Politico global editor-in-chief John F. Harris argued in a new piece that President Donald Trump’s second victory proves that he has dominated American politics so thoroughly that he will likely be counted among the country’s most consequential leaders.
Harris clarified that he was not describing Trump as a righteous or evil character, nor was he saying that Trump has been a successful president, but he reiterated that his impact is monumental either way.
“He is a force of history,” Harris declared in his column published Tuesday.
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TOPSHOT – US President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on January 20, 2025. (JIM WATSON/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
The editor-in-chief said Trump’s second inauguration on Monday puts the president in an “entirely new light” – he is now “holding power under circumstances in which reasonable people cannot deny a basic fact: He is the greatest American figure of his era.”
Harris explained that assessment of Trump is “an objective description about the dimensions of his record,” noting how the president began by “dominating” the GOP nearly a decade ago and now dominates “every discussion of American politics broadly.”
He noted that Trump’s second victory proves he is “not a fluke” despite his opponents in the media hammering his flaws for almost ten years. “He is someone with an ability to perceive opportunities that most politicians do not and forge powerful, sustained connections with large swaths of people in ways that no contemporary can match,” the editor-in-chief stated, adding that he himself has been “slow” to see this power.
Harris went to say that Trump’s political opponents must do away with their strategy to paint Trump as a political aberration. “They cannot push Trump to the margins, by treating him as a momentary anomaly or simply denouncing him as lawless and illegitimate,” he stated.
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“Opponents have no choice but to acknowledge he and his movement represent a large historical argument — and then rally similarly large arguments to defeat it.”
Harris continued by comparing Trump’s individual traits to those marking “the most consequential presidents.”
“Like influential predecessors, his arguments have shifted the terms of debate in ways that echo within both parties — in this case, on issues such as trade, China, and the role of big corporations,” he said, adding, “Like other large presidents, Trump has been a communications innovator and exploited technological shifts more effectively than rivals.”
The author also pointed to Trump’s “uncommon psychological toughness” as a “signature shown by the most consequential presidents.”
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President Donald Trump departs an indoor Presidential Inauguration parade event in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
“Imagine running for president amid huge civil suits, criminal prosecutions, and even felony convictions — then emerging from this morass as a larger figure than before. No one needs to admire the achievement to recognize that Trump is possessed by some rare traits of denial, combativeness and resilience.”
Harris noted several of the great unifying presidents of American history were also seen as controversial and somewhat divisive in their day, suggesting that Trump could also be cast in this light in the years ahead.
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Trump has yet to prove he can be the unifier, he added however, writing, “What he didn’t show in his first term, or on his improbable pathway to a second, was an ability to bring these conflicts to resolution, to unite the country on a new level of understanding. This would require Trump revealing a new understanding about himself and how to use the next four years.”
