Donald Trump’s return to the presidency is a major threat to democracy and Democrats need to “find a new way to defeat him,” according to the left-leaning New Republic, which lambasted the returning president’s “nakedly fascistic agenda,” and calls to “extinguish the growing movement he leads.”
In an article published on Trump’s inauguration day, The New Republic slammed the new president, branding him as an authoritarian leader whose influence has only grown stronger since his initial term.
The First Resistance Failed. The Next One Can’t. https://t.co/Uddna5rT5v
— The New Republic (@newrepublic) January 20, 2025
Revisiting Trump’s first inaugural address in 2017, the Monday piece notes how many Democrats were “shell-shocked” by his surprise victory over Hillary Clinton, with some refusing to even acknowledge his legitimacy as president.
“Eight years ago today… ‘President Trump’ was still hard to fathom,” it states. “In fact, many Democrats simply refused to believe it: They considered Trump an illegitimate president who should be rejected outright.”
The left-wing magazine cites “legitimate questions about Russia’s influence in the 2016 election—not to mention Russia’s influence over Trump himself” as part of its reasoning, though acknowledging the accusations culminated in a “multiyear scandal” that did not permanently derail Trump’s presidency.
According to the essay, the initial anti-Trump movement, which was partly motivated by the Republican president’s “rampant misogyny” and “extreme immigration policies,” was “remarkably successful” in stymying Trump’s agenda during his first term.
“The so-called Resistance was right: Trump really was an authoritarian,” it states, arguing that “Trump was an abomination, and Democrats treated him that way from the jump.”
However, the article argues that this opposition ultimately “failed miserably” to eliminate Trump’s political influence, despite multiple impeachments, criminal investigations, and public protests.
An infographic titled “U.S. President Donald Trump’s First Executive Orders and Statements” (Omar Zaghloul/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“[H]ere we are again. But there’s no sign of a repeat movement against a Trump presidency, when it’s needed now more than ever,” it reads.
Describing Trump as “more experienced and more extreme” than he was in 2017, with “he and his allies hav[ing] learned from their failures the first time around,” The New Republic decries his administration’s “nakedly fascistic agenda,” while labeling his recent inauguration as “more traumatic” than the first.
The piece laments that Democrats failed to “banish Trump from public life,” arguing that his return to the White House reflects a “total failure” of both the Democratic Party and the broader Resistance movement.
“Now Democrats have to face a new reality: Not only is Trump here to stay, but they have to find a new way to defeat him—and, just as importantly, extinguish the growing movement he leads,” it warns.
The article criticizes Democratic leaders for their lack of a coherent strategy to counter Trump, suggesting that they relied too heavily on demonizing him personally rather than proposing meaningful political alternatives. It argues that, for years, Democrats “fixated on Trump’s vulgarity, disdain for democracy, and general aura of chaos” without offering solutions to the issues that propelled Trump’s rise to power.
According to the essay, which declares that “not being the party of Trump is no longer enough,” Democrats have repeatedly positioned themselves as the party of opposition, using Trump as a “singular political force” to rally support without addressing broader challenges.
Accusing the Republican Party of drifting “toward authoritarianism and obstruction… long before Trump descended the escalator in 2015,” the piece slams the “remarkably naïve” Democrat approach, which often lacked a “political alternative to Trumpism,” arguing that it allowed Trump to solidify his base and reshape American politics.
Calling for renewed resistance to Trump’s presidency, the article laments the lack of large-scale protests or opposition movements similar to those seen in 2017, while criticizing the Democrat Party for “showcasing an eagerness to cooperate and compromise at every turn” with the new Trump administration.
With Democrats’ inability to stop Trump marking “the biggest political failure of this century, if not longer,” the article concludes by warning that Trumpism will dominate Republican politics for “at least a generation,” calling on Democrats to propose an “actual alternative to Trump’s demagogic promises” rather than relying on opposition alone.
The matter comes as critics on the left continue issuing dire warnings about supposed risks of a second Trump presidency, continuing a familiar pattern of opposition rooted in their disdain for him and his policies.
Joshua Klein is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at
