• As Donald Trump returns to the White House, loyalty will be a key aspect of his second term.
• Unlike 2017, Trump is no longer a political outsider adjusting to Washington for the first time.
• On Inauguration Day, Trump will be sworn in with a firm grip on the Republican Party.

When President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in for a second term on January 20, a lot will have changed since his 2017 inauguration, when he came into office as a political outsider who still elicited skepticism from many in Washington's Republican political class.

"They just weren't expecting to win," Peter Loge, an associate professor and the director of the School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University, told Business Insider about Trump's victory in 2016. "This time, there's an entire infrastructure. He has plans. There's Project 2025. He's much more like a traditional candidate who's ready to start governing on Day One."

Here's a look at how Trump and the country have entered a whole new era as the start of the president-elect's second term approaches:

Trump has raked in post-election cash

From Meta and Amazon to Ford and GM, a wide range of businesses and CEOs have contributed to Trump's inaugural fund.

In 2017, Trump raised $107 million for his inaugural committee, a staggering sum at the time. Just four years earlier, then-President Barack Obama's inaugural committee raised roughly $43 million.

Trump has so far raised at least $170 million for his second inaugural, according to The Associated Press. A full accounting of his inaugural funds isn't due until after he takes office.

Trump's business and tech support has grown

Ahead of Trump's first term, there was optimism among many in the business community over what they saw as his pro-growth agenda.

Trump's $1.5 trillion tax bill, which cut the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, was applauded by leaders who had been vocal about the need for American businesses to remain competitive in a global marketplace.

However, Trump's relationships with many of these leaders fizzled after the August 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., where white nationalist groups unleashed a wave of violence. And many top leaders steered clear of Trump in the immediate aftermath of the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol, where legions of pro-Trump supporters stormed the complex in an effort to stop the certification of President Joe Biden's 2020 electoral victory.

After Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in November, though, many business and tech leaders actively began to renew or establish relationships with the incoming commander-in-chief.

Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla, was ahead of the curve. He spent lavishly to help elect Trump and other GOP candidates last year, and Musk is now seemingly never too far away from the president-elect during major public appearances.

Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Apple chief executive Tim Cook, and Musk will be guests at Trump's inaugural, according to NBC News and Bloomberg.

Loge told BI that many businesses have decided that it's "better to be on the Trump train than under it," pointing to the president-elect's penchant for dismissing the traditional workings of Washington and the desire for business leaders to have access to power.

"As a result, a lot of businesses are lining up behind Trump pretty rapidly," he said.

A Cabinet evolution

During Trump's first term, several high-profile members of his Cabinet, like onetime Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and ex-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, had turbulent tenures and were fired by the president.

This time around, Trump is leaning heavily on loyalists and longtime supporters in selecting his second-term Cabinet picks and other high-level appointees.

Many of the names stand out. Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York has been tapped to serve as US Ambassador to the United Nations, pending Senate confirmation. Defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth underwent a tough confirmation hearing but is likely to win enough GOP votes to secure the post. And ex-presidential candidate and Health and Human Services secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — who backed Trump's campaign after ending his own candidacy — has emerged as a popular figure in Trumpworld over his stances on food and vaccine policies.

The million dollar question of Trump's second term is whether or not picking loyalists for his Cabinet will give him the sort of stability that he lacked in his first administration.

A less shocking win compared to 2016

Many Americans, who saw the multitude of national polls showing former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ahead of Trump in 2016, were genuinely surprised when he won that November.

Dan Schnur, who teaches political communication at the University of Southern California and the University of California-Berkeley, told BI that Trump's first election "caused much more disruption" than it did in November 2024.

"The idea of Trump beating Clinton was inconceivable to most of the political universe," Schnur said.

After Trump's tumultuous first term and his lonely exit from Washington after losing to Biden in 2020, a large segment of the public saw the president-elect's political career as finished.

Still, Trump retained his hold over the GOP base, which powered his dominant caucus and primary wins last year. This was the case despite his myriad legal problems, which threatened his general election campaign.

Even as Harris' presidential candidacy spiked enthusiasm among Democrats after Biden stepped aside as the party's nominee, Trump still retained an advantage on the economy — which was a top issue for voters last November.

So when Trump won, it wasn't a shock to many. And the results showed that Trump broadened his appeal, as he won every major swing state and even secured a plurality of the national popular vote.

Congress will be more obedient

Trump is entering his second term with perhaps his strongest influence over Republicans to date. Lawmakers who may have been reluctant to align themselves with Trump in the past have largely put old feelings aside, embracing the fact that Republicans will now control the levers of power in Washington.

Republicans who defy the party on critical votes are more likely to be met with swift repercussions this time around, mostly in the form of primary challenges and pressure campaigns on social media platforms like X.

Trump is also going to be reliant on GOP leaders in Congress — namely House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana and Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota — to get his ambitious immigration and tax legislation passed.

However, while Republicans will enjoy a 53-47 edge in the Senate, they currently have a razor-thin 219-215 House majority, which is set to shrink even further following the expected departures of two members for roles in the Trump administration.

