Politico Global Editor-in-Chief John F. Harris argued in a new op-ed that President Donald Trump’s second victory proves he has so thoroughly dominated American politics that he is likely to rank among the country’s most successful leaders.
Harris clarified that he did not describe Trump as a righteous or evil character, nor did he say that Trump was a successful president, but reiterated that his influence was monumental in any case.
“He’s a force in history,” Harris said his column published on 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 cast the president in a “whole new light” — he now “holds power under circumstances in which reasonable people cannot deny a basic fact: He is the greatest American figure of his era.”
Harris explained that the assessment of Trump is “an objective description of the dimensions of his record,” noting how the president began “dominating” the GOP nearly a decade ago and now dominates “every discussion of American politics in general.”
He pointed out that Trump’s second victory proves that it is “not a fluke” despite his opponents in the media repeating his flaws for almost a decade. “He is someone with the ability to see opportunities that most politicians do not and to build strong, lasting connections with large numbers of people in ways that no contemporary can match,” said the editor-in-chief, adding that he himself was “slowly” seeing this power. .
Harris said Trump’s political opponents must end their strategy of portraying Trump as a political aberration. “They cannot push Trump to the margins, treating him as a current anomaly or simply condemning him as illegal and illegitimate,” he said.
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“Opponents have no choice but to acknowledge that he and his movement make a great historical argument – and then muster similarly great arguments to defeat him.”
Harris went on to compare Trump’s individual traits to those that mark “the most consistent presidents.”
“Like his influential predecessors, his arguments have changed the terms of the debate in ways that resonate within both sides—in this case, on issues such as trade, Chinaand the role of large corporations,” he said, adding, “Like other great presidents, Trump was a communications innovator and exploited technological advances more effectively than his rivals.”
The author also pointed to Trump’s “unusual psychological fortitude” as “a signature exhibited by the most consistent presidents.”
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President Donald Trump leaves the indoor presidential inauguration parade in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
“Imagine running for president in the midst of massive civil lawsuits, criminal prosecutions, and even convictions for criminal offences – then emerging from this quagmire as a larger figure than before. No one needs to admire success to recognize that Trump possesses some rare qualities of denial, combativeness and resilience.”
Harris noted that several of the great unifying presidents in American history were also seen as controversial and somewhat divisive in their time, suggesting that Trump may also be portrayed in this light in the years to come.
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Trump has yet to prove he can be a unifier, he added, however, writing: “What he hasn’t shown in his first term, or in his incredible journey to his second, was the ability to bring these conflicts to a resolution, to unite the country on a new level of understanding , it would require Trump to discover a new understanding of himself and how to use the next four years.”
