Trump leans into unprecedented power ahead of midterm elections

Less than two weeks before the midterm elections, President Donald Trump is openly promoting the breadth of his authority as a campaign theme. Speaking to supporters in Northern Kentucky, he said he could not have done in his first term what he does now, calling this stretch far more powerful and saying he can do things that are unbelievable. He also joked that large corporations now bend to him, according to NPR.

NPR reports several recent examples: Justice Department agents searching a congresswoman's home, trees removed in Washington, D. C. over a judge's objections, and arrangements with Russia that conflict with sanctions Congress approved. The administration also opened inquiries into nine universities, Harvard and Yale among them, on suspicion that they recruit foreign students to hold down American pay.

Presidential historian Tevi Troy, who worked in the George W. Bush White House, notes that predecessors from Bush to Barack Obama also pushed executive limits, and that Congress has ceded influence for roughly twenty-five years. In his view, Trump stands apart by aiming that power at political and cultural adversaries, a style Troy calls unilateralism.

Summarized by PolitiKool from NPR’s reporting. Read the full story at NPR →