Second-time unlucky

The world has greeted the prospect of a second Donald Trump presidency with a shrug.

- MIHIR S SHARMA

Compared to the outrage, the fears, and the open disdain with which his first successful election in 2016 was greeted, his triumph this month seems to be viewed with some complacency. Even among American liberals, the soul-searching is less raw and intense than it was eight years ago, and the determination to "resist" is far less visible. The general feeling appears to be that he has already been in power once, and the world did not end.

There are, however, good reasons to think that Mr. Trump's next turn in office will be far more disruptive than his last. Here are just four of them.

First, he now has an unquestionable mandate. In 2016, he lost the popular vote, and even in the electoral college fewer than 100,000 votes swung three crucial swing states in his direction. This year, by contrast, he won easily. Every major swing state went his way. He ran up bigger margins in former swing states like Florida. Democrats' hopes that Texas would be the next swing state receded sharply as Mr. Trump opened up a new lead on his challengers in the US' second-biggest electoral prize. The Republican party seized control of the Senate, riding his coat-tails, and thus comfortably control of all three branches of government. Even traditionally Democratic areas, such as New York, saw big swings in favor of Mr. Trump.