Trump’s Second First Term

The mere fact that President Trump was re-elected to the Presidency of the United States puts him among the elite of American Presidents.  Just 15 of our 47 Presidents have managed a second term.  Two, including Trump, have had interrupted terms, meaning that only one third of Presidents have made it to a second term.  Of these two-term Presidents, most are typically remembered for the events that happened during their first term.  

Jefferson doubled the size of the United States territories in 1803 with the Louisiana Purchase.  Madison was the wartime president of 1812.  Jackson began the Trail of Tears with his 1830 Indian Removal Act.  Roosevelt gave birth to fundamentally transforming America with the New Deal during his first term.  Reagan’s economic boom started in 1981 with the passage of his Economic Recovery Tax Act and his Strategic Defense Initiative, aka, Star Wars was floated in 1983.  Clinton had Welfare Reform and NAFTA.  Just months into his presidency Bush W. had 9/11.  The Democrat Party squeezed through the Affordable Care Act during Obama’s first term.

Second terms are less prodigious, often paralyzed by scandal, corruption, or political inertia.  But Trump is now in a unique position historically.  He may be the only US President to have two first terms.  

His first term was a wild success when compared to the of average his predecessors.  Economic expansion, low inflation, low unemployment across all sectors, military rearmament, defeating Isis, American Embassy in Jerusalem, strangling Iran, peace in the Mideast, were all hallmarks of his term in office.  

Yet, he had several things that haunted his entire term.  His campaign was launched relatively late in the game in 2015, meaning that many of the best political advisors, strategist, and field operatives were already committed to the 16 other campaigns already up and running.  Trump took what was left and he found himself beholden to a second tier of politico, the likes of Jeff Sessions and Roger Stone.  

As a result, when he did make it to the White House, some of the advice he received and appointments he made proved immediately problematic, Jeff Sessions, Rex Tillerson, and military quislings chief amongst them.  As an outsider to Washington, Trump relied on his own party heads for help in navigating the inner workings of government.  Why wouldn’t he?  They were supposed to be on his team.  In the end we saw just how many McConnells, Ryans, Romneys, McCains, and Cheneys et. al., ad nauseum, there were within the Republican Party, lurking insidiously in the shadows of power like Brutus and friends on their way to the Roman Senate.  

To add insult to injury, Trump then had to learn first-hand how vast, diabolical, and self-perpetuating the deep state swamp truly was.   Nevertheless, he persisted, probably because he is the energizer bunny of American politics.  He became the champion of working-class America and they formed a visceral connection to him, a connection that no one or nothing can break, a bond that is envied by politicians and dictators around the world.  

Then came the wilderness years.  A second impeachment as a private citizen in 2021, raiding his private residence in Mar a Lago in 2022, lawfare from five well-coordinated state and federal lawsuits in three different states in 2023 and 24, attempts to remove him from the ballot in 16 states, attempts to bankrupt him financially, and the prosecution of key business associates, among many other injustices.  With the full force and resources of the deep state aligned against him, Trump has suffered the very worst of American politics and the most heinous governmental abuses of power of any American private citizen.  

But instead of giving in to the overwhelming forces arrayed against him, President Trump did just the opposite.  He got stronger with every blow thrown against him, even when those blows were two horrific assassination attempts.  

Somehow in this storm-filled wilderness he also had time to think.  Maybe he asked himself, “What lessons can I learn from the past eight years, what things need to change?”  Like the great business leader that he is, he may have done some SWOT analysis, what are my Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats, what are Americas, what are the world’s?  When, or with whom, did he come up with ideas like: DOGE, acquiring Greenland, making Gaza the Macau of the Mediterranean, reclaiming the Panama Canal, and appointing the most disruptive cabinet heads in American history?  What we do know is that these new arrows are finding their intended mark.  The world according to Donald Trump.

In just a few weeks, President Trump is redefining the United States and changing the international debate according to his vision.  He has assembled perhaps the best team of cabinet appointees in history.  Not only are Pete Hegseth, Tulsi Gabbard, and Kash Patel, accomplished individuals, they have served with distinction in their respective fields.  They also have two other things in common: a working-class upbringing and having been a political victim of the agencies they will eventually direct.  They are intimately acquainted with the monster.  They know who controls the monster.  The very thought of this outside-the-beltway, middle America oriented cabinet running Washington is sending shock waves across the deep-state bureaucracy.  The rats are headed for the exits.  

Of Trump’s new team, no one stands out, dare we say, louder and prouder than Elon Musk.  Exactly when Musk became all-in MAGA we may never know.  Perhaps it happened gradually much the same way it may have for the four million additional Americans that voted for Donald Trump in 2024 than in 2020.  Perhaps it was too much of open borders, too many deaths from fentanyl and illegal aliens, too much transgenderism, too many pronouns, too much inflation, too many military humiliations in Afghanistan and Chinese spy balloons, too much spending to protect corrupt regimes in Ukraine while Americans go neglected in Hawaii, Ohio and North Carolina, too many bumbling speeches and word salads.  Perhaps it was the ultimate deep state insurance policy, two reckless, preventable assassination attempts.  ENOUGH.  Rush Limbaugh would often say that there is one thing you can count on with the left, they will always over-reach.  For four years they did just that and the American culture rose up to stop them dead in their tracks.  

Perhaps Elon’s transition to MAGA reflects this leftist over-reach.  Most of us were aghast at the miserable events over the past four years and saying to ourselves, “that didn’t need to happen.”  But for Elon, with his skills and resources, it might go even deeper.  He might also have been thinking, “I can fix that problem.” “I can actually do something about it.”  Regardless, in just three weeks he is well on his way to unmasking the life-blood of the deep state governmental bureaucracy, i.e. the corrupt budget process and the illicit flow of money.  

Perhaps also, he is the smartest, most successful, and disruptive, business man ever for a reason.  He is one who knows how to read people.  Perhaps he saw Trump as genuinely in love with America the way he is.  However it came to be, we are left with a modern-day dynamic duo, the most disruptive transformational President in American history teamed up with the most disruptive transformational business leader in American history.  

Historically speaking President Trump had a great first term.  Now, even before his superior and all MAGA cabinet team is fully operational, President Trump is demonstrating every few hours the real meaning of hope and change from a patriot’s perspective.  

Liberal journalists are whining about the never-ending news cycle, they “can’t keep up,” they “have to work seven days a week,” they’re “always on call.”  “Please, Mr. President, please stop winning.  We can’t take so much winning.”  

It’s only just begun.  Donald Trump’s second first term could be the best term ever served by an American President.