From The Atlantic · Emma Sarappo · · 4m
How Trump's 2020 Loss Made Him Unstoppable
Two reporters who've covered Trump for years explain how his defeat transformed him into a more dangerous president.
In brief
Two reporters who've covered Trump for years explain how his defeat transformed him into a more dangerous president. Trump's loss in 2020 gave him four years to build a loyal government apparatus willing to bypass legal constraints, making his second term fundamentally different from his first. Originally reported by…
Two Trump experts become colleagues
Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan were rivals covering Trump for competing outlets. The New York Times hired Swan in late 2022, turning them into collaborators on their bestselling book Regime Change.
A decade of national anger
Since 9/11, America endured two wars, a fiscal crisis, and rising populism. By 2010, anger over immigration, debt, and job losses created the conditions for a fighter-type candidate.
The Ground Zero Mosque moment
In 2010, Carl Paladino ran for New York governor on opposition to a planned mosque near the World Trade Center. It signaled a shift in American politics that would eventually bring Trump to power.
Losing 2020 was his best outcome
Trump insiders told the authors that losing in 2020 was the best thing that happened to him. It gave him four years to build a government filled with loyalists willing to bypass legal constraints.
“the best thing that happened to him was losing in 2020”
Stephen Miller's four-year blueprint
During Trump's exile, Stephen Miller and his team didn't just plan policies. They identified lawyers across government who would reinterpret laws to bless Trump's agenda instead of blocking it.
The executive order blitz of 2025
Trump's first weeks in office featured a flood of executive orders that had been meticulously prepared during his four years out of power. Nothing was improvised.
From yearning to policy reality
In his first term, Trump admired how Xi Jinping and Rodrigo Duterte killed drug dealers. In his second term, he's implemented a policy treating cocaine traffickers as enemy combatants to be killed, not arrested.
Pete Hegseth enables the shift
With Pete Hegseth as Defense Secretary and compliant lawyers throughout government, Trump's extrajudicial killing fantasies became operational policy without public legal justification.
Immunity changes everything
Trump believes he's immune from prosecution and has privately said he'll pardon anyone within 250 feet of the Oval Office. This legal shield fundamentally altered what his second term could accomplish.
“I'm immune; I'm immune”
The Murdoch dinner pageant
At a White House dinner, Trump asked Rupert Murdoch to judge between JD Vance and Marco Rubio for succession. Murdoch praised Rubio while dismissing Vance, humiliating the vice president in front of Trump.
“Marco's brilliant”
Vance's Iran problem
JD Vance was the only voice in the Situation Room arguing against Trump's Iran war. That disagreement didn't go well, and now he faces a difficult path to the 2028 nomination.
Trump refuses to be a lame duck
Instead of accepting his final two years as a lame duck, Trump is pursuing personal projects like a White House ballroom and the Kennedy Center renovation.
Crypto wealth dwarfs Biden scandals
Trump has made more money than ever before in office, including 2.2 billion dollars in crypto assets in his first year. His wealth accumulation far exceeds any Hunter Biden controversy.
Congress has no real power
Trump's government ignores congressional subpoenas. Congress's only recourse is a contempt vote and referral to Attorney General Todd Blanche, who won't prosecute.
Courts move too slowly to stop him
Trump's ballroom and tariffs show courts can't stop him in real time. By the time courts rule, the damage is done and the opposition is overwhelmed.
Presidential norms were never law
Trump demonstrated that constraints on the presidency aren't legal requirements but self-restraint and norms. Future presidents of either party could exploit this precedent.
Biden tried to restore normalcy
President Biden used few executive orders, pursued major legislation, and left the Justice Department alone. But Democrats now want someone who fights like Republicans do.
Trump's party, Trump's rules
The Republican Party is Trump's until another Republican becomes president. Any Democratic response will be a reaction to his model, potentially expanding executive power further.
2028 could be a Perot moment
Voter anger at the system is high. Trump's broken campaign promises and high gas prices create an opening for an outsider candidate in 2028.
The key point
Trump's loss in 2020 gave him four years to build a loyal government apparatus willing to bypass legal constraints, making his second term fundamentally different from his first.
