In 1992, Donald Trump had a cameo in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. Macaulay Culkin’s Kevin McCallister asks him for directions in the Plaza Hotel lobby, and Trump (who owned the hotel both on screen and in real life) tells him “down the hall and to the left.” The whole thing lasts seven seconds. According to director Chris Columbus, Trump “bull[ied] his way into the movie,” making the cameo a condition for filming inside the hotel. Trump hotly denies this.

The real estate developer once known as “the Donald” has come a long way since 1992. Today he’ll start his second term as president under vastly more favorable circumstances than before. In 2016, he lost the popular vote. In 2024, he became the first Republican to win it since George W. Bush in 2004 and the first to win it when not running as an incumbent since George H. W. Bush in 1988. In 2016, he was the last survivor of a fiercely competitive primary. In 2024, he swatted away pretenders like Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis without breaking a sweat. The man who once fought for a seven-second cameo has, to a remarkable extent, realigned American politics around his deeply odd personality.

The potential consequences are terrifying. Trump’s four years out of office have only solidified his followers’ loyalty and whetted his appetite for vengeance against political enemies. Meanwhile, the conservative Supreme Court supermajority (three of whose members Trump appointed) ruled last year that presidents enjoy emperor-like immunity from legal consequences for their actions in office.