To the journalists who have studied Donald Trump longest, the second transition looks a whole lot different from eight years ago.

I convened a quartet of POLITICO colleagues who’ve watched and covered Trump from the get-go: Anita Kumar, Eli Stokols, Kyle Cheney and Meridith McGraw. Their composite take: Trump is Trump, always has been, always will be — fractious, breakneck, unscripted — but after Jan. 6, two failed assassination attempts and an array of prosecutions (and convictions) didn’t stop him from getting reelected by a larger margin than the first time he won, he has, they say, a different sort of confidence and nerve. The GOP establishment is no longer so much trying to control him as he is testing the absolute limits of its willingness and ability to stand up to him.

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