Season two of Donald Trump’s presidency opened right where we left off. We were treated to the same audacious acts, dubious claims and absurd theater. Even the oversized proclamations held high for the cameras have returned.
But as familiar as it looked, there is something undeniably different about this second term: it has a sense of legitimacy.
Trump is not at war with half of his party today. No cloud of a special counsel hangs over him, and no aides are seeking to talk him out of his worst impulses. He has won the popular vote, and all of Washington is acting like it.
Democrats were happy to add to the feeling, with then-President Joe Biden welcoming Trump for tea and Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill chatting up the new president after a chummy luncheon. The resistance is hard to see just yet.
This is not to say Trump’s first term was illegitimate. Eight years ago, he was seen, at best as a novelty, more often as an interloper. The start then was surreal and Trump’s term was seen as a brief interregnum from sanity. That sense has given way to one of authority today.
In the end, Trump may still be impeded by the same problems as before — unrealistic promises, erratic decision-making and sagging popular opinion. But the new president starts from a much stronger position. He is as popular as ever and has accumulated significant political capital. Whether he learns how to use it will determine if this presidency leaves a real policy legacy or is again wasted on self-indulgence.
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