Rating Donald Trump 2.0. With Historian Douglas Brinkley.
The Bill Press Pod
BP Pods
4.7 • 601 Ratings
🗓️ 2 January 2026
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode historian Doug Brinkley discusses the unprecedented ways in which Donald Trump has pushed the boundaries of presidential power. Brinkley compares Trump's actions to historic moments, such as FDR's attempts to pack the Supreme Court and Lincoln's leadership during the Civil War, but notes that Trump's use of executive orders and his ability to intimidate fellow Republicans is unparalleled. The episode covers Trump’s potential to weaponize the National Guard for political gains, his circumvention of legal authority, and the broader implications for American democracy. Brinkley expresses optimism for the future but warns of the challenges posed by emerging technologies such as AI and deep fakes.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, good friends. Happy New Year and welcome to the special edition of the Bill |
| 0:11.8 | Press Plague for the first time in 2026. Well, you know, we often wonder how history |
| 0:17.7 | will rate American presidents, and usually we have to weave a long time |
| 0:22.1 | to find out. |
| 0:23.0 | Aha, but not this one. |
| 0:24.7 | Through one first term and one year already of his second, Donald Trump has already |
| 0:30.5 | given historians plenty to write about, talk about, and in many cases, at least for those |
| 0:36.2 | historians who really value the office of the presidency, |
| 0:40.1 | plenty to lament about. Douglas Brinkley, professor of history at Rice University in Texas, |
| 0:47.2 | and history commentator for CNN, is one of America's leading presidential historians. |
| 0:53.2 | He studied and taught the records of all 47 presidents, |
| 0:58.4 | and he's written books about several of them. |
| 1:01.0 | So last October, we invited Professor Brinkley onto the podcast |
| 1:05.1 | to give us his assessment of how Donald Trump ranks in the pantheon of presidents. |
| 1:11.4 | We found his take on Trump so insightful and so frightful and so on target, we thought it |
| 1:19.1 | was important to revisit that interview today as we enter the second year of Trump 2.0. |
| 1:26.3 | Could 2026 be even worse than 2025? Here from October 7, our interview with |
| 1:34.7 | Professor Brinkley. Doug Brinkley, good to talk to you again. Welcome back to the Bill Press Pod. |
| 1:40.4 | Glad to be back, Bill. Doug, you've studied the presidency, I mean, everyone from 1 to 47. |
| 1:47.2 | Let me just ask you, it's only been eight months now, a little over. |
| 1:51.5 | But is it safe to say that no president has ever pushed the boundaries of presidential power like Donald Trump has? |
| 1:59.7 | Oh, it goes without saying that's true. One can talk about |
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