The Enduring Legacy of Trump’s Imperial Presidency
The powers he’s assumed in his second term will surely outlast him. Democrats could be counting on it.
Donald Trump’s reality show presidency enters its sixth year with the chaotic, often vengeful frenzy of his return giving way increasingly to the tedious realities of governing. As problems accumulate and his clout wanes, Trump’s approval ratings have slumped along with consumer sentiment, and his latest preoccupations—a military intervention conducted in Venezuela without congressional approval, followed by renewed threats to take over Greenland—don’t appear popular. Republicans remain mostly smitten, or at least quiet, while Democrats are growing bullish about chances for a breakthrough in the 2026 midterm elections.
Trumpism may or may not outlast Trump, but one aspect that will persist is his expansion of the executive branch. Through a meticulously planned barrage of policies and test cases, combined with a flagrant disregard for guardrails that once bound him and his predecessors, Trump has reset, and expanded, the parameters of Oval Office power, shifting voters’ expectations along the way.