President Trump received re-election in 2024 on a promise to upend Washington. He pitched a presidency the place he alone might remedy America’s issues. The place does the present actuality of those guarantees stand?
SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
President Trump received reelection final 12 months on a promise to upend Washington. He pitched a presidency the place he alone might remedy America’s issues. Now, as we come to the shut of 2025, now we have requested senior White Home correspondent Tamara Keith and senior political editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro to hitch us to speak in regards to the actuality of these guarantees. Good to speak to each of you.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: Hey, Scott.
DOMENICO MONTANARO, BYLINE: Hey, Scott.
DETROW: So President Trump very clear through the 2024 marketing campaign he was pitching a model of the federal authorities with him on the middle of it. Did he comply with by on that?
MONTANARO: Yeah, he is carried out extra to attempt to centralize energy within the govt department than any president we are able to bear in mind, whether or not that was utilizing DOGE – that casual Division of Authorities Effectivity that was run by Elon Musk – or placing himself accountable for issues from dismantling quasi-independent companies and demolishing the East Wing of the White Home to construct a ballroom with out going by any of the standard protocols. He signed a report variety of govt orders, used them to push again on the media, legislation companies – taking on the Kennedy Heart, even – threatening grants as leverage towards establishments of upper schooling. He is actually pushed the boundaries and bent the guardrails of the presidency.
KEITH: There’s additionally been plenty of retribution and simply going after his political enemies.
DETROW: Let’s speak extra about that. A giant a part of how he executed this imaginative and prescient early on was DOGE. This was the large story of the primary half of the 12 months.
KEITH: Yeah. It may be a little bit troublesome to untangle Elon Musk’s DOGE challenge from White Home Price range Director Russell Vought’s relentless concentrate on slicing authorities and driving out federal staff. However this is a brief record of establishments that beneath Trump have been quickly dismantled, starved or utterly remade this 12 months – the U.S. Company for Worldwide Improvement, the Client Monetary Safety Bureau, Voice of America, the Division of Schooling, the U.S. Institute of Peace – now the Donald Trump Institute of Peace. This week, the White Home tweeted, quote, “federal employment is now on the lowest stage since 2014, down by 271,000 jobs since President Trump took workplace. Guarantees made, guarantees stored.”
DETROW: And we must always say, as of this week, the Kennedy Heart is now the Trump Kennedy Heart. Modifications far and wide. Let’s discuss Congress for a minute, although. The flip aspect of a strong presidency has been a Congress that is, is it truthful to say, simply standing apart and letting issues occur?
KEITH: Yeah. This Congress, managed by Republicans in each the Home and the Senate, principally solely did the issues that President Trump mentioned they needed to do. If he did not put political capital on the road, they weren’t doing it. So Trump demanded costly insurance policies, like practically $4 trillion over 10 years to make his first-term tax cuts everlasting, additionally including guarantees he made through the marketing campaign, like no taxes on suggestions, no taxes on extra time. And Republicans made that occur. He was lukewarm, although, on extending subsidies for well being care by the Reasonably priced Care Act, and as of the tip of this 12 months, Congress has didn’t do something to forestall these prices from skyrocketing.
MONTANARO: The one exception on all of this with Republican pushback has been the discharge of the Epstein recordsdata and his administration’s dealing with of that, which has actually turn into a political legal responsibility, and to an extent with reasonable Republicans on these well being care subsidies desirous to see these prolonged.
DETROW: So that is the legislative department. What was the story of the judicial department in 2025 because the Trump White Home tried to grab a lot energy?
MONTANARO: Yeah, I feel it is a actually essential department of presidency proper now as a result of Trump has actually pushed to see how far the Supreme Courtroom will let him go. Bear in mind, he appointed three of the justices who sit on the excessive court docket and flipped the court docket to a 6-3 ideological conservative majority. And the court docket gave him large powers earlier than the second time period, saying that he is immune from legal penalties for any official acts.
Given Republicans in Congress are greasing the wheels for Trump, the courts are actually the final department that may spell out what, if any, guardrails exist. You realize, this is applicable on all the pieces from the firings of federal employees, lowering or eliminating these federal companies we have been speaking about, and simply how far he is making an attempt to go on deportations.
KEITH: We’re presently watching two main circumstances within the court docket that would decide how far the Supreme Courtroom is keen to let the president go, together with birthright citizenship and likewise a problem to his tariffs coverage. And I feel tariffs are a terrific instance of how President Trump has led unilaterally in an space that sometimes would require some congressional involvement. He is imposed these important tariffs on items imported to america. In some circumstances, he is truly walked a little bit little bit of it again, like on espresso, the place there’s been a spike within the value of espresso, then he rolled a few of these tariffs again, going through some political pushback on affordability. However simply to go extra broadly, if his first time period was characterised by a person bristling towards guardrails, this one is about blowing by them and surrounding himself with individuals who do not view it as their job to constrain him.
DETROW: The factor is, he ran on doing precisely that. He was specific in his guarantees. He took workplace, and he by and enormous adopted by on these guarantees.
KEITH: Yep.
DETROW: And polls have confirmed that voters will not be responding. They don’t approve. What are we seeing? How ought to we take into consideration public response over the course of the 12 months?
MONTANARO: Yeah. I imply, Trump is actually on the lowest level in his presidency. Simply 38% of individuals within the newest NPR/PBS Information/Marist ballot mentioned that they approve of the job he is doing general – simply 36% on his dealing with of the financial system. Individuals are actually struggling to make ends meet, they usually’re saying that Trump’s insurance policies have made issues worse. And you may argue the financial system and his guarantees to decrease costs are actually what received him put again into the White Home, not all these different ways to consolidate energy. Regardless of how a lot he says loudly that he had a broad and sweeping mandate, it simply wasn’t the case. I imply, Latinos, for instance, crossed over to vote for him. They have been saying that the financial system was most essential. He received a report share of Latinos for a Republican. And now they’re hotly disapproving of the job that he is doing.
KEITH: And what we’re seeing right here with these approval scores is actually the reply to the query of what occurs if you happen to solely govern to your base and your self.
DETROW: That’s NPR’s Tamara Keith and Domenico Montanaro. At all times good to speak to you each. Thanks a lot.
KEITH: You are welcome.
MONTANARO: Thanks, Scott.
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