The Right Resistance: Reality checks and the enormous task ahead for President-elect Trump

Now what?

There’s a weird feeling this morning among Trump supporters, not only because the Republican candidate prevailed in the 2024 election after two solid years of fundraising, speaking, courtroom appearances, campaigning, nearly getting assassinated – twice – as well as endless media appearances and questions and accusations and recriminations and enough mudslinging to build entire adobe civilizations (if left baking long enough to dry and stack).

On the whole, it’s a good feeling, like the hubbub wasn’t all for nothing. But the crushing weight of expectations will arguably be harder to lift for the 78-year-old president elect (how many people have ever held the term twice?) now that the “easy” part has concluded. Every politician makes loads of promises during the campaign phase, but the nation is miserably divided with little hope of bringing people together, at least before Inauguration Day in two months.

A president in his “second” term can do much of what he seeks to accomplish without worrying about running for reelection. But keeping an eye on public opinion will be important, now more than ever.

In an opinion piece titled, “If Trump wins … speed will be of the essence,” Michael McKenna wrote at The Washington Times before the election this week:

“Three final thoughts bear notice. First, when the president is a lame duck, pending elections become the enemy. If the Republicans hold the House and Senate by narrow margins after next week, the Democrats would likely retake control in 2026. That likelihood would alter expectations of both prospective appointees and members of Congress. On the presidential level, the election to replace Mr. Trump would begin about a month after he takes the oath of office.

“Second, it seems reasonable to assume that there will be civil unrest in the wake of the election. That will drain energy and focus from the executive. Third, various associates of the president are virtually guaranteed to say or do things that will draw attention and resources away from the actual agenda.

“To address and compensate for all of this, a crisp transition and a coherent and well-understood order of priorities is essential. Like Ms. Harris, Mr. Trump and his advisers have a lot of things they want and need to accomplish. A quick start, especially with respect to Congress, taxes and personnel, are irreducible requirements. If Mr. Trump wins [this] week, speed will be of the essence.”

What, too early to do a reality check? The proverbial ink isn’t even dry from yesterday’s election and yet Washington veterans are already talking about the obstacles Trump will face once he assumes control of the executive branch a couple months’ hence.

McKenna, as he usually does, presented interesting dilemmas the new/old president will confront from this time forward. Trump has spent the better part of three-plus years assembling a campaign team to do the work of returning him to office, with actual governing plans having taken a backseat to the “just win, baby” attitude necessary and to not put the proverbial cart before the horse.

I can’t say for sure, but here’s thinking Trump didn’t do much measuring of the drapes in the Oval Office prior to this point, though he’s undoubtedly familiar with the dimensions down to the slimmest eighth of an inch. But after a day or so “cooling off” period between the campaign trail and making firm plans to shift everything in his life back to his “old” house on Pennsylvania avenue, reality kicks in.

Some speculate Trump would have a handbook somewhere which he can dust off and start implementing stuff without a hitch. But if you’ve paid attention since he first launched his (latest) campaign two years ago, the former president has made a raft full of original campaign promises, basically making his old MAGA One agenda obsolete. To put it plainly, senile Joe Biden and cackling Kamala Harris have befouled Washington pretty badly, so not only must Trump begin the process of implementing new policies, he’ll need to get the existing ones working again.

And yes, addressing McKenna’s first point above, which is a valid one, Trump must battle the apprehensions of his administration’s appointees that their time in Washington will be cut short by his lame duck status. I’ve argued all along that Trump won’t have trouble finding qualified prospective public servants to fill positions, but the political situation won’t make things easier for them once in place.

The “upcoming” midterm election will already be on the minds of Republican House members and senators who just won reelection or are making plans to come to Washington, themselves uprooting their lives to try and fulfill the ambitious MAGA 2 agenda that has serious opposition, from both Democrats and the bureaucracy.

Realistically speaking, Democrats won’t be in the mood to give Trump anything in his first hundred days. Heck, if it would slow things down, they probably wouldn’t even show up for work. The “no” electronic vote button will get plenty of use under the auspices of a very bitter and angry “Chucky” Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, who will wield real power for the first time.

Put it this way: I doubt the surviving members of “The Squad” will be lining up to do lunch with the Republican majority.

