Why is Trump so much more powerful this time?

The Washington Post ^ | August 29, 2025 | Jason Willick

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Trump is exercising dramatically more power than in his first term. Here’s what provides the fuel.

There are at least two measures of a president’s power. The first is how many prerogatives he claims. The second is how much resistance he faces.

In his first term, Donald Trump was a weak president — maybe even historically weak. When he made even modest assertions of power, the blowback from other institutions was intense. One example: The president clearly has the power to fire the director of the FBI. Yet when Trump did so in 2017, it prompted a special-counsel investigation that threatened for nearly two years to consume his administration. He wanted to fire the special counsel but couldn’t because the blowback would have been even greater.

At the start of his second term, Trump is a historically strong president. Indeed, there’s a good argument he has amassed “more power than any of his peacetime predecessors,” as Walter Russell Mead put it this month in the Wall Street Journal. Forget firing senior law enforcement officials, who wouldn’t dare cross Trump anyway. This week, he became the first president in the Federal Reserve’s 112-year history to fire a member of its board of governors, in an attempt to control monetary policy. The issue will be litigated, but had Trump pulled something similar in his first term, the political and bureaucratic counterreaction would have been an order of magnitude greater.

Or take Trump’s use of the military in the United States. In the summer of 2020, Trump wanted to override governors and send troops to U.S. cities amid some of the most destructive rioting in U.S. history. He had a reasonable argument, as local authorities were not adequately controlling violence and vandalism. But...

[E. Pluribus Unum]

[BenLurkin]

One example: The president clearly has the power to fire the director of the FBI. Yet when Trump did so in 2017, it prompted a special-counsel investigation that threatened for nearly two years to consume his administration.

Wapo anwers its own question.

[stanne]

First term was never about power it was get your enemies close. SS how they operate

He knows they were never going to give him power. gOP the worst of all

Abbott just signed new district law. No one. Not fixed, no one has the map

5 new rep seats. Texans are ashamed. Fox News is not cooperative

That’s how powerful Trump is.

RINOs hate him. The judiciary out to squash

In his first term the democrats had power. Now they’re going to have to give it up.

[for-q-clinton]

in an attempt to control monetary policy. WRONG! It was because she is accused of a crime which directly impacts her trustworthiness in the position she holds.

[PGalt]

Yes. They deserve it.

[for-q-clinton]

But the real reason is they impeached him twice, raided his family home, tried to murder him at least twice, tried to put him in prison at least 4 times, and they continually lie about him.

He’s done with their bullsh##.

[Williams]

No Paul Ryan.

[SunStar]

Unbelievably, the Washington Post did a pretty good job answering its own questions.

The article mentions Trump's capturing of the popular vote, the lack of "Russia Russia Russia" as an effective tool this time around, Democrats throwing the kitchen sink at Trump insofar as the politically-motivated legal campaigns in-between his two terms (which failed), and the Republicans' political will to actually wield the power granted by the people.

[chajin]

God stopped Thomas Crooks.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

He went into his first term with the idea that both sides wanted the country to be run better. He found that was not the case for either side.

Gentle nudges and polite suggestions were not going to do it.

So this time he brought his crowbar.

[Vaduz]

Democrats have been called many names but smart isn’t one of them as their record shows.

Can’t cure stupidity

[MrRelevant]

Calling your boss a fascist does not help 😂

[allendale]

Trump has so much power because the Democrats under Biden did so much damage to the country, that the people are willing to allow Trump to do what is necessary in a definitive manner. They will even overlook some of his mistakes as long as he keeps doing the right things.

[mewzilla]

Trump learns from his mistakes. :-)

[MrRelevant]

I see it as two things:

1. He has nothing to lose. He is going for it. For all the hyperbole Trump will not run again. He is making sure leaves a legacy.

2. He has learned alot. There is no substitute for experience.

[DeplorablePaul]

Worse. The lawfare campaign made Trump a sympathetic victim of the vicious use of government to ruin and even kill him. Trump is fully exonerated from the charge that he is using the government to seek revenge against his enemies. Democrats started it.

[Bruce Campbells Chin]

The biggest difference is that there is a focused, well-organized effort by the Administration to take back power from federal administrative agencies. In essence, pushing the Unitary Executive Theory.

Most importantly, he is listening to the right legal minds when doing so, which means that more often than not, he wins in the courts rather than losing.

Bluster that isn't employed in accordance with the law ends up backfiring.

[katana]

Both houses of Congress, the Supreme Court (from appointments in his first term), four years of Biden dementia and the insanity of todays Western Left, and the precedents THEY set for the exercise of executive power. People did try to warn them, sow the wind and reap, etc.

But Communists cannot conceive of ever losing power and will always do everything in their power to make sure it doesn't happen. Assassination is just one of their tools. But Providence once again gave Donald Trump and America a second chance despite all their conspiracies, crimes, money, machinations, complete control of the traditional propaganda apparatus (aka "The Media"), academia, and the lower Federal courts. This time we've raised the black flag. No prisoners.

[xkaydet65]

In 2017 Trump knew nothing how DC worked. He thought he did but he didnt. He also had no cadre of staff to guide him so he turned to a never ending parade of GOP failures. Lrobably the best he found was Pompeo and his own son in law who helped create the Abraham Accords. This time around he’s taken what he leaned the first time, built a cadre of guality, knowledge and guts, hr’s turned to fowmer adversaries like Rubio and created a first rate cabinet and he listens to them. Very big difference. I dont know if it happens if he wins in ‘20.

[SmokingJoe]

In part because Jeff Sessions is not Attorney General.
He basically abdicated his duties to Trump hating Rosenstein who set out to wage war on Trump.