Alan Zendell, January 9, 2024

There has been much speculation about what a second Trump term would be like. His ardent MAGA supporters fervently believe in Project 2025, the extreme right-wing manifesto to transform America into a “Christian Democracy,” which of course, would be neither.

Rather, it would be a white-male-dominated society in which humans come in only two flavors, people of the same gender may not love each other, and the nation’s wealth is concentrated even more than it already is in less than one percent of the population. Every government program perceived as an entitlement would be stripped to its bare bones, and health care benefits would be chipped away one piece at a time. There would be no restrictions on gun ownership, America would withdraw from its alliances and international commitments to become an isolationist nation, immigration would be limited to people with necessary skills, and the Constitution would be stripped of its protection against autocratic rule as checks and balances are ignored or eliminated.

Throughout the election campaign, Trump distanced himself from Project 2025, muddying the waters for anyone who wanted to know how he intended to govern. It was clear that the MAGA base had bought into it hook, line, and sinker. But did Trump really support all that fascist-sounding rhetoric or was Project 2025 just a masterstroke of political tactics designed to win the election? Conventional wisdom had it that Trump’s primary goal was to stay out of prison, and that having won the election, all he really cared about was getting even with everyone who opposed him. After almost ten years of Trump’s politics, do you really have to ask?

The only thing about which Trump has been consistent is always acting in his own self-interest. We can be certain he will stop short of destroying the country completely because that would bankrupt him along with everyone else. Similarly, he will bend the Constitution to his will, but not break it completely. He will make a loud splash, raiding a few workplaces to round up undocumented workers, but he knows America’s economy depends on those desperate foreigners, so mass deportations are out of the question. And prices? Anyone who thinks Trump gives a damn how much eggs cost is beyond reasoning with.

He will do his best to undermine NATO and Europe, but there are enough real Conservatives in Congress to stop that from happening. He’ll rattle his saber at Canada and Mexico, but neither neighbor will be intimidated, and Mexico won’t pay a dime toward extending the border wall. He will deny what every sensible scientist warns us about climate change and polluting our environment, but storms will get worse, fires will ravage entire communities, and countless plant and animal species will continue their trek toward extinction.

Anyone who expects Trump 2 to be kinder or gentler than Trump 1 is deluding themself. He demonstrated that yesterday, as fires ravaged Los Angeles County, destroying whole neighborhoods indiscriminately. Nature doesn’t play favorites, so stars and celebrities lost their homes along with thousands of average Californians. President Biden stood with Governor Newsom and promised whatever aid the state needs to recover. President Elect Trump took the opportunity to invent an absurd scenario in which Newsom’s lack of support for pumping water southward hundreds of miles from northern California was responsible for the out-of-control fires. That’s idiotic, but it gave us a look at Trump 2’s priorities.

He couldn’t care less about the loss of thousands of homes and countless billions in small businesses, incomes, and commerce. The only thing that mattered was attacking Newsom who strongly opposed him politically. And Californians? They mostly voted for Harris, so to Hell with all of them. Trump had an opportunity to appear magnanimous and demonstrate that he intends to govern the entire country even-handedly. What he actually demonstrated was that he has no interest in governing at all. He told us his second term would be a revenge tour, and now he’s showing us he meant it.

People like Trump never change their stripes, and at 78 years old, he’s likely to get even meaner and more self-absorbed than ever – that’s how aging and cognitive decline work. Now that it’s no longer an election issue, get ready. We’re going to see more of it every time Trump opens his mouth.

We’ve seen presidents evolve into their jobs in the past. Dwight Eisenhower and Lyndon Johnson took office as Conservative Republicans, but each turned out to be as progressive as the FDR Democrats in meeting the needs of a rapidly growing nation, while Democrat Bill Clinton passed a remarkable welfare reform bill and balanced the federal budget. Are we likely to see any change in Trump 2? Don’t bet your mortgage on it. My guess is that he’ll be worse until a bipartisan coalition forms to stop him.