Has Trump Achieved a Lot Less Than It Seems?
About this episode
Conservative thinker Yuval Levin argues Trump's first year delivered abundant spectacle but surprisingly little durable governance: few laws, slower major rulemaking, and federal spending 4 percent above 2024 levels despite the DOGE campaign. He describes NIH funding that was delayed, then rushed out to spend the full appropriation — distorting multiyear grants while avoiding an impoundment fight. Trump practices 'retail' governance, Levin says: one-off deals, threats, and news-cycle interventions rather than legislation or broad regulation, and universities and firms often prefer temporary deals that preserve their flexibility after Trump. Immigration and trade are the exceptions. Courts and Senate confirmations have imposed some restraint, though Congress remains underactive. Levin sharply criticizes politicized federal law enforcement and intimidation, including the Jerome Powell probe. The most durable change, he warns, may be a younger right abandoning constitutional conservatism for harder-edged populism, despair, racism, and antisemitism.