There appears to be a lot to be grateful for in the new president of the United States.
And John Harris, editor-in-chief of Politico, is listing why President Donald Trump is the “greatest American figure of his era.”
Harris recently wrote a column in which he lauded Trump’s inaugural address on Monday, saying it was was “everything his supporters hoped he would be.”
“Breathtakingly expansive about his intention to reshape the vast federal government around his vision; raucously jingoistic in proclaiming that the country will do whatever it wants to advance its interests around the world; openly triumphal in asserting his belief that his survival from an assassin’s bullet and his victory show he is God’s chosen instrument to lead an American revival,” Harris wrote.
The same speech also was “everything his adversaries feared.”
“Messianic in tone; lovingly protective of his grievances; wholly uncharitable to the people, sitting just feet from him under the Capitol Rotunda, who he defeated so convincingly,” he wrote.
While all this seemed familiar, one thing became clear, Trump is “the greatest American figure of his era,” per Harris.
“He is not a fluke, who got elected initially in 2016 almost entirely because of the infirmities of his opponent,” Harris wrote. “He is not someone the American public somehow misunderstands — as though Democrats and the news media have not spent 10 years forcefully highlighting the risks of his record and character.”
Trump has been able to stay relevant in a multitude of ways — he pursues opportunities others do not and he keeps connections like no other politician.
“In other words: He is a force of history,” Harris wrote.
This became obvious with his inaugural speech and a flurry of executive orders that followed.
This, in the end, changes how the Democratic Party perceives Trump.
“The inaugural ceremony and all it symbolizes were a meal made of ingredients scraped off the kennel floor. Once they gargle and spit, however, the opposition party may find something liberating about the moment,” Harris wrote. “That is because they can no longer place confidence in a strategy that once looked plausible but now has been exposed as illusion. They cannot push Trump to the margins, by treating him as a momentary anomaly or simply denouncing him as lawless and illegitimate.”
In his speech, Trump yelled “Drill, baby, drill!” and spoke about his plans to retake the Panama Canal, rename the Gulf of Mexico and securing the southern border.
These “are all expressions of his genuine worldview. That leaves plenty of room for argument.”
He has also mastered the most prolific communication device of his era — social media.
This is akin to other great presidents — “Franklin D. Roosevelt’s mastery of radio, and John F. Kennedy’s and Ronald Reagan’s mastery of television — even as his banter and insults don’t aspire to anything like traditional presidential eloquence.”
“Opponents have no choice but to acknowledge he and his movement represent a large historical argument — and then rally similarly large arguments to defeat it,” Harris wrote.
There is a new Trump in our midst as he used the events of Jan. 6, 2021, to “undermine democracy for his own purposes.”
“Trump in 2024 showed that he is also a potent expression of democracy,” Harris wrote.
