A dramatic inauguration, and a spectacular hostage release: What’s behind the theater of Trump 2.0?

Politics has always been a spectacle, a grand performance in which optics often matter more than substance. If there’s one true contemporary political impresario who understands this — indeed, who has mastered the art of the stage — it is President Donald J. Trump.

Trump’s second inauguration, coming just a day after the first hostages returned from Gaza as part of a new deal between Israel and Hamas — which Trump has publicly claimed credit for — was peak political theater.

If you were expecting humility, nuance, or even a nod to conventional political norms, you must have spent the last year — scratch that, the last decade — living on another planet. The inauguration was pure Trump: grandiose, theatrical, a masterclass in triumphalism combined with grievance. In his words, his victory in November wasn’t just historic; it was “the greatest and most consequential election in the history of our country.” But here’s the thing: while Trump definitely thrives on optics, he also wants – and needs – results. And now, unburdened by the necessity of courting voters for another election, and with a Republican-controlled Congress — albeit with tenuous margins — he’s made it clear that the hostage deal is just the start of his work to match spectacle with substance.

The ceasefire itself was classic diplomatic stagecraft — a Hollywood-style moment of international statesmanship, executed under the Biden administration, but with a clear understanding that Trump’s imminent presidency helped seal the deal. Because, for all the backroom negotiations and breathless media updates, what did it actually achieve? A less-than-satisfactory arrangement — one that leaves Hamas still standing, with Israel still facing existential threats — that played well on TV.

But, for a few precious days, the optics will be great — and the show must go on.

On Monday, Trump made clear exactly whose show that is.

“The golden age of America begins right now,” he declared as he began. Trump cast himself as a leader returning from exile, battle-scarred but wiser, “ordained by God” — his words, not mine — to restore America’s greatness.

Theatrics? Absolutely. But beneath the performance, there is something more. This time around, Trump isn’t just playing a role. He really means business.

Start with Iran. With all the noise surrounding Trump’s return, it’s easy to miss the signals, but they’re there. Listen closely, and you can hear the faint drumbeat of what’s coming: a green light for Israel to take decisive action — see the November interview with Time magazine, in which, asked about the prospect of taking military action against Iran, Trump said cryptically that “anything can happen… It’s a very volatile situation.” For years, Trump has railed against Tehran’s aggression. And let’s not forget that he was the one who took out Qasem Soleimani, Iran’s top general. The Biden administration waffled on Iran, but Trump has them locked in his crosshairs.

Expect something big in the coming weeks. A message — perhaps whispered, perhaps shouted — that Israel has America’s full backing to dismantle Iran’s nuclear ambitions once and for all. Trump has always seen foreign policy as a game of leverage. If he believes that a decisive Israeli strike would serve his broader vision of a stronger, more respected United States, he won’t hesitate to encourage it.

And there’s another fight that Trump seems determined to wade into: antisemitism on American college campuses. Universities have become ideological war zones where Jewish students are harassed, intimidated and ostracized for daring to support Israel. This new variation of antisemitism masquerades as social justice while treating Jewish students as roadkill in its quest to dismantle “oppressive structures.”

Trump has made it clear where he stands. He told Jewish donors at an event in September that “colleges will and must end the antisemitic propaganda or they will lose their accreditation and federal support.” He sees campus antisemitism as an extension of the broader cultural wars — an outgrowth of the same forces that push what he sees as radical gender ideologies, want to defund the police, and prioritize identity politics over merit. He’s already signed executive orders reducing protections for transgender people and ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs within the federal government. Expect, in short order, aggressive action against universities that tolerate antisemitism.

After all, if there’s one thing Trump relishes, it’s taking on what he perceives as the cultural elite. Expect threats to funding, lawsuits and more executive orders aimed at attacking institutions that have, for far too long, given a free pass to antisemitic rhetoric disguised as progressive activism.

Of course, none of this is new. An emphasis on the culture wars, plus the America-first foreign policy and immigration policy he outlined in his inauguration, is vintage Trump. These were his priorities long before he started campaigning for president in 2015. But this time, it’s different. This isn’t just campaign rhetoric crafted to score votes. Now, he has the power — at least for the moment — and the desire, and the drive, and the momentum to make it all happen.

What we’re witnessing, now, is a high-stakes change agenda set to unfold as the most spectacular reality show in world history. And we are the audience.

Of course theatrics will remain front and center. That’s who Trump is. But underneath it, the wheels of real change will be turning. The hostage deal may have been theater. The inauguration was certainly theater. But now, the curtain rises on act two — and in Trump’s world, the show must always end with a victory. And this time, he’s writing the script.

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