Donald Trump is the same he’s always been; it’s everyone else who’s changed
Seeing as we’ve reached Christmas week in the wonderfully impactful year of 2024, people
in-the-know are beginning to note how the world appears to have changed around president elect Donald J. Trump. You read that right -- the world has changed. Trump is the same man he’s always been.
If you only went by the way Trump has been shown in the media lately, he has suddenly transformed from one of the most consistently despised men in America to one of the most admired. Make no mistake, Trump still has plenty of detractors, but those expressing admiration for the 78-year-old second time president are a lot bolder than they’ve ever been in speaking up.
The new aura around Trump kind of reminds me of the ending to the original Dr. Seuss version of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”, where the Seuss-created Whos emerge from their homes on Christmas morning and sing as though nothing had happened to them. Yes, the Grinch had removed all their presents and taken their decorations in the hours before, but it didn’t stop Christmas from coming to Whoville.
Lesson learned: Christmas was always the same – it was the Grinch who discovered something different that day.
Similarly, Donald Trump never altered his behavior or his approach to the country. But in the time since November 5th, it’s everyone else who’s adopted a new way of looking at the man who was the 45th president and will once again assume the role as the 47th president next month. Thanks to Trump’s remarkable comeback victory and rebirth as a respected – and feared – world leader, the stage is set for a monstrously memorable 2025. Let’s just hope it’s for the good.
In a newsletter post titled “Trump is under attack less. His popularity is rising. What will the resistance do?”, the irreplaceable Byron York reported at the Washington Examiner:
“[W]ith Trump’s election victory, the dynamic has changed again. For many Americans, and for some world leaders, too, Trump appears already to be president. He is moving forward on a wide range of fronts. He has plans, and he has the energy to pursue them. Even with some iffy nominations, voters have a generally positive view of what he is doing as president-elect.
“Meanwhile, some of Trump’s attackers have gone (relatively) silent. Their silence — at the moment, the resistance is confined to routine opposition to Trump on Capitol Hill — is allowing Trump to govern.
“At some point soon, the anti-Trump world will realize this is a dangerous situation for them. The key to resistance in Trump’s first term was preventing Trump from governing. Now, a decrease in attacks has allowed the public to see Trump preparing to govern in a second term, and so far, voters are positive and hopeful about it. Which means we should expect the old-style attacks to fire up pretty soon. This time, though, Trump is better prepared for what is coming — so the battle might play out in an entirely different way.”
One would certainly think so, that’s for sure. The Donald Trump of 2024 isn’t the same as the Trump of 2017 – but only because those around him treat him so differently. One need not strain one’s memory to recall how Democrats and the establishment media (same animal?) seemingly couldn’t wait to sink their claws into the political novice first-time politician-turned-president. Trump was so politically naïve he actually believed he could say something and people would give it credence.
He was wrong. Back then. The confirmation hearings for his first term nominees were full of skeptical senators who felt they owed no deference to the man who the American people had chosen. He was a tool of Vladimir Putin and the Russians, right? Trump’s own congressional leaders disparaged him in public. Celebrities doubted his legitimacy. His co-chiefs of staff worked to undermine him. If Trump wanted a friend in Washington, he’d need to get a dog.
But not these days. Trump himself recently commented that people like him and want to be around him – and that perhaps they thought he’d changed. But it’s those same admirers who have seen the light. Why so different? The reasons are many:
First, the change from within the Republican Party. It’s hard to fathom it in 2024, but the GOP was still conflicted in 2017. The Bush wing was still influential and voicing opinions. Trump was dismissed as a pacifist, isolationist and trade protectionist. His enemies said he was doing it all for himself. Democrats sniped and there were few Republican defenders. The deep state was still in the ruling class’s control. John McCain was still alive. The smart set openly speculated about using the 25th Amendment to remove Trump as president.
Today’s Republicans are different. Even his rivals for the party presidential nod are behind Trump. Yes, even Nikki Haley (at least publicly). Trump’s vice president is an unquestioned loyalist, as are his closest advisors, outsider cabinet picks and the leadership of the RNC (minus Laura Trump, who has resigned).
The party still looks mostly the same, but they’re different. Trump is the leader of the band. Get in line behind him and march.
Second, (some – a few) Democrats have changed. Most Democrats are the same as they’ve always been and are all-but incapable of fixing themselves. But there’ve been a few opposition party members who’ve pledged to work with Trump to try and establish common ground. Further, former Democrats Tulsi Gabbard and RFK Jr. are in line for cabinet posts. Most of the vocal opponents to their confirmation are Democrats. Go figure.
Kamala Harris hasn’t settled on a post-election message. Senile Joe Biden appears content to play out the string and make plans to utilize son Hunter’s ill-gotten gains during his retirement. The liberal party is leaderless and divided. It’ll take them a while to get it back together.
Third, there’s been a change in the media. Not a big one, mind you, but the “old” media appears to realize that they can’t just continually lie and criticize Trump and the American people will follow them blindly. Some liberal commentators, such as Van Jones, admits Trump is “smarter” than all of them. It only took them three GOP nominations, two impeachments, a hailstorm of negativity and years in the wilderness to realize it.
Fourth, foreign leaders have changed. Trump said recently that many foreigners are calling him to wish him congratulations on his election win. More than a hundred, I think.
Trump’s election and subsequent tariff threats have got the world’s leaders dancing to his tune. Nothing like a little American financial power to make them toe the line. Is that really all senile Joe and Democrats had to do to get the world to cooperate with the United States? Trump makes it look all too easy.
Lastly, Americans have been given a glimpse of life under the Democrats. And they didn’t like it.
If today’s situation were a real life political version of the Christmas classic, “It’s a Wonderful Life”, America’s “Guardian Angel” has already gifted the country a four-year long version of what things would’ve looked like if Trump was yanked from the White House by circumstances – and more than likely a crooked vote count that engineered over 80 million (still the record) votes for senile Joe Biden – and life went on as if he’d never been born.
Trump didn’t need to do anything to come back, but he did plenty to make it happen. In other words, all Trump had to do to have the country come back around to his MAGA agenda and his unflinching leadership was to be himself. Everything else followed the natural order of things.
And America is now better off because of it.
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