The former President was inaugurated once more on Jan. 20.
BY: JACOB POLITTE
Managing Editor
Donald Trump is once again the President of the United States. After being formally inaugurated at noon on Martin Luther King Day, Trump became only the second President in the history of the United States to serve two non-consecutive terms in office; Grover Cleveland was the other. Trump also has another historic distinction, as he will be the first convicted felon to serve in the role, a distinction that was formalized in a sentencing hearing in New York City on Jan. 13.
Upon taking office, Trump largely centered the focus of his inaugural address around his campaign’s biggest themes: immigration, the economy and what he considered an unjustful weaponization of government. Hours after taking the oath, he began to sign numerous executive orders, including ones that pardoned almost all January 6 rioters and initiated withdrawals from the Paris Climate Agreement and the World Health Organization. Since then, Trump has also implemented tariffs on goods imported from Canada, China and Mexico; the tariffs on Mexico were postponed on Feb. 3 following an announcement of negotiations with the country.
The former President’s return to power has elicited joy from some and concern from others. Political Science Professor John Messmer says that Trump’s term is, in part, about transferring the country from a liberal ideology to a populist one.
Messmer, a political science professor for the college since 2002, doesn’t consider himself to be a member of the Democratic Party, but said that his views lean more towards their ideology, supporting their policies and voting for their candidates.
He said that, with the tariffs, Trump may have a broader goal of transforming the American economy from liberal to populist economics. Explaining the difference between the two, Messmer said that liberalism values universal rights and cooperation, while populism prioritizes the majority’s will over fundamental rights.
Messmer also doesn’t believe that the Democrats could have done anything differently to prevent Trump’s rise, saying that asking a victim of sexual assault what they were wearing.
“The question is ‘How could we have allowed the Republican Party to allow this catastrophe of a candidate and a movement to see the light of day?’ In the old days, when our parties were a lot stronger, someone like Donald Trump wouldn’t have been allowed within a mile of their party’s presidential nomination. I think we were better off when we had strong parties.”
He continued, “Way back in 2015, the Republican Party did stand up to Donald Trump. That was for about two weeks. And then they decided, if we can’t beat him, let’s join him. That should be the real question, ‘How did one of our major political parties, the once proud Republican Party, how could they have so easily gotten rid of their integrity? And that’s what it comes down to, by allowing themselves to be led by someone like Donald Trump, someone that shows no faith in our electoral process. Someone refers to the pillars of a republic as the enemies of the Republic. These are the actions of a populist who says things to garner an emotional, passionate response and then ride the wave of that passionate response to more political power.”
Despite Trump’s strong appeal, Messmer has doubts about MAGA’s sustainability following Trump’s exit from the national stage and his eventual death, though he’s not certain that Trumpism will not have lasting effects in the political realm.
“American history tells us that we are a sucker for personalities, not so much for the message of that personality,” Messmer said. “And so given that history, the argument can be said that this is just unique to Donald Trump. And so once Donald Trump leaves politics, and eventually, and it may be further, when he dies that Trumpism, the MAGA movement, dies with him, okay?”
Messmer believes that the personality of Trump can never be replicated by future politicians.
“Because as much as there might be some that would want to walk in his footsteps by mimicking his same rhetoric and embracing his same policies,” he elaborated, “if history is right, and it’s not so much the policy that people are attracted to, but the personality, then it doesn’t matter how closely someone mimics Donald Trump. They’ll never be like Donald Trump, and therefore the movement will die.
“But I’m not too sure of that,” Messmer cautioned. “I think the Republican Party has shown that there is potential victory afoot by appealing to the worst fears of the American voter, and though I think both parties always suspected that, it wasn’t until the Republican Party embraced Donald Trump that we knew it was true for the 21st century.”
Messmer predicts that at the end of Trump’s term, the country will be weaker but hopes that lessons will be learned and translated into action. He expressed a desire for “reformers” to enter government, hoping that they will focus on healing and strengthening democratic institutions. Messmer thinks that they’ll have a big job ahead of them.
“It’s going to take decades for us to heal from the damage that has been done,” he said.
Professor Messmer spoke more at length regarding Trump’s term, and other items of interest. To hear his extended thoughts on Trump’s plans regarding tariffs and education, his attacks on birthright citizenship and other executive orders, as well as more thoughts on what Trump’s legacy as a whole may be and who may step up to challenge him from the Democratic Party, check out the full, unedited audio interview on YouTube.
