It’s Donald Trump’s world now

Monday was one of those very few days that draw a line in the sands of history. America observed the inauguration of the 47th president of the United States as Donald Trump became only the second president to be elected to two non-consecutive terms in office. But the return of Donald Trump to the White House is not merely a new footnote in presidential history, it is the marking of a new political age.

This political era will surely be seen as the Age of Trump. Donald Trump is the single most disruptive electoral force in American politics to appear in the modern age. In some sense, Franklin D. Roosevelt could be seen as a combination of the global energies of his relative, Theodore Roosevelt, and the administrative energies of Woodrow Wilson. On the other side, Ronald Reagan represented a conservative course correction from within the political mainstream.

Donald Trump is a singular. He comes from no mainstream whatsoever. He held no public office until he was elected president of the United States in 2016—an electoral victory that evidently surprised him as much as it shocked the political class. There is no precedent for the 47th president of the United States except for the 45th president of the United States, and even that precedent is limited in predictive value. The Donald Trump who entered the White House on Monday is a seasoned political veteran compared to the same man who entered the Oval Office eight years earlier. This time, Trump comes in with, by his own estimation, infinitely greater political experience, as well as a battle-tested team and a clear sense of purpose.

He is a man of exaggerated arguments and extravagant language whose political aims—the disruption of the administrative state, a rewriting of the international order, a reduction in the cost of government, and a confrontation with progressivist ideology—represent a deliberate and unconditional rejection of the political order represented by the Democratic Party and its progressivist ideologies and what he sees as the sell-out leadership of the Republican Party’s traditional elites. He wears the disdain of the intellectual elites as a badge of honor, and he intends to govern by force of will rather than incremental policies. This time, he comes to the Oval Office with what he sees as an undeniable mandate. He intends to use that mandate. If you don’t like it, he doesn’t care. As a matter of fact, elite disdain is the oxygen he craves, and that includes the condescension of the older accommodationist Republican leadership class. In President Trump’s eyes, the distinction between a Bush and a Clinton is negligible.

His political comeback rewrites political history, but it remains to be seen if President Trump has established a movement or merely created a powerful political brand. A lasting movement will require two things that a brand does not. A movement with lasting power requires a fixed set of central commitments and a plan for succession. At this point, President Trump is the point. That is what the political class hates but it is also what got him to the White House—twice. He knows how to tap into the grievances and justified outrage of the populist base. As a matter of fact, he turned out to be so good with that skill that he won both the Electoral College and the popular vote this time.

President Trump also understands the priority of action. He understands that his biggest risk now is underdelivering on the promises he made—and he made a lot of them. But there is a limit to what any president can do by force of will or executive order. Eventually, a lasting movement requires lasting legislation. Bold and disciplined action will be required if President Trump’s promises are to turn into historic change.

President Trump has won the White House, and he has achieved a complete takeover of the Republican Party. The Republicans who disdained him and tried to terminate his leadership have made his point by leaving the party and becoming Democrats (or at least voting for Democrats). President Trump will just argue that they are now where they have always belonged. It’s hard to argue otherwise.

My hope is that President Trump redefines the Republican Party as a movement away from progressivism and toward a principled conservatism—but it will be a populist conservatism about real people and objective truth, smaller government, and freedom from leftist ideologies. We need more about the sanctity of human life, but we also need candid in-your-face truths such as President Trump’s declaration in his inaugural address that there are two and only two sexes.

We need President Trump to blow up the administrative state and the Davos network without blowing himself up—or blowing up the nation. That’s going to require a lot of energy and a lot of discipline. It can’t all be done by executive orders, but it needs to be done. The presence of so many former enemies of President Trump (like Silicon Valley moguls) now seated in the stands cheering him on tells the story. The political class had better realize that it’s Donald Trump’s world now, and they are just living in it. This much is sure—it won’t be boring.