16 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY january 16-22, 2025 www.montereycountynow.com Donald Trump’s second term has Monterey County’s members of Congress, and other local leaders, preparing to protect the county’s residents. By David Schmalz Bracing for Impact On Monday, Jan. 20, Presidentelect Donald Trump will once again get sworn into office, and in doing so, swear to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic. In his first term, Trump was impeached twice—but not convicted by the Senate—for failing to uphold that oath. And yet, four years later, for the first time, Trump won the popular vote in his bid for the presidency. No need to foment a deadly insurrection on the Capitol this time around. Trump made many promises in his campaign, one of which is to enact “the largest deportation program in American history.” But as anyone who paid close attention to Trump’s first term knows, it’s not clear he cares if any of those things get done. Only just over 50 miles of new wall at the southern border were built in Trump’s first term, and Mexico didn’t pay for it, nor did Trump pay a political price for claiming it would. Now, Trump’s making outlandish claims about tariffs solving economic woes (America’s economy recovered better and faster than any Western country post-Covid), and has repeatedly suggested seizing the Panama Canal, annexing Greenland and even Canada. Meanwhile Trump’s Cabinet nominees, with maybe a few exceptions, Photoshop AI-generated image
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