cases. Trump has maintained that all charges were part of a politically motivated “witch hunt,” while his opponents have said they were proof that “no one is above the law.”
His May 30, 2024, conviction for falsifying business records in New York seemed only to solidify his standing among supporters as a Washington outsider on a mission to upend the political establishment.
Then in July, a bullet clipped Trump’s ear during a failed assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. He rose from the floor, ear bloodied, fist raised, and shouted, “Fight! Fight! Fight!” resulting in arguably one of the most iconic moments in modern American history.
Half an hour later, billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk took to X, the social media platform he owns, to give Trump a full-throated endorsement. Former Democrat-turned-independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would follow in August, along with Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic member of Congress and 2020 presidential candidate.
By Lawrence Wilson and Ivan Pentchoukov
