Panelists discuss the president’s most consequential actions—and the biggest changes to American governance.
Since Donald Trump’s return to the White House, his administration has overhauled core institutions and norms. Panelists on Washington Week With The Atlantic joined to discuss the first 100 days of the president’s second term—and what may come next for the country.
On the subject of Trump’s impact as president since his inauguration, The Atlantic’s editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, posed a question to the panelists: “What is the most consequential action he’s taken, or what’s the biggest change we’ve seen in American governance?”
“The difference between Trump now and Trump previously is one thing I’ve been struck by, which is just how confident, bold, aggressive, creative he has been at sort of wielding the levers of powers at his disposal to bend, you know, the city, the country, and the world to his will,” Atlantic staff writer Ashley Parker said last night.
“Trump traditionally is someone who is trying to get through the minute, the hour, the day,” Parker continued. “He is trying to win over the person directly in front of him.” But the president also now appears to be tolerating more criticism than he might have in his first term: On tariffs, Parker explained, “he had the stomach, at least initially, for more pain as the markets plummeted and as he was getting, you know, lobbied behind the scenes, and some pretty public criticism.” Trump, she added, “stood by that much longer than I would have expected for someone who is traditionally pinballing between whatever is politically expedient in that moment.”
Joining the editor in chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, to discuss this and more: Kaitlan Collins, the chief White House correspondent at CNN; Stephen Hayes, the editor of The Dispatch; Asma Khalid, a White House correspondent for NPR; and Ashley Parker, a staff writer at The Atlantic.
Watch the full episode here.
