Mon. Feb 17th, 2025

A prophecy fulfilled… How did Trump return to the White House stronger than he was? | news


The day before he left the White House in 2021, Donald Trump vowed to remain a force to be reckoned with in the American political landscape and said in a farewell video to his supporters, “The movement we started is only the beginning.” What seemed like an illusory promise at the time now appears to be a fulfilled prophecy.

Trump left office defeated, isolated, banned from using social media, and rejected by fellow Republicans who worked in his administration. Congress, which was rocked by an attack by Trump supporters on its headquarters on January 6, 2021, was preparing for a second impeachment.

Trump (78 years old) will return to the presidency next Monday stronger than before, and faces fewer obstacles in the way of his efforts to implement policies that overthrow norms and standards, turn Washington upside down, and destabilize the world.

Now the former real estate mogul, whose first elected office was President of the United States, returns to the White House as the central political figure of the early 21st century.

“It doesn’t look like he was ever an outcast,” said Julian Zalizer, a professor of history at Princeton University. “His Republican policies are more mainstream than ever before.”

Unlike his first term, which began in 2017, Trump returns with a clear electoral victory after winning the Electoral College votes and the popular vote.

Trump replaced the aides who, in his previous term, sought to curb his unruliness, with aides who owed him loyalty and were eager to subject Washington to his will. He pushed skeptics of his policies from the Republican Party to withdraw, and held on to allies eager to push his proposals through Congress. A favorable Supreme Court, a third of which was appointed by Trump, has already ruled that he will have broad discretion to do what he wants.

Tech giants and Trump

Silicon Valley giants, who once kept their distance from him, are now vying for his courtship. The world’s richest person, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, volunteered to help Trump reform the government.

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, and Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, will have a prominent presence at the inauguration ceremony.

Trump, a former reality TV star, can also count on a network of podcasters and influencers who support him to highlight his message, at a time when traditional media outlets are suffering from declining viewership.

His interview with the most famous American podcast host Joe Rogan on YouTube in October received about 54 million views, which is close to the 67 million who watched his television debate with his Democratic rival in the presidential elections, Kamala Harris.

Trump inherits a strong economy and a quiet southern border, with immigration arrests lower in December than when he left office.

However, he said he plans to impose steep tariffs on trading partners and deport millions of immigrants who entered the country illegally, policies that could fuel inflation and pressure stock prices that Trump is closely tracking.

The bond market may impose potential restrictions on its ambitions if investors feel spooked if the size of US debt, amounting to $36 trillion, increases significantly or Congress fails to raise the borrowing ceiling. Markets may also react negatively if he does not implement his promise to reduce taxes and reduce government spending.

A man from Florida

When Trump launched his third consecutive campaign to run for the presidency in the United States for the Republican Party from his farm in Florida in November 2022, his chances of winning were weak after the loss of many of his preferred candidates in the midterm elections in the US Congress and amid several criminal and civil cases. You chase him.

His rivals in the Republican presidential nomination – including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis – have attracted the support of party members seeking to move beyond the Trump era.

Commenting on the launch of his election campaign, the New York Post published satirical coverage entitled “A Man from Florida Issues an Announcement,” referring to the widespread ridicule that targeted Trump after news of his changing his residence to the state of Florida, which compared him to a character in a television series called “A Man from Florida.”

But Republican voters rallied around Trump after he was accused in a criminal case in March 2023 of covering up a payment to buy the silence of a porn star. Donations then flowed to his campaign and he easily secured the Republican nomination.

Subsequent events played in his favor amid dissatisfaction among American voters in general towards the response of Democratic President Joe Biden to rising prices and irregular immigration. Biden withdrew from the presidential election in July after a disastrous performance in a debate against Trump, giving Kamala Harris little time to present her election platform to Americans.

Counter campaign

Trump was able to use legal prosecutions to his advantage, describing them as a campaign of political persecution, to launch a counter-campaign that eventually prompted federal prosecutors to drop two cases, including an election interference case.

In an incident whose videos and photos were among the most prominent over the past year, Trump was injured in an assassination attempt in July before raising his fist and repeating loudly, “Fight… fight… fight.”

His superiority in electoral constituencies and among groups that usually lean toward the Democrats, including young people and Americans of Latin origin, contributed to his victory in the presidency last November. Voters ignored his conviction in criminal cases and ignored the Democrats’ warning that Trump, who refused to acknowledge his defeat in the 2020 elections, poses a threat to democracy.

Trump threatened to deport irregular immigrants and threatened to seek the help of the Ministry of Justice in confronting his political opponents. He also indicated the possibility of refusing to spend funds allocated by Congress for certain expenditures, which could lead to a constitutional dispute.

The president-elect has adopted a regional expansion agenda, including purchasing the island of Greenland from Denmark and controlling the Panama Canal, which indicates the possibility that his second term in the White House will be marred by turmoil like his first term.

Trump had already reshaped the political landscape in Washington even before he officially took office on January 20, with Republicans and Democrats alike embracing his aggressive approach toward China and his skeptical stance on free trade agreements.

Reducing allocations for health care and pension programs is no longer on the table, after it was previously one of the main items in Republican budget proposals. Biden kept many of the tariffs imposed by Trump in place, and worked to reduce the United States’ dependence on semiconductors made abroad.

After being an outsider to the political community in the United States, Trump began to shape the course of American policy.

“It is clear that we have been in the Trump era since 2015,” said Matthew Contente, a researcher at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank. “It is not over yet.”


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