WASHINGTON — As Donald Trump prepared to cap a remarkable comeback with a swearing-in ceremony Monday, Georgia leaders from both sides of the aisle braced for a flurry of executive orders and a new political landscape dominated by the once-and-future president’s MAGA movement.
Four years after he left the nation’s capital in disgrace, Trump’s swearing-in will take place amid unprecedented security measures and a sharp break from tradition with proceedings now unfolding inside the Capitol Rotunda because of dangerously plunging temperatures in Washington.
Trump is set to return to the White House wielding more power than ever before. His narrow-yet-decisive victories in Georgia and other key battleground states have silenced much of the progressive left and mainstream opposition on the right.
By Monday afternoon, Trump and his allies will command a federal trifecta, with control of the White House, both chambers of Congress and a conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Overjoyed Georgia Republicans are also celebrating the restoration of several Trump allies who suffered defeats in the 2020 and 2022 campaigns. Former U.S. Rep. Doug Collins and ex-U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler have both been appointed to Cabinet-level positions, while former U.S. Sen. David Perdue is nominated as the nation’s U.S. ambassador to China.
“Trump’s return to power is returning excitement and energy for what it means to be an American to millions of people,” said Republican state Sen. Jason Anavitarte, one of hundreds of Georgians at a celebratory gala at Union Station on Saturday.
“Now, we have an economy to fix and geopolitical concerns that only strong leaders like Donald Trump, JD Vance, Marco Rubio and others can address to ensure the next generation is strong,” he said, invoking Trump’s vice-presidential pick and his selection for secretary of state.
Democrats pulsed with anxiety and dread over Trump’s agenda, which includes promises to begin a large-scale mass deportation effort, promises to end birthright citizenship and vows to pardon an unspecified number of the roughly 1,600 people charged for the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
At his Sunday sermon from Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock urged congregants not to despair over Trump’s victory as he noted that Inauguration Day will coincide with Martin Luther King Jr. Day for only the third time in U.S. history.
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
“The voice of Dr. King rings with more power from the crypt than the voices of most of our political leaders who speak in the public square today,” said Warnock. “Dr. King is stronger in the grave than most of the folk who are talking in that office where I work every single day.”
Deference or dissent
The upended political landscape will have vast influence on Georgia in ways predictable and unforeseen.
Law enforcement officials are readying their responses to Trump’s immigration orders. Local leaders are watching the fate of his promises to slash business regulations and scale back green energy incentives that have fostered an explosion in Georgia’s electric vehicle industry.
The political ramifications are also still unfolding. The Never Trumper movement within the Republican Party was largely stamped out as Trump stormed past his GOP rivals in last year’s presidential primary and recaptured Georgia in the November election on his way to the biggest Electoral College margin since Barack Obama’s 2012 victory.
Along the way, Gov. Brian Kemp and mainstream Georgia Republicans who for years have been on the wrong side of his wrath struck tentative truces with the incoming president.
As the second-term governor put it in a recent interview, Republicans have a knack for letting “bygones be bygones and just do whatever it takes to win.”
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden aimed to go out of office on a high note. He spent his final hours in office celebrating his accomplishments, including a ceasefire in Gaza, and announcing additional clemency actions.
Biden on Friday commuted the sentences of another 2,500 people convicted of nonviolent drug charges, including 49 people whose cases originated in Georgia.
“With this action, I have now issued more individual pardons and commutations than any president in U.S. history,” the president said in a statement accompanying the announcement.
Democrats are still hashing out their best strategy to counter Trump’s second administration. The mass demonstrations and vows of resistance that greeted his first presidency have largely been replaced by vows to work with Trump where possible and vigorously oppose his agenda when not.
Georgia Senate Minority Leader Harold Jones II promised outspoken opposition from Democratic legislators to divisive legislation on social issues and an embrace of consensus-driven measures.
“We will not allow cultural war issues to distract us from our vision,” he said, adding that his party’s agenda would be “based on family, community, faith, love and a desire to do what is right for every citizen. And above all, we always put you, your family and your community over corporate profits.”
Other Democrats also signaled they won’t hesitate to take a confrontational approach. During his sermon, Warnock invoked an old saying that “you’re better off rich and guilty than poor and innocent.”
“Because if you’re poor and guilty, you cannot vote for a president, but if you’re rich and guilty, you can be president,” Warnock said, a not-so-subtle reference to Trump’s guilty verdict in a hush-money trial. “But don’t lose hope. Don’t lose heart. Stand on your feet.”
Trump’s supporters, meanwhile, have grand visions for the future. Anna Mertel of Fulton County was among dozens of Georgians who joined an overnight bus caravan to a suburban RV park in Maryland to catch a glimpse of the inauguration.
“We worked hard to get Trump this far. I knocked (on) doors and urged people to vote. He’s going to work hard for what he promised. We have to change this country, it’s been a mess.”
AJC data analyst Charles Minshew contributed to this report.