Further, it’s never too early to talk about Trump’s replacement in Republican party circles, which will basically boil down to what’s left of the party establishment versus a diverse (in terms of ideologies) collection of MAGA adherents, all who are probably, at this very moment, jotting down their arguments for why they’re more Trump-ian than the man himself. Some will likely champion the populist Trump policies they admire, and the other group will approach from a traditionally conservative direction.

Trump also won’t have much time to secure public opinion, Americans having repeatedly been promised that real results would follow a Trump victory. Trump himself has always been serious about keeping his campaign guarantees, but some of them, this time around, will have to wait in line while other priorities are dealt with first.

Trump’s famous “Day One dictator” missives -- closing the border and opening up energy exploration -- can be sent on their way with a couple waves of his executive pen. I’m not an expert in how things work, but here’s guessing it will take longer to accomplish these goals than a mere say-so. Ditto for ending the Ukraine war, though a few conversations with the parties involved, together with dangling the full faith and credit of the United States government would surely get Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s attention.

The new Republican president won’t have to concern himself, necessarily, about who replaces him at the end of term two. But it’s also a sure bet he’ll want input on the matter. I don’t see a repeat of Ronald Reagan’s position in 1988 when he stayed clear of the process until the party voters had spoken before endorsing his vice president, establishmentarian George H.W. Bush, to carry on his successful legacy.

The MAGA mission is different, even from the great Ronald Reagan’s. “Morning in America” was a 1984 movement and was derailed to some extent by losses in the 1986 midterms and the Iran Contra scandal. Democrats will try for a historic repeat, and it will take all of Trump’s political skills to navigate around them. The next four years will not be all that dissimilar to his first four in that respect.

Expect to hear plenty about how Trump is a “convicted felon” and “no one is above the law” and, if, as expected, the president unplugs the special counsel witch hunts against him, that Democrats won’t simply allow the matter to die with Jack Smith’s creeping to the background. Ditto for Fanni Willis in Georgia.

What’s the old song? “We’ve only just begun”? I can hear Karen Carpenter singing it now.

The establishment media likely will fully train its aim on Trump and the new Republican majorities in Congress (in the senate and hopefully in the House as well), if they aren’t substantial. Depending on how cooperative the GOP establishment chooses to be, there could be a number of reforms possible at the beginning of next year, a tax code update probably the most likely. Budget related bills bypass the filibuster requirement, and since no Democrat would be caught dead voting to “cut taxes for billionaires”, it will depend on Republican votes alone for passage.

Though seriously weakened by the dominance of Trump during the past eight years, the Republican ruling elites won’t go away. They’ll view a Trump second term as an opportunity to reassert themselves and take back control of the ideological direction, just like H.W. Bush did in the latter part of Reagan’s final year.

There will be a significant power struggle in both wings of the GOP – the pro-MAGA Trump supporters and the wishy-washy establishment losers who, like pesky mold in a dank basement, never quite go away no matter how much they’re scrubbed. They’re convinced they’re right and will surely argue that 2024’s victory would’ve been greater had Trump not messed it up for “electable candidates” in certain jurisdictions.

In other words, Trump will do battle on a number of political fronts. As McKenna wrote, there will be largescale and visible resistance efforts. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez even talked about it recently, that she wouldn’t look forward to another four years in the “resistance”. The only difference being the Democrats aren’t united by one figure to lead the Trump-hating forces any longer.

It definitely won’t be Kamala Harris. Despite all of their hot air, I believe Democrats, especially their elites, never liked the cackling idiot to begin with. It won’t be senile Joe Biden, either, and even the graying Barack Obama burned a lot of his political capital this year. There probably will be a “new generation of Democrat leaders” alright, but who will it be?

The nice thing about an election is its aftermath provides a simmering down period for people to realize that not everything is about politics and the sun will rise tomorrow regardless. Trump now confronts virtually insurmountable obstacles. He’ll do what he can through executive fiat. The rest will depend on popular support and fate. Anyone have a guess as to what will transpire?

• Joe Biden economy

• inflation

• Biden cognitive decline

• gas prices,

• Nancy Pelosi

• Biden senile

• Kamala Harris candidacy

• Donald Trump campaign

• Harris Trump debates

• J.D. Vance

• Kamala vice president

• Speaker Mike Johnson

• Donald Trump assassination

• Donald Trump

• 2024 presidential election

• Tim Walz