The SECOND COMING

As he returns to the Oval Office, DONALD TRUMP has promised 'a golden age' after he was 'saved by God to make America great again.' Is his optimism justified?

- Daniel Bush

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP’S AGENDA IS quickly taking shape in the weeks since he returned to power vowing to end social liberalism and usher in a new era of American prosperity. Through a shock-and-awe flurry of executive orders and other actions, Trump started a massive crackdown on illegal immigration, withdrew the United States from the World Health Organization and Paris Climate Accord, issued sweeping pardons to the rioters charged with participating in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and began the process of dismantling federal diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Welcome to Trump’s self-described “golden age of America.”

The administration’s early moves have put Washington—and the rest of the world—on notice that Trump is determined to turn his campaign promises into reality. Anyone doubting his sense of mission would do well to remember Trump’s belief that divine intervention helped him survive an assassin’s bullet and reclaim the White House. “My life was saved for a reason,” Trump told the nation in his second inaugural address. “I was saved by God to make America great again.”

The MAGA project is clear for now, nearly one decade into the era of Trump. The question is, how effective can Trump be in his second go-around?

The initial signs seem promising for Trump, starting with the fact that the political environment is friendlier to him now than it was when he took office as a Beltway outsider in 2017. Back then, Trump’s party controlled Congress but he faced internal opposition from moderate Republicans, as well as a highly energized Democratic resistance.