President Elect Trump (I love how that sounds) will be officially resuming his duties in two short months. He will enter office with a new mandate, fresh ideas, a non-hostile Congress, and more public support than any Republican has had since Ronald Reagan. That is quite atypical for a President beginning his 5th year of service to the country.
Second terms are historically unkind to Presidents. After their first four years, Presidents have already attempted to deliver on their promises – succeeding on some and failing on others. Their staff is burned out, Congress becomes less cooperative, and the public is looking for the next shiny thing. Their political capital is spent.
Bill Clinton was riding high when he entered office as the first Democrat elected after the Reagan renaissance. But his party lost control of Congress half way through his first term, and he spent his second term embroiled in a scandal which resulted in his impeachment. What he did accomplish, was accomplished by giving the Republicans what they wanted.
Barack Obama entered office as a new type of leader who would cure our wounds and show us the path to harmony. By the time he began his second term harmony turned out to be a joke, and he had decisively lost control of Congress. His second term was consumed with self-promotion, decimation of the Democrat bench, and setting the stage for the MAGA movement.
Even for Presidents who manage to be reelected, their second terms tend to be constrained by fatigue and public disappointment, rather than energized by expectations.
But Donald Trump isn’t starting his second term. He’s starting his second 1st term. He’s had a four-year breather to
- Interact with the public and understand their concerns,
- Formulate – and articulate – a plan to advance American interests, and
- Assemble a team of change agents.
Further, he will return to office with a non-hostile Congress, and a clear mandate to do what he said he’d do.
President Trump will not begin year 5 of his service to America as the tired but trusted leader, reelected to maintain the current heading. He’s the shiny new thing sent to Washington to shake things up.
Dennis Prager recently wrote that the 2020 election was a blessing in disguise for two reasons:
- It exposed the radical left as the merchants of chaos which they are.
- It exposed our institutions as the moral wastelands which they have become.
I humbly submit that there is also a third reason that 2020 was a blessing from God. It gave us 8 years of energetic “making America great again” – with a pause in the middle – rather than four years of energy, followed by 4 years of lethargy.
Author Bio: John Green is a retired engineer and political refugee from Minnesota, now residing in Idaho. He spent his career designing complex defense systems, developing high performance organizations, and doing corporate strategic planning. He is a contributor to American Thinker, The American Spectator, and the American Free News Network. He can be reached at greenjeg@gmail.com.
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