Trump’s Second Term Will Be Nothing Like His First

When a president is running for a second term, elections tend to look like a contest between change (a new candidate) and more of the same (the incumbent).

But 2020 doesn’t fit the mold. As aberrant as Donald Trump’s first term in office has been, a second term might be a more radical departure from the past four years than even a comparative return to normalcy under Joe Biden would be. In other words, this is a change election either way—the question is what kind of change.

Some Trump supporters have dismissed the concerns of his critics as so much Chicken Little-ing: This is a foolish response, not only because so much of the sky fallen, but also because there are indications of how fast the rest will fall if Trump is reelected. The president, freed from ever having to face voters again, would feel