The Second Term I: Comparing Apples to Orange Hair

History doesn't repeat itself, but it apparently rhymes in iambic pandemonium.

For the next four weeks, I'll be looking at presidential history’s ultimate "I told you so": the second term.

As Trump's cabinet picks detonate like political grenades in even the most fortified Republican bunkers, I find myself mesmerized by the spectacle of political encores—a coveted prize that frequently transforms from golden ticket to leaden millstone.

Second terms are Washington's version of a greatest hits album—highly anticipated but rarely live up to the hype. From Eisenhower to Obama, two-termers tend to arrive with the word “mandate” ricocheting around their heads, imagining they've been handed a blank check to remake America. But in reality, they often find themselves trapped in a political quagmire of their own making. Hard-won second terms often tarnish rather than burnish presidential legacies.

Trump, ever the disruptor, is rewriting this well-worn script with the subtlety of a bull in a China shop. He's the first former president in a century to boomerang back to power, a Phoenix rising from the ashes of Mar-a-Lago's golf course. If past is prologue, the best case scenario: we're in for a four-year epic of hubris, overreach, and unintended consequences.

Cleveland and Trump: Comparing Apples to Orange Hair

This week, I aim to convince you, and by extension, everyone you know, to stop pretending this comparison is meaningfully germane to the conversation: Grover Cleveland and Donald Trump are the only nonconsecutive presidents to be reelected in American history, but the similarities end there.

Cleveland's presidency was a quaint 19th-century waltz of fiscal conservatism and isolationism. Trump's tenure is a 21st-century mosh pit of policy whiplash, Twitter diplomacy, and GOP metamorphosis.

The Trump-Cleveland comparison fails to capture the seismic shifts in policy, party dynamics, and international relations we're about to experience. We're witnessing a political redux where the stakes are higher, the players more volatile, and the rulebook has been fed through a shredder.

See you soonish! In the meantime, you can find me on Twitter and Instagram and my books on Bookshop, Amazon, and your local bookstore or library. If you’d like me to sign or personalize my books, purchase copies from Oblong.

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