Trump Back in Office with a Vengeance

Rob Mullins

Staff Writer Abroad

After a stunning victory over former Vice President Kamala Harris, Donald Trump has once again returned to the White House. But this time, things are different. Trump has moved to confirm cabinet nominees at unprecedented speed, filling almost his entire cabinet and some important minor positions as well. Billionaire Elon Musk has also played a prominent role in the newly-created Department of Government Efficiency, which was recently cleared by courts to perform an audit on the IRS.

Compared with the tumult that accompanied Trump’s first term in office, his total and complete victory is almost unthinkable. He returned to office with another government trifecta, achieving narrow majorities in the House and Senate. The slim majority of Supreme Court justices that Trump appointed in his previous term means that he is entering office in such favorable conditions as few other presidents ever will. The opportunity is immense, and he does not appear willing to waste it.

Besides moving through appointments at breakneck speed, Trump has already fast-tracked plans to achieve basic campaign promises. Tom Homan, Kamala Harris’s successor as border czar, has been very public with the methodical approach that his agency will take to the necessary large-scale deportation program that the media has been fear mongering about. He, along with Vice President JD Vance, have accentuated their difference from the former administration by facing the tough questions, and providing answers to the American people.

The Vice President had a viral moment during a hostile interview with CBS’s Margaret Brennan. The host maintained a scolding, shrewish posture for its entirety. Most likely, she anticipated that the man would be intimidated by her aggressive posturing, but his calm demeanor and patience in the face of repeated unnecessary interruptions reflected well on a man who is relatively new to national politics.

The playbook is familiar to anyone who knows to look: Vance made a sweeping but generally correct claim that the “vetting” system for large numbers of migrants coming into the country is inadequate and needs reform. Brennans then attempts to use several semantic tricks and obscure examples to poke holes in Vance’s claim, details about circumstances, exact numbers, and the exact time a man who committed a terrorist attack in Oklahoma was “radicalized.”

Vance’s masterclass in remaining calm under pressure became a meme: “I really don’t care, Margaret.” Does the precise moment a migrant was radicalized really matter? Did any of the obscure details Brennan brought up, searching for the next “gotcha” moment matter? No. It was clear Brennan was engaging in bad faith, and Vance’s response is important because it is a perfect example of the new climate that has pervaded our politics since Trump won re-election. We really don’t care.

Those of us on the right have watched with dismay over the last eight years as the country has nearly come apart because of the political establishment’s rabid opposition to Donald Trump. For nearly a decade now, we have watched politicians and journalists foam at the mouth at the prospect of a too-modest populist revolt of the masses. It is notable that opposition to Trump has also essentially collapsed the appearance of opposition between the two parties of entrenched elites, with the Cheney family crossing over to the Harris campaign, and the entire Kennedy family condemning the rogue RFK Jr.

But now, Trump has won. He is back in office and pursuing his priorities with a unique fervor. And the opposition appears to be missing in action. Gone are the days of a Capitol inundated with screaming harpies in pink hats, driven to the brink of insanity by a combination of MSNBC rage bait and a dangerous mix of copious amounts of white wine and mood stabilizers. The mainstream media hasn’t bothered to show the same urgency in opposing the president, because it spent its credibility in opposing his re-election.

This seismic shift also holds in the broader culture. People are no longer scared or ashamed to share their political beliefs. We’ve turned the page on shaming, canceling, and all other arbitrary punishments dreamed up by our plutocratic ruling class. In calling up all their power to oppose Trump, they have thoroughly beclowned themselves and demonstrated just how weak they are. Now, it is full steam ahead on the MAGA agenda, and for those few remaining naysayers, bitterly clinging to the old paradigms of a bygone era, the message is clear: we really don’t care.