Foreign
HIS triumphant return to power stands in stark contrast to his divisive entry in 2017 and departure in 2021.
By Marianne LeVine, Clara Ence Morse and Aaron Schaffer
President-elect Donald Trump is returning to Washington triumphant: His legal cases are behind him, corporate executives are flocking to Mar-a-Lago to meet with him, his inaugural committee has raised record sums of money for Monday’s ceremony and the Republican Party is now fully in his control.
It’s a stark contrast both to his 2017 inauguration — when Trump came to Washington as a political unknown without close personal relationships to his Cabinet or congressional leaders — and to his departure from the Oval Office in January 2021, when he was widely condemned for the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.
Now, many of his Cabinet picks appear poised to sail through the Republican-controlled Senate, including his controversial pick for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, whose nomination seemed in danger just a month ago. Trump is expected to sign scores of executive orders as he takes office, especially on the border, a central issue of his presidential campaign. He is personally closer to his proposed Cabinet and other top aides compared with eight years ago and is enjoying some of the highest favorability ratings of his political career. Days before coming into office, Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire and hostage release deal that both Trump and President Joe Biden have sought to take credit for.
“It’s just light-years difference — corporate America has embraced President Trump,” said Brian Ballard, a prominent Florida lobbyist and Trump fundraiser. “Every corporate client I have wants to be a part of it. There’s none of this counterprotest. … I remember eight years ago, the day after he was sworn in, there were a million people protesting in Washington, D.C., before the guy even had a day in office.”
Trump’s 2016 election ushered in a national resistance movement and led to women’s marches around the country the day after his inauguration. But after a second loss to Trump, many Democrats are taking a different, less reactionary approach that focuses more on policy impact, as the party prepares for Republicans to take full control of Washington.
When Trump first came to office, “Democrats were in a constant state of outrage and there was this strong feeling that this was a leader we needed to resist in the streets,” said Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minnesota). “Every day there was like some new thing to respond to, to react to — we chased around after everything that he said.”
Smith recalled seeing Trump’s recent remarks about acquiring Greenland and pausing. “I said, ‘I am not going to get back onto this crazy train again, I am not going to be part of the outrage machine that he runs for his own benefit,’” she said. “If he tries to do things that hurt Minnesotans, I’m going to fight him. … That frame feels so much more productive.”
Since winning the November election, Trump’s inaugural committee has raised more than $150 million, according to a Republican familiar with the fundraising numbers. Those donations include $1 million donations from tech companies like Microsoft, Google, Meta and Uber, as well as $1 million donations from Boeing and Lockheed Martin, according to company statements.
Of the 40 individuals and companies that have publicly reported donations to Trump’s inauguration so far, more than 60 percent did not give to Trump’s inauguration in 2017, according to a Washington Post analysis. Biden’s inaugural committee received 12 donations of at least $1 million from companies or individuals, while Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee received several dozen gifts of that magnitude.
Trump’s first inaugural committee raised approximately $107 million, while Biden’s raised about $62 million in 2021. Biden’s inauguration also took place during the coronavirus pandemic, and his inaugural committee limited donations to $500,000 for individuals and $1 million for corporations.
The extent of the donations to Trump’s inaugural committee won’t be known until 90 days after the inauguration, when the inaugural committee is required to file a full report with the Federal Election Commission. Some donors opted not to attend the inauguration because they were wait-listed for events, according to one Republican operative who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly.
“For most of corporate America, they didn’t know what to make of the first one,” said Marc Short, who was chief of staff to former vice president Mike Pence. “They’ve learned that President Trump is very transactional, and so I think there’s an incentive for them to be a lot more generous this inauguration.”
Ozzie Palomo, co-founder of Chartwell Strategy Group, said, “There was so much interest that they are going to face capacity issues at some of these venues.” He added that what the Trump team will have to “figure out is how to carry that fundraising forward.”
It’s not unusual for corporations to donate to inaugural committees, but many campaign finance experts bemoan the loose regulations surrounding them.
“They have the potential to really become a free-for-all for influence-buying with an incoming administration,” said Saurav Ghosh, director of federal campaign finance reform at the Campaign Legal Center. “It’s a sure bet, unlike a campaign contribution. You know the recipient is going to be the president and obviously will have a lot of influence over various policies that are going to impact a corporation’s financial future.”
