Donald Trump didn’t stroll into Washington; he crash-landed, gold-plated baggage in tow, like a wrecking ball aimed squarely at the capital’s marble pillars. For the bipartisan establishment, his presidency wasn’t a four-year hiccup—it was a five-alarm fire. The Democrats, having marched further left, joined hands with the pearl-clutching RINOs to douse the flames of Trump’s unruly outsiderism, all while calling it a defense of democracy.
In his first term, Trump was a bull in the bureaucracy’s china shop. Despite the chaos—the Russia “investigation,” palace intrigue, and a pandemic-sized curveball—he racked up wins the establishment never expected. But rather than acknowledge his legitimacy, his opponents clung to the idea that he was an electoral mistake, like a reality show that should’ve been canceled after one season. The irony? Trump’s the man who turned The Apprentice into a television juggernaut, proving he doesn’t get canceled—he doubles down.
Post-presidency, Trump’s life has been a legal circus. He’s been hit with more charges than a mid-season episode of Law & Order. In New York, the judicial system seems more interested in auditioning for Succession than in impartiality, turning him into a symbol of resistance to everything they find distasteful about his gilded brand.
But Trump, ever the showman, isn’t playing the victim this time—he’s casting himself as the comeback king. Learning from the betrayals of his first term, he’s calling in a new cast of characters to storm Washington’s barricades. Kash Patel for the FBI? Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence? Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to oversee the Health Department? Pete Hegseth for the Department of Defense?
It’s less a cabinet and more a declaration of war on the establishment. Patel represents a blunt force overhaul of an FBI Trump sees as corrupted by partisanship. Gabbard, a former Democrat who broke with her own party to challenge its orthodoxy, brings an independent streak to intelligence, unafraid to question Washington groupthink. Kennedy, famous for refusing to drink the Kool-Aid of government health dogma, signals Trump’s desire to confront the agencies that pushed the one-size-fits-all pandemic response. And Hegseth, a veteran and unapologetic advocate for a strong military, embodies Trump’s vision of restoring defense leadership unencumbered by woke politics.
This isn’t just a lineup—it’s a rebellion against the entrenched swamp creatures who’ve run Washington like a country club. Trump is surrounding himself with political outsiders who, like him, reject the status quo, making clear he’s not just aiming to govern—he’s aiming to upend.
This new strategy is as much a rebellion against bureaucracy as it is a middle finger to his critics. Trump isn’t just reloading his MAGA agenda—he’s targeting the machinery that literally tried to bury him. And yet, his critics call him the autocrat, while the deep state bends institutions to its will like an overzealous yoga instructor. The irony would be funny if it weren’t so predictable.
Even after assassination attempts—yes, actual ones—Trump’s persistence shows he’s more resilient than a tabloid scandal. For his detractors, he’s a wrecking ball; for his supporters, he’s the contractor ready to rebuild. Either way, he’s the central character in a drama the establishment can’t seem to rewrite.
As Trump gears up for a second act, the question isn’t whether the deep state will fight him—they will. It’s whether voters will see through the noise to recognize that Washington has become less about public service and more about preserving its own power. The pot can call the kettle black all it wants, but Trump’s determined to flip the table, spill the tea, and build a new one out of his golden playbook.
Sam Fant is a columnist for The Nevada Globe.
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