Monday, Jan. 20, 2025 promises to be a great day, a day on which the forces of authoritarianism, socialism, gender insanity, hyperinflation and open borders take a decisive step back, and America begins moving back toward sanity and the common-sensical idea that the government of a country should put the best interests of the citizens of that country first.
Donald Trump has made an astonishing, historic comeback from what would have been certain political ruin for any other politician: claims that he led an “insurrection,” bogus civil and criminal charges, and unending vilification from the establishment propaganda organs. And now all eyes are upon him as he begins his second term, with patriots joyfully awaiting their certain victory and vindication. Here's hoping. But as Inauguration Day looms ever closer, there are a few disquieting signs.
Not unexpectedly, the left is rooting for Trump to fail. “Grover Cleveland’s presidential ‘comeback’ is a true cautionary tale for Trump,” says MSNBC in its lead article Sunday evening. The article offers a broadly accurate history of what happened during the second term of the only other man to be elected to two nonconsecutive terms as president, Grover Cleveland (who occupied the White House from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897).
Cleveland, MSNBC warns, was undone by the Panic of 1893 (which was actually due more to the fiscal policies of his predecessor than to his own), to the degree that “the second-term midterms were a political bloodbath, ushering in nearly two decades of Democratic exile from power. In a stunning reversal, Republicans gained 130 seats in the House of Representatives, the largest swing in a midterm election in U.S. history, while also securing a 10-seat majority in the Senate. By 1896, Cleveland, 59, found himself a pariah in the party he once led.” That’s exactly where, of course, MSNBC wants Trump to be.
Affecting a more-in-sorrow-than-in-anger tone, the MSNBC writer warns: “If Trump’s second term is a disaster right out of the gate, his party may take a beating in the 2026 midterms.” Cleveland’s second term, we’re told, “imploded in a shower of broken promises and shattered alliances.” MSNBC would like nothing better than for history to repeat itself in that regard, and unfortunately, Trump himself, or some of those around him, have made it impossible to shrug off anxiety about exactly that possibility.
Consider, for example, the fact that on Saturday, Trump nominated Penny Schwinn to be the Deputy Secretary of Education. According to the Tennessee Star, Schwinn currently “works under Blake Harris, the prominent Never Trumper consultant who recruited an opponent to Trump-endorsed Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) last year.” Why is Trump nominating someone who appears to be against him, and presumably also against his agenda?
And why is Trump nominating anyone at all to be Deputy Secretary of Education? Trump pledged to close the Department of Education, a Jimmy Carter-era boondoggle, and return control of education to the states. Yet Sen. Tim Scott met a few days ago with Trump’s nominee to be secretary of education, Linda McMahon. Scott then issued a statement saying that “Linda McMahon understands that education is the closest thing we have to magic in America.” Gee, that’s swell, but Scott didn’t say a word about a plan to close down the department.
That doesn’t mean the department won’t be closed, but why are these mixed signals being sent? And that’s not the only one. The biggest one is about Israel. In June 2024, Trump said: “Let Israel finish the job in Gaza.” Yet now he is taking credit for the ceasefire that has been imposed without Israel even being close to finishing the job, as is clear from the multitudes of armed, masked, uniformed Hamas jihadis who have joined the victory celebrations in Gaza.
Related: Trump 'Transition Official' Says All the Gazans Really Need is ‘a Sense of Hope.’ Really?
Then there is the fact that Dearborn imam Husham al-Husainy is set to give a benediction at Trump’s inauguration. Al-Husainy is an open supporter of Hezbollah. In Feb. 2007, al-Husainy appeared on Fox’s Hannity and Colmes, where Sean Hannity asked him: “Will you admit that Hezbollah is a terrorist organization, sir?” Al-Husainy answered: “That is your explanation.” Hannity pressed him: “This is a yes or no. Is Hezbollah a terrorist organization? Yes or no? Is Hezbollah...” Al-Husainy responded: “No.”
Some have suggested that al-Husainy is on the program because some faceless bureaucrat is responsible for putting together such things, and that Trump had nothing to do with it. All right. And Benjamin Netanyahu has stated that Trump has promised unequivocal support if negotiations break down and Israel has to resume the war. Maybe things aren’t as odd and disquieting as they seem. One thing is certain: we will certainly see where Trump actually stands soon enough.
Still, like MSNBC, I remember Grover Cleveland’s disappointing second term. It doesn’t have to be that way for Trump, and all free people hope that it won’t be. For all of our sakes.
