While Donald Trump has always pushed the boundaries of presidential power, his second term has taken things to a new level. According to journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, authors of Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump, a combination of increased legal cover from the Supreme Court, a staff completely stacked with loyalists, and Trump’s own impulses have unleashed the administration to test the limits of executive authority more than any prior president. In my conversation with Maggie and Jonathan, we talked about what they uncovered while reporting for the book, what surprised them most, and what Americans need to know about how the people running the country really operate. We discussed:
the administration’s shock and awe strategy of moving fast and breaking things before the courts can react;
how Stephen Miller went from giving playground speeches complaining about the school janitors to whispering in the ear of the president;
what the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling has meant in practice for presidential power;
the “bubble of good news” Trump’s staff keeps him in;
what happens when economic decisions are based on made-up numbers;
how the president gives fake jobs to some officials and hands real decision making power to others;
whether journalists should release high-stakes reporting right away or hold it for a book…
and more. Press play to listen.
