The ugly truth is, Donald J Trump is back.
After defeating his Democratic Alliance rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, he has once again become the elected president of the United States. He will return to the White House next January, exactly four years after instigating a coup to stay there after losing the 2020 election. This would make him only the second man in history to serve non-consecutive terms as US president (the other being 19th century Democrat Grover Cleveland). And he's on track to become the first Republican to win the popular vote in a presidential election in 20 years.
Trump has been impeached, faced numerous criminal charges and received convictions, but, in the end, none of this mattered to his supporters.
He made one of the most dramatic political comebacks in American history.
All this means that the world will not end up seeing a repeat of his first term in power. There is also every reason to believe that, once back in office, he will build a more repressive, racist and conservative regime than the one he led in 2017-2021.
Trump's second inauguration on January 20 will unleash a right-wing, pro-democracy regime, and an attack on the rest of America's representative democracy at the federal level.
In the weeks leading up to the election, Trump offered his unrealistic version of American history as his vision for the nation's future.
“You know, our country in the 1890s was … probably the richest it's ever been, because it was a tax system,” he said. “And we had the president — you know McKinley, right? He was a really good businessman, and at the time he was making billions of dollars.”
Forget the fact that William McKinley didn't become president until 1897. And never mind that then-U.S. Representative McKinley helped lead the U.S. into the Depression of 1893 — one of the biggest financial crises in U.S. history — as his tax bill crippled the economy during a 20-year period of economic depression for many Americans.
The bottom line here is that Trump seems to view this period in American history — marked by extreme poverty, unrelenting racist violence and widespread suffering at home and abroad — as a prime example of America's loss of greatness.
Trump's plan for old-style US economic institutions, isolationism, and white male supremacy is a real attempt to return the US to the 1890s.
On the foreign policy side, Trump 2.0 will see an increase in policies that already seem destructive and expensive.
Trump's first presidential term, and that of Joe Biden after him, was marked by Washington's persistent refusal to engage in any effort to uphold international law and protect the rules-based order that the US helped build after World War II. Under Trump 2.0, this purposeful exclusion, which has had dire consequences around the world, will escalate into a new era of American alienation, and likely pave the way for new conflicts and power struggles.
Trump has indicated that, as president, he will not support Ukraine in its ongoing effort to fight Vladimir Putin's Russia. “That doesn't mean I don't want to help him because I have a lot of sympathy for those people. But he should never have let that fight begin. The war is still a failure,” Trump said recently in reference to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine's wartime president. There is widespread fear that Trump's reluctance to support Ukraine in this war could lead to losses on the battlefield and on the diplomatic side that could destroy not only Ukraine, but the security and stability of all its European neighbors.
And when it comes to Palestine, Trump seems more in favor of giving Israel more freedom to continue the genocide than Biden, who has done nothing to try to stop the carnage. “I'm glad Bibi decided to do what he had to do” despite Biden's efforts to stop him, Trump said last month referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu killing tens of thousands of Palestinian citizens, who was supposed to defeat Hamas in Gaza.
This non-interventionist approach may embolden rogue states around the world to drop any pretense of adherence to international law and the liberal order. Trump 2.0 will usher in a new era of renewed damage to nations and communities already suffering from conflict and global instability.
On the economic side, Trump says he will introduce higher tariffs on goods from China and other countries, all in an effort, so-called, to help the American economy. Outside of this era of globalization, such rates could have a negative impact on US finances. At least one study on Trump's tax plan suggests that, if the policy is implemented, Americans' incomes will drop between two and four percent and unemployment will rise, especially in the manufacturing sector. It can also have a negative impact on the global economy, causing high inflation, stock market volatility, and trade wars.
Internally, he will use the much-feared Heritage Foundation Project 2025, and use it as a blueprint to ensure that the US remains a safe haven for unruly, corrupt capitalists and rich white men and the big corporations that profit from such corruption.
Meanwhile, the disadvantaged groups that Trump identified during his campaign as America's enemies – undocumented immigrants, Arab and Muslim Americans, transgender folks, among others – will face widespread oppression and discrimination. Once again, white male supremacy will become the law of the land.
“We will get them out of our country. I will prohibit the settlement of refugees in areas affected by terrorists such as the Gaza Strip, and we will close our border and restore the travel ban, “said Trump at the event marking the first anniversary of Israel's attack on Hamas on October 7, talking about his decision. The famous “Islamic ban”.
In 2017, Trump directed his threats of deportation and the ban on entry especially to people from Muslim-majority countries whom he called “jihadists”. But throughout his 2024 campaign, he made it clear, over and over again, that his desire is to deport and ban all undocumented immigrants, and any other black and white immigrant and refugee he may have, whether they come from Central and South America, the Caribbean, Africa or the Middle East.
Under Trump 2.0, with Republicans likely to control both chambers of the US Congress, American women will face increased reproductive pressure. A national ban on abortion will be reached, which Trump says should begin at 15 weeks in any pregnancy. Regulatory restrictions on access to contraception will also be a possibility. Transgender people, on the other hand, can expect legislation that would prevent federal dollars from being used for gender-affirming health care, and threaten doctors with criminal action for providing such care.
The entire structure of the public service organization will face serious threats. Under Project 2025, Trump and Congress will eliminate the US Department of Education (DOE) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). They will ensure that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the National Flood Insurance Program managed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and all federally funded student loans.
Trump himself has said he will personally follow up with senior government officials after he takes the oath of office on January 20. “Oh, that's easy. It's very simple. I would fire him in two seconds,” Trump said last month about special counsel Jack Smith.
Smith has been prosecuting the now-president-elect over the January 6 coup and the mishandling of classified documents since 2023. Smith is not the only official facing Trump. According to NPR, Trump has issued more than 100 threats to his opponents, including Vice President Kamala Harris and former US Representative Liz Cheney.
Trump will now be able to escape his conviction in New York, his various trials and charges in the US, and his debts in the US and abroad, perhaps even by pardoning himself for all his actions since 2016.
Make no mistake. Trump's upcoming second term in office will see efforts at all levels to remake the US into a conservative, evangelical, capitalist democracy. The next four years will be marked by persecution, oppression, revenge, and needless deaths due to forced pregnancies, mass deportations, irrational public health decisions, and preventable wars.
America is coming back to Trump. The US and the world must be prepared for the second coming of Trump and the new world order he will try to create. The world must prepare, and resist.
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Al Jazeera.
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