Trump Aims for Show of Strength as He Returns to Power

The incoming president has told allies he wants to seize momentum and avoid the missteps of his first administration.

Donald J. Trump sat in the middle of a U-shaped table, surrounded by his hard-right allies. It was a Friday night, 10 days before his inauguration, and Mr. Trump was hosting a couple of dozen members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus in the white and gold ballroom at Mar-a-Lago and explaining how he views this moment of power.

The 45th (and soon-to-be 47th) president said the Democrats were damaged, demoralized and disorganized, according to two people in the room. And while he conceded that “sometimes a wounded animal is the most dangerous,” he signaled that he wanted to exploit their weakness. It was time to go big.

Whether it’s his idea for “one big, beautiful bill” to ram through his multitrillion-dollar legislative agenda, his hunger for a deal to end the Russia-Ukraine war (and perhaps fulfill his first-term dream of a Nobel Peace Prize), his desire to acquire Greenland, the Panama Canal and Canada for the United States, or his insistence to an adviser that he will keep signing executive orders on Inauguration Day “until my hand breaks” — Mr. Trump has indicated that he wants to begin his presidency with a demonstration of strength.

He knows from experience that he must move fast; he begins his presidency as a lame duck. And after the 2026 midterms, when attention will turn to his successor, Mr. Trump will be unlikely to command the same sway with congressional Republicans and corporate America.

“We had a 40-seat Republican margin in the House in 2017 and yet there was trouble ticking off the list of accomplishments,” said Kellyanne Conway, his 2016 campaign manager who served as a senior White House counselor in his first term. “This time there is a slimmer majority, yet larger mandate. President Trump knows he can move with alacrity and immediacy.”