How Trump Redefined the Power of the Presidency One Year Into Second Term

KQED's Forum

KQED

News Commentary, News, Politics

4.2 • 727 Ratings

🗓️ 15 January 2026

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

President Donald Trump has redefined the authority of the American presidency. In a recent interview with the New York Times, he said he is constrained only by his “own morality.” Trump has often exercised power in ways that have raised alarms including weaponizing the Department of Justice to go after political opponents, capturing the leader of Venezuela without Congressional approval, sending the National Guard into cities to squash protests and imposing tariffs. As we approach the one year anniversary of Trump’s inauguration, we’ll talk about the expansion of presidential power and what it means for democracy. Guests: Steven Levitsky, professor of government, Harvard, co-author of "Why Democracies Die" and "Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point." Vikram Amar, professor of law, UC Davis School of Law Lara Brown, political scientist and author, Her lastest book is, "Amateur Hour: Presidential Character and the Question of Leadership." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Support for KQED podcasts comes from San Francisco International Airport.
0:05.8	At SFO, you can shop, dine, and unwind before your flight.
0:10.3	Go ahead, treat yourself.
0:12.1	Learn more about SFO restaurants and shops at flysfo.com.
0:17.0	This is your latest idea.
0:19.5	It's unique.
0:20.5	It's game-changing. It's unique. It's game-changing.
0:21.8	It's huge.
0:23.3	But you can go even bigger with AI-powered PDF spaces in Acrobat Studio, turning your files and links into actionable insights and content.
0:32.9	Plus, share projects and collaborate seamlessly while keeping everything private and secure.
0:38.3	So your excellent idea stays yours.
0:42.3	Do that with Acrobat. Learn more and try it out on Adobe.com.
0:47.3	From KQED.
0:50.3	Welcome to Forum. I'm Alexis Madrigal.
0:53.3	What is the presidency now? How is presidential power supposed to work?
0:58.5	How under previous administrations and now in President Trump's second term is presidential power expanding?
1:06.0	And how do we see our democracy faring in a world where a single person and or single administration have such
1:12.6	vast and unchecked power. I've got a lot of questions this morning. We've got three guests to
1:17.8	help us answer them. Stephen Levitsky is a professor of government at Harvard, co-author of Why Democracies
1:23.3	Die and Tyranny of the Minority, Why American democracy reached the breaking point. Welcome.
1:29.7	Hi. I've also got Vikram Amar, who is a professor of law at UC Davis Law School. Welcome.
1:36.8	Thank you for having me. And we've got Laura Brown, who's a political scientist and author. Her last book, is Amateur Hour presidential character
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from KQED, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of KQED and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.