We’ve reached the end of another year.  As we await the inauguration of Donald Trump on January 20, I thought that we should examine the history of presidential politics in order to fully appreciate the magnitude of what is the greatest political comeback in the history of our nation.

Going back to his first victory in 2016, Donald Trump already was defying the odds and making history.  The 2016 election was the first since 1944 (Roosevelt-Dewey) where both candidates were from the same State (New York).  That also happened in 1920 and 1940. It happened for the first time in 1860 (Lincoln-Douglas).  After that 1860 election we had a Civil War, which is close to what occurred after Trump’s first victory.

Winning your home State when you run for president ordinarily is a must.  Just ask Al Gore, who would have been elected in 2000 had he won his State of Tennessee.  2016 also was the first time in 100 years that the winning candidate lost his own State and won the presidency.  Woodrow Wilson had done it in 1916.  Add Trump to that list.

Of course, Trump lost the 2020 election due to a combination of the Wuhan plague and mail ballot fraud.  Anyone who thinks Corrupt Demented Imbecile Joe Biden really got 81 million votes after being quarantined in his basement, I’ve got a bridge to sell you.  But Biden won, and Trump was out in the wilderness.

Democrats were content to leave Trump in the wilderness until 2022, when he announced that he was running again.  At that point, the Democrat Party, the “Party of the People,” that bastion of respect for democracy, and arbiter of all things pure and holy, sprung into action.

They already had impeached Trump twice, spied on his campaign and set his own Justice Department against him as president.  That hadn’t worked, so in the spirit of fairness, justice and propriety, they had him indicted four times, and perverted the law to attempt to bankrupt him.

They were doing a pretty good job with that, only whatever they did to him, it seemed to make Trump stronger.  Clearly, more stringent measures were warranted.  They knew that the Iranians were actively trying to kill Trump, Mike Pompeo and John Bolton (no loss there), so purely coincidentally, somebody decided to have the Secret Service deny Trump basic security coverage for his rallies.

Instead of members of the Secret Service protection detail, random Secret Service officers, unfamiliar with the protection protocols, and local officers who lacked the ability to communicate with the Secret Service people were assigned to Trump’s protection, including one woman who brought her infant to work to be breast fed.

The result was two assassination attempts, one of which resulted in Trump’s being shot in the ear.  The second attempt, at the Trump golf course in Palm Beach, was another insult to common sense which easily could have been avoided.

The would be assassin, for some 12 hours, sat in an area well known to the Secret Service as a spot from which one could look out onto the golf course.  There were no sweeps of the perimeter fence.  For that matter, I have a cousin who in one day could have raised the level of the fence and inserted metal slats that would have blocked all view from behind the fence onto the course.  None of that was done, and Trump again was placed in jeopardy.

Move on to the 2024 election.  This marked only the second time in our history that a president who was defeated came  back to win a second, non-consecutive term.  Grover Cleveland was elected in 1884, defeated in 1888, and elected again in 1892, to become the 22d and 24th presidents.

There are some parallels between Cleveland and Trump.  Both were from New York.  Both times Cleveland was elected, he got less than 50% of the vote.  Both Cleveland and Trump won close elections the first time, lost close elections the second time, and then won by a large margin in their third attempts.

Cleveland lost in 1888 because he lost his home State of New York.  Shades of Al Gore in 2000.  In the Cleveland elections, as in the Trump elections, the issue of high tariffs was important.  The difference was that Cleveland’s opposition to high tariffs cost him the 1888 election, while Trump’s promise of high tariffs carried him to victory.

Donald Trump is considered to be a Populist candidate, but  Populism is hardly a new concept in American politics.  In the 1892 election, which Cleveland won, a Populist candidate, James Weaver, actually won four States (Colorado, Idaho, Nevada and Kansas).  Weaver did poorly in the South, however, due to Democrat Party intimidation of voters and election fraud. (Some things never change, do they?)

Fast forward to 2024, and Trump won 31 States to 19 for Que Mala Harris.  Purely by coincidence of course, the States Harris won were those where no identification is required for voting, and where votes are counted from November into December.   In any event, Trump won and now will be the 45th and 47th presidents.

History aside, there is reason to have hope that the chaos and insanity of the last four years will be replaced with a return to normalcy and common sense.  Already there are signs that the Woke fever dream is coming to an end.  The mania for DEI, defunding the police, and flaunting the law has been curtailed.

Trump 47 has a plan in place to secure the border and begin to deport the alien criminals that Biden set loose to prey on Americans.  Some Blue State governors are pledging resistance, but they will soon be ground under the wheels of Tom Homan’s ICE juggernaut.

Best of all, even the 24/7 slander and lie campaign of the lap dog media failed to stop Trump from being reelected.  CNN is in shambles, having lost half its already minuscule audience.  MSNBC has suffered a similar fate.  Layoffs and pay cuts are afflicting the lying Left commentators.  ABC even had to settle a libel suit with Trump, paying him some $16 million for George Stephanopolous slanders.

Stephanopolous is said to be incensed over the settlement.  Here’s some advice George.  When you announce (10 times) that a person has been convicted of a crime he did not commit, that’s called defamation per se.  The only issue to be determined is how much you need to pay.  ABC did the right thing.  Had the damage award been set by a Florida jury, Trump would own a good part of Disney.

So let’s hope that the Trump victory will lead to more balanced reporting, and a calmer, saner nation.  One parallel Trump needs to avoid with Grover Cleveland is his fate after reelection.  After being inaugurated in 1893, Cleveland was hit with the Panic of 1893, a near depression that roiled financial markets and ruined the economy.  Hopefully the DOGE boys can avoid a 2025 recession.

January 20 is coming.  Get your popcorn ready.