Tevi Troy describes Trump’s approach as ‘unilateralism’
President Trump told supporters in Northern Kentucky this weekend that his second term is more powerful than his first. “I don’t think I could have done this in my first term,” he said. “This is a much more powerful term. I can do stuff that’s unbelievable.” He cited changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America as one action he said he would not have dared to take during his first term.
He joked that big companies that would not take his call in his first term now “kiss my ass.” Less than two weeks before the election, Trump was pointing to that expanded power to make his case to midterm voters.
Trump cited the Gulf of Mexico name change as one example. NPR’s reporting pointed to several other actions as illustrations of his expanded authority. The Justice Department is raiding a congresswoman’s home. The administration is knocking down trees in Washington, D.C., against a judge’s wishes. And Trump is making deals with Russia that conflict with sanctions passed by Congress.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced investigations into nine universities, including Harvard and Yale, alleging the schools brought international students into the country to undercut American wages.
Analysts place Trump within a broader pattern
NPR’s report noted that Trump is not the first president to test executive authority. George W. Bush issued “signing statements” to challenge or reinterpret bills passed by Congress, and Barack Obama said he had a pen and planned to use it. Trump is part of that trend, the report said.
Tevi Troy, a presidential historian who worked in the George W. Bush White House, said Trump inherited an increasingly powerful presidency. “Congress has been basically giving away its own power for a quarter of a century,” Troy said, and Trump is using that power in a distinctive way — not only to get around congressional gridlock but also to go after political and cultural opponents.
“His goals include going after some of his opponents reigning in ‘woke’ or ‘DEI’ stuff at universities, pushing back against the media,” Troy said, adding: “He’s what I call a unilateralist. He doesn’t have an ideology, he has a methodology, and the methodology is unilateralism.”
Targets and tools
Trump has spent years attacking news organizations, criticizing regulators and confronting political opponents, including members of his own party, according to NPR. Ryan Williams, a Republican strategist who helped lead Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, described Trump as a brawler who won’t hesitate to use those extraordinary powers in all those fights.
“Trump has made it very clear that he wants to approach his second term in a way where he gets what he wants,” Williams said. “He’s the president, he’s the boss, and he’s not going to be restrained by traditions or aides that may say you should hold back.”
Frank Sesno, a former CNN Washington bureau chief who is now a media and public affairs professor at George Washington University, said Trump officials are “prepared to take the gloves off” if the administration does not like a person or organization’s point of view. Sesno said that response could be waged in court, through contracts, by revoking security clearances or by launching investigations.
“These are the extensions of power that can only be exercised in many ways by the executive branch of the federal government,” Sesno said. “And they are awesome weapons.”
NPR’s reporting framed the central question as how far the president can go and what, if anything, will constrain him.
Earlier in the midterm campaign, MSI reported that Trump urged vulnerable Republican lawmakers to run on his White House record and pledged to campaign for them. His new remarks broaden that message by making his expanded second-term power itself part of the case to voters.