Donald Trump has won a second term, and it is glorious. It’s hard not to get excited about what’s to come. I’ll invoke Gerald Ford by saying that fairly soon, our long national nightmare will be over. But as we are still enjoying the euphoria of victory, we need to remember that winning the election was actually the hard part.
Trump now has a big job ahead of him. He may have won a decisive victory and expanded the Republican coalition, but now he has to succeed if that coalition will have any future. History suggests that will be difficult.
Second terms are notoriously challenging for American presidents, which is why the “second-term curse” is a thing. Richard Nixon faced the Watergate scandal, which eventually led to his resignation. Ronald Reagan became entangled in the Iran-Contra affair. Bill Clinton’s second term brought impeachment proceedings following the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
George W. Bush faced immense backlash after his Social Security reform efforts failed, along with the federal response to Hurricane Katrina and the financial crisis. Multiple scandals dogged Barack Obama, including the IRS targeting scandal, the Snowden leaks, the government…
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