Yuval Levin takes stock of President Donald Trump’s first year back in the White House.
I think that a year in, you’re hearing two kinds of stories.
So one story says there are a lot of accomplishments: The southern border is much more secure than it was a year ago; woke left-wing radicalism in a lot of institutions is back on its heels now; the Iranian nuclear program has been set back a lot; the war on Gaza is over, and the surviving Israeli hostages are home; the “big, beautiful bill” is law; unemployment is low; the economy is strong. It’s a year of achievements.
On the other hand, you can tell the story from the point of view of a Trump critic who says federal law enforcement has been contorted in the service of the president’s grudges and priorities; the administration has intimidated all kinds of institutions throughout American life; this year there are squads of masked agents pursuing immigrants around the country; federal scientific research funding is in disarray; tariffs have increased prices.
These stories are both true at the same time. But the common denominator of these stories is that they’re both stories about a lot of action.
I actually think that’s not quite right and that there’s an important story to tell about the absence of action in the past year, too — the absence of traditional uses of presidential power and authority in our system.
There has been very little legislation. It’s true the “big, beautiful bill” is law, but Donald Trump has signed fewer pieces of legislation than any president in the modern era.
The pace of regulatory action is actually slower than the last five or six presidents. If you look at the numbers, the amount that they’re doing that amounts to durable policy change is actually pretty constrained.
So I think the question is: How do you reconcile the amount of activity with the absence of durable action? To me, that’s the story of the first year of this presidency.
