Emboldened Trump Returns With New Allies, Clear Goals

Donald Trump’s Monday swearing-in marks just the second time in US history that a president lost the office and managed to return to power — a comeback cementing his place within the Republican Party as an enduring, transformational figure rather than a one-term aberration.

Trump won his second term by building a new coalition that includes White working-class voters, Blacks and Hispanics, and young men of all races and ethnicities. He expanded the once-staid GOP into a more diverse group driven by economic populism and a strong distrust of institutions.

He will try to harness that support to make sweeping changes to the immigration system, tax code, federal workforce, trade and energy. He’ll mobilize a Republican majority in both chambers of Congress, as well as a conservative-leaning Supreme Court — presenting him the lightest checks-and-balances he’s ever experienced in office, even if unity within the Trump-led GOP isn’t always a given.