Has Trump Achieved a Lot Less Than It Seems?

The Ezra Klein Show

New York Times Opinion

News, Government, Society & Culture

4.3 • 14.5K Ratings

🗓️ 16 January 2026

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We are one year into Trump’s second term. And it feels like so much has happened – more than the human mind, or the country, can absorb. But how much has Trump really accomplished? What policies have changed the country in a way that will last? My guest Yuval Levin is one of the smartest thinkers on the right, and his verdict is: not that much. “There’s an important story to tell about the absence of action in the past year, too,” he tells me. Levin is the director of social, cultural and constitutional studies at the American Enterprise Institute, the founder and editor of National Affairs and the author of several books on policy and political theory, including “American Covenant: How the Constitution Unified Our Nation – and Could Again.” Mentioned: Charts Buckley by Sam Tanenhaus Book Recommendations: Insecure Majorities by Frances E. Lee Making the Presidency by Lindsay M. Chervinsky Last Branch Standing by Sarah Isgur Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com. You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs. This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Rollin Hu. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris, with Kate Sinclair. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing by Aman Sahota. Our executive producer is Claire Gordon. The show’s production team also includes Marie Cascione, Annie Galvin, Kristin Lin, Emma Kehlbeck, Jack McCordick, Marina King and Jan Kobal. Original music by Pat McCusker. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The director of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser.

Transcript

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0:00.0	The
0:07.0	The As long as it may have felt, we are one year into Donald Trump's second term as president.
0:37.7	To follow the Trump administration in the news is to be exposed to the full muzzle velocity of this presidency, the overwhelming procession of new stories, wild statements, like spectacular, outrageous, sometimes terrifying events.
0:53.1	It feels like so much more is happening than the human mind,
0:57.4	than the entire media than the country can absorb. But how much has actually changed? How much
1:02.9	has Trump actually gotten done? How many of these stories that were so spectacular when
1:08.1	they began have followed through into durable difference in how the
1:12.6	government works, or what it does, or how we live. About a year ago, just a few weeks into Trump's second
1:19.5	term, I had Yuval Levin on the show. Levin is one of the smartest thinkers on the right, a real
1:24.9	conservative thinks deeply about institutions and the nature of
1:27.9	the presidency and how these things work in the constitutional order. And at that time, he was,
1:33.1	in some ways, a very measured voice. This was the moment of Doge and Musk and executive orders,
1:39.2	and he was skeptical that as much was actually happening as seemed to be happening.
1:50.6	So now after this truly wild year, a truly historic year in American politics and life,
1:58.4	I want to have him back on to see what he thinks has happened and how his analysis of Trump has or has not changed.
2:02.0	As always my email, Ezraclund Show at NYUTimes.com.
2:14.6	Youvall 11, welcome back to the show.
2:16.5	Thank you very much for having me, Ezra. So we talked, at least on the show last year, right after Trump took office.
2:22.0	And this was in the sort of early chaos.
2:24.3	It was Doge and executive orders and this feeling that the entire presidency was being reshaped.
2:30.3	They could do anything.
2:31.6	You were a little less alarmist and were skeptical that they were going
	...

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