When Donald Trump swears at his second inauguration tomorrow to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States,” it will be more than a return to the presidency for a man who left office four years ago. It will also be a rebuke to his skeptics. Consider one such skeptic, who early in 2023 called Trump “an obstacle to the achievement” of progress on “the important issues he brought to or revived in the conservative mainstream,” and declared that “the future of conservatism — even (especially) a conservatism influenced by Trump’s presidency — now depends on rejecting Trump.”
Who could have been so blinkered, even at a time when Ron DeSantis and others were considering or had already announced presidential primary challenges to Trump, about the possibility of his political resurgence? That would be me. As Trump returns triumphantly to Washington, he can further vindicate his supporters and defy doubters by ensuring that he, those in his administration, and others around him make good on his promise to drain the swamp by dismantling the Beltway-centered governing apparatus of which he will soon assume control.
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