New Trump Era Brings Virtue and Greatness


Mark Halperin: Don’t Bet Against Trump


Known on both sides of the aisle for his political insight, veteran political analyst and Newsmax contributor Mark Halperin talks about the challenges he foresees for Donald Trump’s second term.


Newsmax: Has President-elect Donald Trump generated a historic political realignment? Mark Halperin: It’s transformative


in the moment. But it’s only going to be transformative over the longer term if Donald Trump — and whoever succeeds him as the leader of the par- ty — fi gures out how to consolidate the gains that were made with Hispan- ics, Blacks, and young voters. Trump opened the door, and they walked in. But now they’ve got to make sure that they don’t leave. That is going to re- quire both politics and policy.


Trump declared he would end the war in Ukraine immediately. Is that realistic? He’s got extraordinary leverage over


Ukraine, and he’s got a fair amount of leverage over Russia, which would also like to end the war. So I think it’s possible he will actually end the war pretty quickly. It’s not a certainty, but it’s certainly possible.


Top executives at the DOJ, the FBI, and the Pentagon are alarmed that Team Trump is going to clean house. Do you expect a lot of heads to roll?


They want to change the culture of the Pentagon. They want to send a message that there’s a new sheriff and com- mander in chief in town. And it’s going to be up to the leaders at the Pentagon, including the new defense


secretary, 56 NEWSMAX | JANUARY 2025


to carry that out. I think President Trump will look for his opportunities for accountability, his opportunities for revenge, and his opportunities for policy changes.


What are the three top agenda items Trump must focus on? First, pass a tax bill. Second, con-


trol the border. And third, impact the forever wars. Democrats are talking about run-


ning out the clock until the 2026 mid- terms, knowing a president in his sec- ond term soon becomes a lame duck. Will Trump prove to be an exception? Lame ducks are called lame for a


reason, but Trump often defi es the norms. I don’t think he ran for reelec- tion to waste half of his second term. I think he’ll be pretty aggressive.


Which is more likely: that Trump will succeed in reforming the political status quo? Or that the entrenched power centers inside the beltway will find a way to stifle MAGA once and for all?


Trump has a rare opportunity as a two-term president — but with four years off to think about it. That gives him a chance to make fundamen- tal changes against the deep state,


against


Washington, and against the establishment of both his par- ty and the nation’s capi- tal. I wouldn’t bet against him.


HALPERIN


federal tax revenues. “We did a lot to help corpo-


rations become more competi- tive and lower the tax rate on American companies so they could compete in global mar- kets,” economist Moore told Newsmax. “So that brought a lot of capital and jobs back to the United States.” During the campaign, for-


mer Vice President Kamala Harris said she wanted to raise the corporate tax rate back up to 28%. Trump, by contrast, announced plans to push cor- porate taxes even lower, to 15% — but only for companies that manufacture their products in the United States. In the weeks ahead, there will


be plenty of wrangling to come over the details of Trump’s tax proposals. Ultimately, however, his historic political comeback and landslide victory should re- verberate enough across Capi- tol Hill to at least win the exten- sion of the TCJA. In the memorable words


of former President Barack Obama, “Elections have conse- quences.” Trump and his economic


team won’t settle for a simple reformulation or extension of the successful Trump 1.0 strat- egy. They have several new ele- ments in mind beyond main- taining lower rates. “I think that the emphasis is


entrenched


going to be really on the small business side and how we can help small businesses continue to expand,” Moore said. “Small businesses really have been the victims of the infl ation, and Biden’s regulatory assault has really hurt them.” Among Trump’s recent pro-


posals: ending taxes on gratu- ities and overtime pay, and pro- tecting Social Security benefi ts from taxation.


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