Trump endured years of unrelenting attacks to engineer an historic comeback. Will he and his newly-appointed battalion of loyalists from outside D.C. deliver on their long list of exciting promises for an unprecedented future of peace and prosperity? 

Will Trump, who need never seek voter approval again, seek to wreak revenge?

Or both?

This is also the welcome day of departure for Joseph R. Biden Jr., who actually left us mentally some time ago. But now his wife and unidentified puppeteers must also depart the People’s House. 

They’re the elder abusers who convinced the gullible 82-year-old and a complicit cadre of party elders that he was as sharp as a tack and good to go for another four years of frequent vacations and secret treatments where no one could see what they were doing or the identity of his visitors. And willingly signing whatever paper they put before him.

What a relief and simultaneous joy for almost all Americans that the man who speaketh with forked tongue is finally leaving, except for the unidentified six percent who told Gallup pollsters the 82-year-old Biden was doing an outstanding job. 

Biden’s official legacy of serial screw-ups awaits history. But I didn’t wait.

Biden leaves office tied for the second-worst final month job-approval rating of any postwar president. The lowest at 34 percent was Jimmy Carter. At 39 points, Biden is tied with the man who was overwhelmingly elected to replace him, who now has a second chance.

Thanks to climate change and global warming, Trump’s second official inaugural ceremonies will occur inside, in the Capitol Rotunda, which holds only about 600. Bitter cold and dangerous wind-chill factors are expected, potentially as low as 11 degrees. 

Such frigid conditions caused an identical indoor move for Ronald Reagan’s second inauguration back in 1985 before global warming could be blamed for today’s bitter cold.

The New York Times reported the location change with some glee because it “will deny Mr. Trump some of the pomp and pageantry he wanted for his second swearing-in.” No TDS there.

The Capitol One Center will be open for some 20,000 to watch a video feed. And Trump has said he will go there as the new commander in chief.

If you’re like me, you don’t need overpaid TV pundits to describe what you can see with your own eyes. I prefer the unfiltered direct TV feeds of our national treasure, C-SPAN. Here is its schedule for Sunday and the schedule for Monday.

When I posted this online, some former friends felt the need to inform me they would not be watching. You’re probably as devastated by this news as I was.

This week’s indoor ceremonies (but not the 21-gun salute from 105-mm howitzers) were no doubt welcomed by the eagle-eyed Secret Service. But not by media, which will be unable to trumpet this time how minute the inaugural crowd is compared to, say, a Democrat president.

They will be forced to stress the number of protest marchers who dislike the 78-year-old 47^th president. Organizers are hoping for perhaps 50,000 protesters, about one-tenth the size of the angry 2017 crowd.

That’s because the table is turned this time. Voters, who fell for Biden’s 2020 promise of a moderate’s return to normalcy, realized from their grocery and gas costs that he was the exact opposite, a crazed liberal trying to satisfy the spending addiction of a progressive urban cadre that had a dim senior to manipulate.

Lucky for them, Biden didn’t forget how to sign a piece of legislation until last week, when the nation’s chief executive needed help writing out his name.

In 2020, most Democrats admitted they were voting against Trump more than for Biden. Last November would have been the opposite except, foreseeing doom and seeking to dead-end Kamala Harris from the party's future, a largely unidentified cabal of elderly Democrats forced Biden off the ticket without any voting.

They substituted his vice-presidential sidekick, the word salad speaker who, to be honest, had served her DEI purpose way back in 2020 but still thought she had some important things to say. 

It was a disastrous campaign. With polls showing Americans wanted change, Harris admitted she could think of nothing she’d do differently than Biden.

According to Harris’ official schedule, since Trump thumped her in November, Harris has been having almost daily meetings and briefings with staff and aides. About what, nobody knows since she’s done little of substance in public. Perhaps team-searching LinkedIn.

She did phone some kings and leaders to thank them for their friendship and cooperation. That must have made for some chuckles in the Philippines and elsewhere.

On Thursday, Harris called a meeting for staff, aides, and fans to watch her sign the inside of a desk drawer. 

That’s one of the arcane DC traditions that seem important in that city's political culture, leaving your name etched in an obscure place to maybe show someone you were there to someday. 

Harris said: 

The ceremony of signing this desk is something that is especially important, so I hope everyone will get a chance to see the desk.

In the Washington Post, Jonathan Capehart was hard-pressed to find Biden legacy highlights. He finally settled on: "Were it not for the Biden presidency, we wouldn't have had Vice President Kamala Harris." That's very true. And Wow!

Biden has been attempting to leave a trail of trouble for his despised successor. Biden's Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announced that in an amazing coincidence or accounting legerdemain, the United States will not exceed the federal debt limit on Joe Biden's watch. It will happen the day after Trump takes office, when special measures will be necessary to avoid default.

Biden announced, quite grandly, that thanks to him, the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution has been ratified. No president can do that, and this actually did not happen. Other than that, JB is sharp as a tack.

The legislative ban on TikTok, which the Supreme Court upheld last week, took effect Jan. 19 with no Biden action. Trump likely intends to impose a 90-day pause on enforcement to seek a negotiated resolution.

Citing moral grounds, Biden commuted the executions of most, but not all, of the men on the federal Death Row. He’s also pardoning nearly 2,500 drug offenders.

Bitter Biden is trying to prohibit the president who created the nation’s energy independence from future drilling on hundreds of thousands of acres. So, the legacy is obstruction.

Trump will want to give the appearance of an immediate fast start on his ambitious plans, especially on the border, deportations, and energy. 

Media already reported plans for some large-scale roundups of illegals coming this week. That would help create that desired appearance but no doubt send many would-be targets into hiding, as sanctuary zealots would prefer.

Reports quote aides as saying possibly as many as 100 Executive Orders have been drafted for early use, setting Trump’s priorities and undoing some of Biden’s.

Trump’s second Inaugural Address will be closely watched for indications of his tone and attitude. His first inaugural is often described by Washington media as dark and angry. See what you think:

For too long, a small group in our nation’s Capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost. Washington flourished – but the people did not share in its wealth.

Politicians prospered – but the jobs left, and the factories closed. The establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country.

Their victories have not been your victories; their triumphs have not been your triumphs; and while they celebrated in our nation’s Capital, there was little to celebrate for struggling families all across our land.

That all changes – starting right here, and right now, because this moment is your moment: it belongs to you.

You can read it for yourself, but that strikes me as the declaration of someone who was elected by a frustrated and ignored Heartland.

Inaugural addresses are usually not very long. At 1,433 words, Trump’s in 2017 was just 13 words longer than George Washington’s first in 1789.  

As I noted last month:

Trump is a noticeably different man now, as anyone would be even without the vast array of challenges (and bullets) thrown at him since then.

He seems more focused, organized, confident, no doubt thanks to experience and to the steadying hand of Susan Wiles, soon to be the first female White House Chief of Staff.

In an extraordinary display of the power of Trump’s personality and unpredictability (and the feeble presence of incumbent Biden), world leaders have been flocking to meet and talk with the Republican virtually since Nov. 5. No one seems concerned any longer about a Nazi dictator.

Trump’s inaugural words will be watched and parsed closely by friend and foe alike far beyond the Capitol Rotunda and the joyous MAGA crowd. 

Every modern U.S. president who gets two terms has served them consecutively. In an historic shift, this time American voters changed that pattern and their minds about Donald Trump. He has a mandate this time.

It’s been nearly a decade since his first inauguration. Most everything in our lives has changed since then. Now, we’re about to find out how – or if — this unique political leader has changed too. And what that means for all our lives.