Winning the election, witnessing the inauguration, celebrating an America determined to return to core values, be done with woke nonsense – is a lifesaving relief. But now comes the hard work, for which resolve, patience, resilience, unity, and determination will be necessary.

In 1980, Ronald Reagan won convincingly, and the darker – literally – days of Jimmy Carter were consigned, as the Soviet Union soon would be, to “the ash heap of history.” But 1981 began a hard-bitten period in which Reagan had to restore trust in leadership and limits on government.

His return to optimism, along with judicial textualism, and respect for our Founding ideals, Founding Fathers, and Founding documents – and for institutions as they were intended to work – took time. It did not happen overnight, and it will not happen overnight this time.

Carter left Reagan a big mess – an economy on its way down, high interest, inflation and unemployment, a brooding recession, international order shaken by Soviet aggression, and a sense that America was listless, inconsistent, and ineffective in addressing major security threats.

Three years were required for Reagan to reverse the Carter recession, bring inflation, interest, and unemployment down, cut federal income tax by 25 percent, push the Soviets back on their heels, reestablish America as the world’s idealistic, authentic, true-to-our-roots, unblinking leader.

Trump has some advantages Reagan did not. He has already served, shown how he operates, and what a thriving economy, low inflation and interest, strong markets, energy independence, tight borders, real defense, fair trade, sanctions, Middle East peace, and deterrence work.

Before he assumed the presidency again, the world knew him, our allies and adversaries respected his word, resolve, vision, and record for success. In some ways, that will – or should – accelerate his ability to achieve – once again – the goals he has set.

But it will require hard work. Five sources of drag challenge the Trump team – and all of us – as the President seeks to restore faith and trust in our leaders and government.

First, an active pool of Marxist and anti-Trump activists will create drag. They lurk at the federal and state levels. They have inverted the traditional hierarchy of priorities. Rather than Nation, party, and personal agenda, they are about personal gain, party ideology, and maybe the last Nation.

Second, numbers are a source of drag. Republicans have a very tight US House majority, a slim three to five vote margin, and no room for personal agendas over party discipline in this two-year cycle; even if Republicans hold the majority through inevitable special elections in the next two years, a predictably rough mid-term cycle is ahead. Nation first must be the mantra.

Third, Biden left Trump a far bigger mess than Carter left Reagan. The December inflation numbers are up again, the energy sector crippled, illegal aliens by tens of millions in need of deportation, trust in our criminal justice system objectively trashed by rogue prosecutors and judges, Biden’s 1500 pardons of felons, and a psychology that undermined public safety.

Worse, Trump inherits a 37 trillion dollar debt, major challenges to national currency and security, an ideologically and materially weakened defense, rising China and Iran, resurgent Islamic terror threat, and intransigent Russia – which Biden invited into Ukraine. He also must right the legacy of 100,000 allies betrayed by Biden in Afghanistan, not to mention Israel.

Fourth, Trump has only one term – not the promise of a second as Reagan did, which shortens the window for everything, necessitating more executive action, faster judicial and administration appointments, and an early push for legislation to fix what Biden left in shambles.

Finally, an actively anti-Trump bureaucracy, if not new, is newly infused with anti-democratic ideological fervor, which means getting on top of it early, every single department, seeking both efficiencies, as the Grace Commission did under Reagan, but more – eliminating insubordinate elements, along with pure waste and pockets of ideological poison. That is a steep climb.

One need not be a student of Edmund Burke, Russell Kirk, Bill Buckley, Ronald Reagan, Ed Meese, or any other legal scholar or conservative scholar to see the stakes. They are perilous. The nation is in debt, under ideological assault, and requires real and trusted leadership.

The modern, progressive Democrat party has betrayed the nation, our cohesion, history, solvency, security, educational system, and both Federal and State institutions, which require conscious limits on government. They have also betrayed houses of worship and family.

Bottom line: America won when Trump-Vance won. We are all relieved. But now comes the hard work, for all of us, not least our president and vice president. They will need us to help, not rest.

To quote Churchill, when good news finally appeared mid-WWII, “This is not the end, not even the beginning of the end, but it may be … the end of the beginning.” Let us hope. Onward!

Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, attorney, and naval intelligence officer (USNR). He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (2018), and is National Spokesman for AMAC. Robert Charles has also just released an uplifting new book, “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024).