Trump administration
Trump Administration
Trump Administration
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political memo
Republicans are defined today more by a single man than perhaps either party has been in decades, even as the clock starts ticking on Donald Trump’s tenure.
By Shane Goldmacher
Washington Report
Presidential inaugurations that bring in a new party to force almost feel like the dawn of an era: Reagan, Clinton, Bush, Obama, yet the inauguration of Donald J. Trump was fundamentally different.
The Trump era began eight years ago (with an intermission from Biden) and President Trump’s return this week cemented his position as the undisputed leader of the Republican Party, while also marking the failure of the so-called resistance movement.
Today, Republicans are defined by a single man more than perhaps either party has been in decades — all while Mr. Trump’s tenure has an expiration date in four years, less than half the time he has already dominated the nation’s political scene. The Democratic Party is less defined by a particular politician or vision than it has been in years — and is roiled by fierce debates about what the party stands for and how vigorously to oppose Mr. Trump.
“Here I am,” Trump said in his inaugural address. The other Americans have spoken. “
Trump is a president at the height of his powers, but also closer to an outgoing era than any newly inaugurated predecessor of the fashionable era. The wonderful uncertainty lies in how this contradiction manifests itself: in terms of his ability to articulate his timetable and his unprecedented control over Republican voters.
He is already rushing to use his authority while he has it, with a series of sweeping executive orders on immigration and energy, as well as undoing diversity projects in the federal government. He acted so temporarily that he began by signing his first orders at a post-inauguration rally, even before returning to the White House as president. Trump’s honeymoon with the public may last, or his immediate pursuit of such a broad timeline may cause intense backlash.
So much of what has already happened with Mr. Trump has been unprecedented — denying the 2020 election; stoking the riot on Jan. 6, 2021; his indictments; his conviction — that it can feel disorienting to delineate the impractical from the impossible, such as his comments winking and nodding at a third term.
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