Several corporate executives have touted their recent meetings with Trump, posting photos of themselves with the president-elect. Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey gifted Trump with the first “Presidential Commemorative” bottle of Diet Coke, a favorite beverage of both him and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Mar-a-Lago’s roster of visitors has included Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Google’s Sundar Pichai and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who owns The Washington Post. Bezos, Musk, Zuckerberg, Pichai and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman will attend Trump’s inauguration.
Tech executives are also hosting inauguration parties, while Spotify is hosting an inauguration brunch bash for influencers and podcasters in town. And YouTube CEO Neal Mohan is hosting a reception for podcasters and creators, YouTube spokesperson Nicole Bell said, declining to provide more details.
One adviser in Trump’s orbit said that corporate America’s approach to Trump’s victory in 2016 was the anomaly.
“Trump’s win really was the only time that I can think of at least in my lifetime where somebody won the White House and high-profile people didn’t want anything to do with them,” said the adviser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly.
Trump has broken through in the sports, entertainment and music industries, too, after some artists and athletes sought to distance themselves from him after his first election.
In one of the most visible displays of his cultural clout, he celebrated his victory at an Ultimate Fighting Championship event at Madison Square Garden. Crowds chanted “USA!” when he walked in with some of his Cabinet picks. After Jon Jones won the UFC heavyweight title just after 1 a.m., he broke into the “Trump dance,” a staple of the raucous rallies that the then-candidate usually performed to the song “Y.M.C.A.”
A number of NFL players have also performed the Trump dance on the field, including Las Vegas Raiders tight end Brock Bowers and Detroit Lions defensive players Za’Darius Smith and Malcolm Rodriguez.
President-elect Donald Trump, flanked by singer Kid Rock, left, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, right, during a UFC fight at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 16 in New York. (Kena Betancur/AFP/Getty Images)
The end result has been some of the highest favorability ratings ever for Trump, who until recent weeks has had consistently low favorability ratings. A CNN poll found that Trump’s favorability ratings are among the highest they have been. The poll found that 46 percent of Americans had a favorable view of him and 48 percent had an unfavorable view. A year ago, 39 percent had a favorable view of him and 55 percent had an unfavorable view.
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Trump has also said he notices a difference in public reception from his first time in office, though many CEOs still came to visit him at Trump Tower in 2016. “The first term, everybody was fighting me,” Trump said during a news conference in December. “In this term, everybody wants to be my friend.”
“Americans are ready for President Trump to ensure Peace through Strength, protect the border, safeguard civil liberties, and make life more affordable — because he’s done it before,” Vianca Rodriguez, a Trump-Vance transition spokesperson, said in a statement. “The impact of his victory is already being felt, and the best is yet to come.”
Trump’s win in November also largely erased his legal woes. Trump will become the first felon to serve as U.S. president, after being sentenced on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in a hush money case involving adult-film actress Stormy Daniels. But Trump received no penalty for his conviction at a Jan. 10 sentencing, which he fought furiously to keep from happening.
Trump also sought to prevent the release of a report by special counsel Jack Smith on his indictment for allegedly trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The report was released Tuesday, but the case was dismissed after Trump’s election because pursuing it would contradict Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president.
Since the election, Trump has mostly stayed away from the public eye. He has spent much of his time at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, where he has held private meetings with chief executives and lawmakers. As a politician, Trump has long enjoyed his campaign rallies and plans to hold a final rally Sunday at Capital One Arena in D.C.
However, Monday will bring a different challenge for the soon-to-be 47th president. During his last administration, Trump had control of the White House, the House and the Senate for his first two years. Republicans passed tax legislation and reshaped the Supreme Court to a 6-3 conservative majority while Trump was in office, but they failed to enact other parts of his agenda, including a promise to repeal the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, despite years of campaign vows to toss the law.
This time, Trump will take office with Republicans holding the narrowest margins in the House and with no prospect of running for the White House again.
“What he enjoys is the campaign and the winning; the governing part can be messy,” Short said. “He likes it when he wins. When he passes a big bill like tax relief, that’s a win. When he gets a Supreme Court justice confirmed, that’s a win. But the everyday, if it’s not centered around him, it’s kind of, in his mind, boring.”
– Reported by Cat Zakrzewski, Naomi Nix, Gerrit De Vynck, Drew Harwell, Emily Guskin and Scott Clement. The Washington Post
18th January, 2025.
C.E.
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