US labour watchdog halts Apple cases after group’s lawyer picked for top job

One of the first things he did upon taking office in 2017 was to block a bunch of legal residents from entering the country. One of the last things he did was try to illegally hang on to power after being voted out. He did plenty of bad stuff. He tried plenty more, and got blocked or talked out of it by some of his cabinet who were vaguely reasonable. It was clear that he was not going to appoint any vaguely reasonable people to his cabinet this time around, and so he'd be basically unchecked. How was this not obvious to you?

The first term was just as dishonest but not as bold.

I still can't believe we had an "alternative facts" moment and that somehow that pales compared to the rest.

I think the bigger shift isn't that he wasn't this "bold" the first time, it's that there hadn't been 8 years of his form of politics not only winning but becoming the only viable form of conservatism across the government and electorate in the US.

He didn't have "his" people in place to help him the first time because much of the establishment at the time was still Romney/Bush/McCain/McConnell types and they kept a firm hand on the reigns of power and often undercut his ability to do things because they felt like he was an aberration.

This time around, there is no "primary opposition" (intraparty conflict) in any meaningful way. He wants, they do, it is truly Trump's party.

There is not much conservative about this reactionism. And the old guard did not have firm control in Trump's first term. But you're right almost all Republican opposition was eliminated. I would add Trump and his people were unprepared in 2016.