Trump returns to the White House with more deferential allies and enemies

More than 30 miles of limescale fencing are being erected throughout the nation’s capital. Concrete barriers are placed at key times. Some roads have already been closed to traffic. Surveillance drones will flood the sky.

But if Washington looks like a war zone again, that’s not necessarily the case. Unlike the last time President-elect Donald J. Trump was sworn in eight years ago, raw tension and angry defiance have given way to accommodation and submission. The Resistance of 2017 turned into the Resignation of 2025.

The mood leading up to Trump’s second inauguration reflects how much things have changed since Trump’s first inauguration. It seems that much of the world is bowing to the new president. Tech moguls flocked to Mar-a-Lago to pay their respects. Billionaires sign seven-figure checks and compete for space at the inaugural ceremony. Some companies are preemptively abandoning their climate and diversity programs to curry favor.

Some Democrats plan to work with the newly reinstated Republican president on low-key issues. Some news organizations appear to be reorienting themselves to be more deferential. The grassroots opposition that brought hundreds of thousands to the streets of Washington to protest Mr. Trump just a day after his inauguration in 2017 generated only a fraction in its aftermath on Saturday.

“Hashtag resistance has turned into hashtag capitulation,” said David Urban, a longtime Republican strategist and Trump ally. “The pink hats are gone and they are being replaced by MAGA hats worn by Black and Brown people.”