Presidential inaugurations that usher a new party into power almost always feel like the dawn of an era — Reagan, Clinton, Bush, Obama — but the second inaugural of Donald J. Trump felt fundamentally different.
The Trump era actually began eight years ago — with a Biden intermission — and President Trump’s return this week cemented his standing as the G.O.P.’s unquestioned leader while marking the failure of the so-called resistance movement.
Today, Republicans are defined by a single man more than perhaps either party has been in decades — all while Mr. Trump’s tenure has an expiration date in four years, less than half the time he has already dominated the nation’s political scene. The Democratic Party is less defined by a particular politician or vision than it has been in years — and is roiled by fierce debates about what the party stands for and how vigorously to oppose Mr. Trump.
“Here I am,” Mr. Trump said in his inaugural address. “The American people have spoken.”
Mr. Trump is at once a president at the absolute peak of his powers yet also closer to a lame-duck period than any newly inaugurated predecessor in the modern era. The great uncertainty is how that contradiction plays out — in terms of his ability to enact his agenda and to sustain his unmatched hold on Republican voters.
He is already racing to use his authority while he has it, with a raft of sweeping executive orders on immigration and energy, and is also unraveling diversity initiatives in the federal government. He moved so swiftly that he began by signing his first orders at a post-inauguration rally, even before he had returned to the White House as president. Mr. Trump’s honeymoon with the public could last, or his pursuit of so expansive an agenda so quickly could spark intense backlash.
So much of what has already happened with Mr. Trump has been unprecedented — denying the 2020 election; stoking the riot on Jan. 6, 2021; his indictments; his conviction — that it can feel disorienting to delineate the impractical from the impossible, such as his comments winking and nodding at a third term.