The Second, Non-Consecutive President
Tomorrow, January 20, 2025, is the inauguration of President Donald Trump, the second, non-consecutive president. He has been through a lot, to say the least, but still finds himself in yet another historical moment. Donald Trump is only the second president in U.S. history to serve a second, non-consecutive presidential term. Before him, Democrat Grover Cleveland held this title by serving from 1885-1889, losing the 1888 election to Republican Benjamin Harrison and then being elected again in 1892 to serve from 1893-1897. While the circumstances, and most certainly the Republican and Democrat parties overall, are much different than they were then, it is interesting to draw some similarities between Trump’s and Cleveland’s path to this title.
Grover was pretty blunt, much like Trump. He once wrote to a friend, “I must go to dinner, but I wish it was to eat a pickled herring a Swiss cheese and a chop at Louis’ instead of the French stuff I shall find.” He clearly did not take to the finer things that the White House had to offer to him and he never held back from letting people know. A stern, although sometimes controversial, take on policy was what he was known for. He did not eagerly hand out government funding, like many of the Democrats in today’s world tend to do, which made him pretty unique.
For example, he vetoed two different bills relating to fraudulent pension claims from Civil War veterans and disabilities not caused from military service. He also withheld aid from Texas farmers facing a drought stating, “Federal aid in such cases encourages the expectation of paternal care on the part of the Government and weakens the sturdiness of our national character. . .” While this is a bit extreme, especially for the farmers that were providing food for our Nation, you have got to admit that Grover was pretty consistent in his policies across the board.
It goes without saying that Trump is as, if not more, blunt and consistent in his policies as well. President Trump faced extreme backlash in his first term and found it hard to get a lot of things done on his agenda. From Republicans turning against him to Democrats constantly trying to take him down, he could not do much of anything. He did, however, stick to his policies and never waivered outside of what is reasonable to get things passed in the crazy world of politics.
This second term should be much better as he now knows who to pick to advise him and he has a Republican majority all the way around for a while. The man has been through a lot (two assassination attempts, lawsuits, defamation, etc.) and he still keeps going. I hold a tremendous amount of respect for President Trump and I look forward to seeing his vision for the United States play out in real time.