The wind is at Trump's back

In 2017, Trump was still a political novice and leaned on the legislative relationships that then-Vice President Mike Pence had amassed during his years on Capitol Hill.

"Back then, he tended to rely on establishment figures whom he felt would give him the necessary credibility in Washington," Schnur told BI. "But he learned over the course of those four years that many of those figures weren't nearly as loyal to him as he had expected."

"This time, he's put much more of a premium on personal relationships and loyalty. He's much more confident that the team around him is motivated toward the same goals as he is," Schnur added.

Trump now has a unified Congress, and he won a second term on the strength of his prior economic record, giving him a level of public support that he lacked early on in his first term.

Once he's is back in office, it'll clearly be a new day in Washington.

• Trump has raised millions from CEOs and businesses for his inauguration and presidential library.
• Apple CEO Tim Cook was the latest to contribute, Axios reported.
• The Times reported that Trump has raised over $200 million since winning a second term.

President-elect Donald Trump will take office in less than three weeks.

In the meantime, he continues to craft his policy agenda and make key appointments for his second administration.

He is also raking in substantial amounts of money.

From Meta and Coinbase to Ford and GM, businesses and CEOs are contributing large sums to Trump's inauguration and future presidential library as the president-elect prepares to enter the Oval Office for a second term.

Apple CEO Tim Cook is the latest to contribute $1 million of his own money to Trump's inaugural committee, according to Axios.

Trump has so far collected a total of at least $200 million, according to The New York Times, which spoke to sources involved in the fundraising. At least $150 million of that will go toward his inaugural, far more than the $107 million he raised for the event in 2017.

The super PAC Make America Great Again Inc. is also set to benefit from the cash infusion, giving Trump's allies a powerful vehicle to boost his conservative plans on everything from tax policy to the environment, as well as the GOP lawmakers who'll back his agenda.

David Tamasi, a Washington lobbyist, waved off the notion that donors were contributing to Trump to stay on his good side. However, he told the Times that some leaders may seek to build rapport after being detached from the president-elect's orbit.

"It is a time-honored DC tradition that corporations are enthusiastically embracing this cycle in all manners, largely because they were on the sidelines during previous Trump cycles," Tamasi said. "They no longer have to hedge their political bets."

There are virtually no limits to contributions for inaugural committees, and corporations have traditionally funded inaugurations regardless of the political party of the incoming commander in chief.

President Joe Biden's inaugural committee raised $63.8 million for his 2021 inauguration, according to FEC filings.

Trump's relationships with many top business leaders became rocky during his first term, namely in the aftermath of the August 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where white nationalist groups sparked violent clashes. The January 6, 2021 attack at the US Capitol, days before Trump left office, led several companies to pause financial contributions to GOP politicians who had voted to overturn the 2020 presidential results.

Even during the 2024 presidential campaign, some business leaders stayed out of the political fray, while others, like LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman and Netflix cofounder Reed Hastings, supported Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential campaign.

• The Harris campaign has $1.8 million cash after spending over $1 billion in the 2024 race.
• Harris continually raked in money during her 107-day presidential campaign against Donald Trump.
• But Harris could not overcome the headwinds against her party, coming up short in the swing states.

After President Joe Biden stepped aside as the Democratic nominee last summer, the party felt an enormous jolt of energy as Vice President Kamala Harris embarked on a 107-day presidential campaign against Donald Trump.

Throughout her campaign, Harris raised more than $1 billion, a stunning figure that mirrored the quick rise of her campaign.

But Trump, now the president-elect, defeated Harris in the general election, with the vice president coming up short in the swing states.

New federal filings show that the Harris campaign had $1.8 million remaining in the bank after spending over $1 billion against Trump in the presidential race.

In the filings, the Harris campaign also reported that it had no debts.

The filings reveal the pace of spending for the Harris campaign, which began with heightened enthusiasm from Democrats and major donors who had grown despondent over Biden's chances after a disastrous debate against Trump raised questions about his ability to mount a robust reelection campaign.

From October 17 through November 25, which included some of the most frenzied stretches of the campaign through the postelection period, Harris raised $160 million and spent over $270 million. The Trump campaign raked in nearly $87 million during that same period and spent $113 million, the president-elect's campaign filings indicated.

Harris held large rallies in swing states like Georgia and Pennsylvania throughout her campaign, especially in the immediate weeks leading up to the election. And despite the vice president's financial advantage over Trump, she had to boost her profile to an electorate that had long expected Biden to be the nominee and was uncertain about her positions on various issues — from tackling inflation to her approach to foreign policy.

The new FEC report also seemingly puts to rest any talk that the Harris campaign is heavily in debt, a notion that the campaign rejected last month when it told The New York Times that "there will be no debt" on the filings.

But in the weeks since the general election, Democrats have still received fundraising appeals from the Harris operation. The "Harris Fight Fund" is the postelection operation of the general election "Harris Victory Fund" and is touted as a way to help provide accountability for the Trump administration.

The Democratic National Committee's newest filings revealed that it had over $47 million in cash on hand, while its rival, the Republican National Committee, had nearly $43 million in the bank.

Business Insider reached out to the Harris campaign for comment.