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Donald Trump is now the second president to return to the White House after losing a bid for reelection. The first was Grover Cleveland, who ran a successful campaign in 1884 and 1892. I spoke with my colleague Russell Berman about his recent story on Cleveland’s legacy, the ways Trump’s win may reshape it, and how an electoral loss can become a political advantage.
Stephanie Bai: In your recent story, you wrote that some of Grover Cleveland’s fans aren’t too pleased with the comparisons being made between him and Donald Trump. But one similarity that struck me is how both Trump and Cleveland campaigned on the image of being political outsiders to connect with working-class voters—even though Cleveland co-owned a successful law practice and Trump’s return to office has been supported by titans of industry.
Did their initial electoral loss and the subsequent four-year gap between campaigns give any credence to their political-outsider narratives?
Russell Berman: Certainly for Trump, I think that is true. He was able to stand on the sidelines for the past four years and criticize former President Joe Biden for basically everything. Trump blamed him for inflation and made voters think more rosily about his first term than they did while he was in office. And he repeated what he had done successfully in 2015 and 2016, which was to position himself as an outsider—except back then, he really was an outsider to the political system.
Cleveland did that, too, to a lesser extent. By not being in office for four years, he was able to run as an outsider. Similarly to Trump, that’s what he had done earlier in his political career. Even in his runs for office for mayor of Buffalo and then for governor of New York, he was seen as the reluctant candidate. There’s some debate about whether that was true or if he just wanted voters to think that, but he was able to position himself as this anti-corruption populist. And unlike Trump, he actually followed through on his commitment to clean government once in office.
Stephanie: At his inauguration, Trump said he was “saved by God to make America great again” and serve another term. Do you think that his historic political comeback will affect the direction of his presidency?
Russell: Trump has always had this desire to resist any constraints on him and on the presidency. This is also what separates him from Cleveland, and probably what will end up separating their second terms. Cleveland adhered to the constitutional limits on the presidency. He didn’t try to expand the power of the presidency in the way that Trump has already in his second term, with his early executive orders going after birthright citizenship and trying to refuse to spend money appropriated by Congress. Trump is going to see how much he can get away with and what kind of resistance, if any, he’ll face within the Republican Party or in the courts.
But Cleveland’s comeback turned sour soon after he returned to the White House. His second term was marred by a very deep recession. The economy obviously is pretty strong right now, as we speak, but that can change quickly—especially because some economists are concerned about what Trump’s tariffs could do. So there is a warning for Trump in Cleveland’s story because Cleveland’s second term, similar to a lot of presidential second terms, was much rougher than his first.
Read More
- The president Trump is pushing aside: Grover Cleveland enthusiasts aren’t thrilled, Russell Berman reports.
- The lessons of 1884: When Grover Cleveland clinched the Democratic nomination and faced an allegation of misconduct, he created a new political playbook, Susan Wise Bauer writes.
- The independence of the executive: In an address to Princeton University published in 1900, Grover Cleveland spoke about the history and political deliberations surrounding his former office.
- Attempts to undo a presidential legacy: Benjamin Harrison, in the twilight of his presidency, sent a treaty to the Senate to advance the annexation of Hawai‘i. Weeks later, Cleveland’s first act as president was to withdraw that treaty and order an investigation of the American-led overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
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