Donald Trump’s shocking election victory on Tuesday will see him return to power in January 2025 but for those expecting his second term to be like his first, his allies have made clear it will look nothing like the first.
With Republicans winning the White House, Senate, and poised to keep control of the House of Representatives, and the anti-Trump politicians like Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama Liz Cheney out of the way — and Joe Biden on his way out — Trump will enter his second term armed with loyalists ready to take power.
Trump will go into his second term with his largest Electoral College victory in his third run for office and winning the popular vote, the first time a Republican won the popular vote in a presidential election since George W. Bush in 2004.
“America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate,” Trump said early Wednesday morning. “He summed up his approach to a second term as such: “I will govern by a simple motto: Promises made, promises kept.”
The country will now enter the unknown of what the next four years will hold. Trump won the election despite him doubling down on violent and dark rhetoric that has become the center of MAGA politics since Trump entered the political arena in 2016.
Vice President Kamala Harris tried to warn voters of the risks of a second Trump term but for his supporters — and those undecided voters who broke for him — Trump’s promises of fixing what he called a broken country mattered more.
With loyalty being the most important quality to Trump, he is expected to reward those who remained by his side both in his first term and throughout his third run. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who originally ran against him, is now reportedly being eyed for a role in the Department of Health and Human Services.
“We’re going to let him run wild with health,” Trump said at a rally last week.
Trump’s deep mistrust of federal agencies has seen him refuse to sign ethics agreements that would allow his campaign to begin working with the Biden administration on the transition, instead opting to begin the transition on his own. This means Trump has not had to disclose to donors his transition process but he is also blocked from national security briefings.
The Supreme Court, which now has a conservative supermajority thanks to Trump’s first term, will likely see new judges added to the court if Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, or John Roberts decide to retire. This would give the highest court in the land a conservative rule for decades to come.
More importantly, Trump has aged and will enter office as the oldest person ever to enter the Oval Office. He’s a convicted felon and appeared tired or out of it on the campaign trail in the final weeks leading up to the election and has refused to release his health records.
Trump has been angrier in the past few years and has made no secret of wanting to prosecute his political opponents. As mentioned above, Trump values loyalty over anything, so he is seeking to select his key staffers based on the sole quality that they will not work to undermine his agenda.
America is in for some dark days and Trump gained experience from his first term that he did not have previously. That alone will make this second term for Trump both dangerous and scary.
“I didn’t know anybody (during my first term). I was not a Washington person. I was rarely there,” Trump said on Fox News last week. “I know everybody (now). I know the good, the strong, the weak, the stupid. I know the – I know everybody. And we’re going to make this country great again, and we have to save our country.”
