HAL BRANDS is Henry A. Kissinger Distinguished Professor of Global Affairs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He is the author of The Eurasian Century: Hot Wars, Cold Wars, and the Making of the Modern World.
The Trump administration’s decision to fire over 6,000 I.R.S. workers will make the government less effective and less efficient, not more.
In the initial stretch of his second term, Trump has pursued a different vision than virtually any of his 44 predecessors.
President Donald Trump has begun his America First overhaul of government, signing scores of executive orders in his first weeks back in office. Some are muscular power grabs, while others amount to little more than press releases. Together, they channel his MAGA vision and move to create a federal government accountable to the president.
Typically, a State of the Union is delivered to a joint session of Congress inside the House of Representatives chamber. That's not happening this year.
The 22nd Amendment has already had its say: “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.”
In 2024, more than ten times as many Republicans (85%) as Democrats (6%) said Trump would be viewed as outstanding or above average.
For generations, military service was a prerequisite to winning the presidency. Trump however, avoided military service.
Trump has expanded the presidency during his first 30 days through his use of executive power and policy priorities.