Trump Has Cornered the Market on ‘Hope and Change’

March 7, 2025 by J.B. Shurk

When Barack Obama ran for president, he articulated few policy specifics but promised heaping spoonfuls of “hope and change.” Combined with his rockstar celebrity and appearance as George W. Bush’s diametrical opposite, Obama’s vague pledge was enough to win him the White House (and a Nobel Prize).

In practice, Obama’s “hope and change” just meant forcing workers to buy expensive government healthcare; starting new wars in Africa, Ukraine, and the Middle East; using the IRS to target political enemies; and harnessing the Patriot Act to spy on American citizens. “Hope and change” brought inflation, debt, bloodshed, division, and truckloads of more of the same. (No wonder the Bushes and Obamas are such good friends and the Cheneys enthusiastically endorsed Kamala Harris!)

For the longest time, I thought Obama had so thoroughly tarnished the words “hope” and “change” that I couldn’t imagine anyone picking them up and using them again with the American people. But that’s exactly what President Trump has done. Because he is first and foremost a businessman, Trump realized that Obama had left a valuable asset just lying on the ground. “Hope” and “change” are sometimes required to save a struggling nation. But if they are not backed with concrete plans, they are worthless. Real change that inspires real hope requires work and dedication. It is not enough to draw up a blueprint. A leader must take those designs and build a new world. Blueprints are not meant to be framed on a wall; they are meant to be covered in coffee stains, mud, and a little blood. Tangible results require grand vision and indefatigable purpose.

President Trump’s address to Congress on Tuesday night was filled with grand visions for America’s future. He spoke about making American government smaller and Americans’ paychecks bigger. He talked about bringing investment dollars back into the United States. He described his plans for an industrial and manufacturing resurgence that will return blue-collar jobs once sacrificed on the globalist altar of so-called “free trade.” He explained how American self-sufficiency is essential for both national security and national prosperity. He encouraged Americans to reclaim their reputations as world-class innovators, builders, adventurers, and explorers. He asked Americans to dream big dreams and then to turn those dreams into reality. In essence, he insisted that this country’s best days are still ahead. President Trump may never have uttered Obama’s famous campaign slogan, but those ideas were nonetheless hanging in the air: be hopeful, America, because much will soon change for the better.

The president’s approach to governing is unmistakably different in his second term. When he arrived in Washington in 2017, he had few political allies. Republicans and Democrats despised both him and his MAGA movement for change. Barack Obama, John Brennan, James Comey, Susan Rice, and so many other saboteurs left landmines all around D.C. to hamper Trump’s efforts and precipitate his removal from office. Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell rebuffed Trump’s policies and undermined him at every turn. The president tried to build bridges by including Establishment favorites in his Cabinet, inviting Pelosi and Schumer to find common ground, and even foregoing criminal investigations into Hillary Clinton for her role in defrauding the American people with the Russia collusion hoax.

President Trump chose to forgive and forget, and the Uniparty in D.C. repaid his kindness with the Mueller Inquisition, endless investigations, and two nonsensical impeachments. Mitt Romney — who never misses an opportunity to stab Republican voters in the back — insisted that evidence of Joe Biden’s quid-pro-quo corruption in Ukraine was no big deal but that President Trump’s acknowledgment of Biden’s likely crimes somehow made Trump unfit for office. For choosing reconciliation, President Trump received from the Deep State insanity, insubordination, and treason. It was a bad deal but an important lesson.

In 2020, the Establishment goons got what they wanted. They used COVID as a convenient pretext to inject anonymous and unverified mail-in ballots into the election. Somehow, one of the least inspiring presidential candidates in American history (Joe Biden) “won” more votes than much more popular candidates had before. Anyone who pointed out that the math didn’t make sense was censored and threatened with professional sanctions. Americans were told that Joe Biden received ten million more votes than Democrat-demigod Obama, that it was perfectly normal for Biden to lose nearly every bellwether county by double-digits but still come out on top, and that there was nothing strange about Democrat-controlled jurisdictions in battleground states “counting” ballots for four extra days.

When hundreds of thousands of Americans showed up in D.C. on January 6, 2021, to protest what was clearly a stolen election, the Establishment redefined free speech, public assembly, and dissent as forms of “insurrection.” Unarmed grandparents and patriotic veterans were labeled “domestic terrorists.” The Deep State’s scheme was disgustingly obvious: lock up Trump and his supporters and reclaim total control over D.C.

A funny thing happened after the Deep State’s removal of President Trump and installation of puppet Joe Biden: rather than backing down, Trump and his MAGA supporters became only more committed. Had the Establishment not interfered in the 2020 election, Trump’s second term would have already ended. He would have no doubt scored some victories during the last four years, but D.C. saboteurs would have continued undermining him, too. Who knows how many more Mueller Inquisitions, fake impeachments, and globalist-engineered crises we would have already endured. Certainly a hundred Tweedle-Vindmans would have continued leaking to the press, subverting lawful Executive orders, and working inside the White House to topple President Trump.

However excruciating these last four years have been under the Deep State’s hellish presidency (with Dementia Joe propped up as its titular head), the people who stole the 2020 election created the necessary conditions for producing the lean and mean fighting force that the Trump administration has become. Even though the mainstream press portrayed him as a villain right from the start, Trump came into office in 2017 as Mr. Nice Guy. He was interested in making deals, strengthening the United States, and helping the American people. In 2025, things are different. The president is still clear in his vision, but his attitude has totally changed: adversaries will either have to get onboard or find themselves shoved out of the way.

During the four years of Biden’s illegitimate presidency, five factors transformed Donald Trump into a man on fire: (1) The Deep State harassed and jailed his voters. (2) The Deep State tried to put him in prison. (3) The Deep State went after his friends and family. (4) The Deep State embraced censorship and political persecution. (5) The Deep State attacked the country with “Green New Deal” inflation and open borders. These unrelenting assaults against him and the nation he loves created within him a sheer determination that few have seen.

Then a sixth factor forged superhuman resolve: after the Deep State did all it could to incite would-be assassins to strike Trump down, God Almighty spared his life. President Trump looked death in the eye and came out stronger for it. He knows he has been spared for a reason, and he will do anything to serve His purpose.

You put all that together, and you’ve got a helluva lot more than wispy calls for “hope and change.” You’ve got a man with ice water running through his veins. You’ve got a leader willing to do whatever it takes. You’ve got a rock unwilling to budge. You’ve got a builder who demands that things get done.

Listening to President Trump explain everything that his administration intends to accomplish left me with a sense of déjà vu: perhaps we are the ones we’ve been waiting for. I think that’s true. So let’s get to work.