Bold Trump Returns to Power with New Allies, Clear Goals

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(Bloomberg) — Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday marks the second time in U.S. history that a president has lost office and managed to return to power — a return that cements his place in the Republican Party as a permanent, transformative figure rather than a one-man show. – name change.

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Trump won his second term by building a new coalition that included working-class White voters, blacks and Hispanics, and young men of all races and ethnicities. He has expanded the GOP once into a diverse party driven by economic populism and a strong distrust of institutions.

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He will try to use that support to make sweeping changes to the immigration system, tax code, civil servants, trade and energy. He’ll bring together Republican majorities in both chambers of Congress, as well as a judicially-leaning Supreme Court — presenting him with the lightest checks and balances he’s ever had in office, even if unity within the Trump-led GOP doesn’t come together. always given.

Trump is feeling dizzy about his hopes of moving forward with an ambitious agenda.

“The first term, everyone was fighting me,” he said at a press conference in December. “In this name, everyone wants to be my friend.”

Aides and allies make sure that Trump comes back with certainty about what he wants to accomplish and how to do it. In 2017, Trump spent his first few days in office picking a war with the media over the size of Inauguration Day crowds — detracting from his stunning victory.

Trump is expected to enter the White House on Monday with a clear set of goals and a more experienced, cohesive West Wing staff. The Allies say they are unlikely to focus on small wars, at least for now, since they cannot be attacked.

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In fact, he enjoys some of the highest approval ratings, with 55% of Americans saying they like his handling of the presidential transition and a similar share expecting him to have a good second term, according to a CNN poll.

He will sign a series of one-day orders that could include opening federal facilities for drilling and energy testing, closing the US southern border and authorizing federal employees to return to the office.

Trump disappointed his supporters at a campaign rally in Washington on Sunday night where he made specific promises to take action to target undocumented immigrants and suggested that he has plans to sympathize with some involved in the January 6, 2021 uprising at the US Capitol.

The honeymoon with voters, business leaders, lobbyists, and lawmakers is unlikely to last four years. For now, however, the desire to get in on Trump’s good plans will be prominently displayed at the inauguration where several top tech leaders and CEOs – including Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos – are expected to join him at the Capitol. . Shou Chew, Singaporean CEO of China-owned social media app TikTok, will also attend.

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TikTok, which has been plunged into serious political danger after a US national security law forced a blackout for some users over the weekend, could be one of the first beneficiaries of Trump’s actions. He pledged that within hours of his swearing in, he would delay this law from taking effect and vowed to terminate the agreement that would include the American partial ownership of this program, which would ensure that it continues to work.

Trump’s swearing-in and speech are just part of a multi-day inauguration celebration, which includes a visit to Arlington National Cemetery, a patron dinner at the National Building Museum, a tea at the White House and a Monday night tie ball. Washington Union Station.

Trump’s team chose to move the morning inauguration ceremony indoors into the Capitol, as the weather forecast for Washington is very cold. Trump will likewise hold a viewing party and the opening show at Capital One Arena, which he has said he will visit after he is sworn into office. Ronald Reagan also moved his inauguration ceremony indoors in 1985 due to cold weather.

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Beneath the lavish celebrations and renewed optimism of Trump’s party are the internal problems that have plagued his first term, as well as the external challenges he inherited from his predecessor. His aides and allies have already shown deep divisions on policy issues, such as whether to support H-1B visas for high-skilled workers, the high level of taxation of allies and opponents, and the timing and sequencing of legislative priorities.

Trump’s expanded alliance has also meant a clash of big personalities, with former campaign chief Steve Bannon threatening Musk over a recent tech-friendly stance that has put MAGA loyalists on edge.

One battle that Trump tried to mediate before entering office: whether to crush immigration policy, energy and taxes into one big bill, whether it’s price, or to pursue separate bills.

The details are important, as they have already exposed fault lines among Republicans, and more to come. The party’s slim majority in the House leaves them little room for error as they try to pass major bills before the midterm elections, when control of Congress could change again. How the economy performs under Trump will be a key factor in how voters evaluate his tenure, just as it was important in his election.

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Every president also encounters unexpected problems, especially beyond US borders. Trump faces an international agenda that is already fraught with geopolitical risk: a weak, newly created stability in the simmering Middle East; the three-year war in Ukraine that he promised to resolve; and the ongoing, complex war with China, the world’s No. 2 economy, which he has pledged to navigate differently than Joe Biden.

Trump’s team, full of confidence, is coming off a banner year in which its boss defeated his Republican primary rivals, survived an assassination attempt, acquitted 34 people and won a race that included two Democratic rivals.

As the only judge ever to be elected president, Trump returns to the Capitol where his supporters have violently and successfully tried to reverse his 2020 election loss to enjoy the pomp and circumstance of another inauguration.

Few would have bet on that outcome when he left Washington in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Republican Party turned against him.

But Trump is back and has a strong interest in governing this time, allies and aides say, bolstered by the team he actually has.

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