Donald Trump will return to office facing far fewer constraints than when he entered the White House in 2017. The political, legal, institutional, and civic forces that restrained and often frustrated Trump during his first term have all palpably weakened.
This time, Trump's fate will be much more in his own hands. If he can deliver greater economic stability for working families, while avoiding too many firefights on militant MAGA priorities, strategists in both parties agree that he will be in a strong position to consolidate the gains he's made among traditionally Democratic constituencies.
But if an unbound Trump veers in directions that too many voters don't want to follow— including vaccine skepticism, politicizing the criminal-justice system against his opponents, and the separation of undocumented parents from children at the border—the backlash could be significant.
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