MAGA lives on: Ten years after the golden escalator, President Trump has remained steadfast as America’s leader
Opinion-editorial by Summer Lane |
Ten years ago, on June 16, 2015, real estate developer and television personality Donald J. Trump rode the golden escalator to the ground floor of Trump Tower, officially announcing his candidacy for the presidency of the United States, setting off a ten-year journey marked with pain, triumph, loss, and, ultimately, resounding victory.
Famous for reshaping the New York skyline, for sharing wisdom and wit in “The Art of the Deal,” and for holding tough contestants to task on the hit show “The Apprentice,” the whirlwind businessman delivered a speech surrounded by friends and family, focusing on America First talking points that are an exact echo of his policies today.
“Our country is in serious trouble; we don’t have victories anymore,” he said during his historic first campaign speech.
“The U.S. has become a dumping ground for everybody else’s problems,” he noted. “It’s true. And these aren’t the best and the finest. When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best, they’re not sending you…they’re sending people that have lots of problems.”
His early comments here reflect his common-sense policies on law and order, immigration, and fair trade – policies that he has strongly enacted now and was championing even ten years ago when he announced his candidacy.
Who could have known that in 2015, Donald J. Trump would not only win the presidency a little over one year later, but go on to carve out the most emphatically unique legacy of a U.S. leader in the past century.
From corrosive legacy media narratives to campaign smears and felony charges, President Donald Trump’s ten-year journey from Trump Tower to the White House has been turbulent, unflinching, and marked with nearly inhuman challenges.
And yet, he has continued to persist and fight onward from the first day of his candidacy in 2015, to this very day in 2025.
A legacy of consistency
Perhaps the most wonderful aspect of President Donald Trump is his even-keeled consistency. Whether critics like him or not, they can’t argue that he has never changed his stance on things like illegal immigration or trade with China.
His candidacy announcement speech ten years ago hit the same points of his Agenda47-driven campaign of 2024. “We need somebody that literally will take this country and make it GREAT again – we can do that,” he said.
President Trump’s strength has always been in his ability to communicate with the everyday American. He’s a straight shooter. He tells it like it is. And most of all, he has the courage to give voice to concerns that everyone else is afraid to say out loud.
He was also unmistakably born with the “it” factor – a winning ability to push and perform and rise above, with the guts to take big enough risks to net big successes. In 1990, Trump described this ability among creative and artistic individuals while talking to “Playboy.”
“‘It’ is an ability to become an entrepreneur, a great athlete, a great writer. You’re either born with it or you’re not. Ability can be honed, perfected or neglected,” he said.
Clearly, Donald Trump was born with “it,” and he has used his talents to not only achieve an admirable and enviable business and personal life, but to further the collective good of society by giving back to his country.
His legacy is one of consistency and generosity, and it’s time that he’s recognized for that.
A ten-year journey of fighting spirit
No figure in American history has been as attacked by the mainstream media or political opponents as intensely as President Donald J. Trump. He is arguably the most persecuted American leader in history, given the power of social media, the shadowed leverage of politically-charged intelligence agencies, and unmitigated legal attacks.
The nation seems to see things in different shades of Trump these days, and despite years of investigations, hoaxes, accusations, media smear campaigns, lawsuits, criminal charges, an FBI raid, and even a jarring assassination attempt, he has never stopped fighting. Not once.
This is the president who rose from the ground, bloodied after being shot in the ear by a would-be assassin, declaring, “FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT!”
This is a man who has proven that he will take literal slings and arrows for the American people if needed.
“They’re not coming after me, they’re coming after you – I’m just standing in their way, and I always will stand in their way,” Trump said during his 2024 presidential campaign.
President Donald Trump is a man of his word.
A president committed to security and peace
President Trump has been the peace candidate from the beginning. Over the past ten years, he’s been the only leader who has not plunged America into any new wars. Instead, the president is focused on securing the domestic sovereignty of the United States by cracking down on border security and illegal immigration – a true America First approach.
His administration is also hard at work in securing peace in the Middle East and Eastern Europe – very hefty tasks requiring complex negotiations. These goals are not easy, particularly as Iran and Israel are locked in conflict, but President Trump has been consistent in his calls for peace.
“Iran and Israel should make a deal, and will make a deal, just like I got India and Pakistan to make, in that case by using TRADE with the United States to bring reason, cohesion, and sanity into the talks with two excellent leaders who were able to quickly make a decision and STOP!” he wrote on Truth Social this week.
As always, Trump uses trade and commerce as a negotiation tool when dealing with foreign countries, and it has so far proven to be extremely effective.
It is this common-sense approach and unique business instinct that President Trump has brought to the White House, marking him as a very special chief executive. There have been only a handful of businessmen who served as president in the White House, and President Trump will be remembered as chief among them.
Ten years later, the path forward is clear
A decade after that fated golden escalator ride, President Donald Trump’s administration and his policy are more successful than ever. With ten years of political combat under his belt, he brings a renewed sense of wisdom and tenacity to the White House.
His agenda is unwavering, and the speed with which his administration has moved is truly staggering. Has any president ever moved this quickly or with such urgency? Arguably not.
As Americans peer into the future and the next three and a half years of the Trump administration, the road ahead is clear and hopeful, thanks to the sacrifice and leadership of a New York businessman who gave up a comfortable life to give back to the country that built him.
Photo: Contributed/Scott Brandt
