The Political Scene Live: A Year Since Trump’s Win, What Have We Learned?

The Political Scene | The New Yorker

The New Yorker

Politics, Obama, News, Wnyc, Washington, Barack, President, Lizza, Wickenden

4.2 • 3.3K Ratings

🗓️ 22 November 2025

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Washington Roundtable reflects on the first year since Donald Trump’s second win before a live audience at Harvard University’s Institute of Politics, on November 20th. The panel considers how cracks in the MAGA firmament may shape what’s next for the President and the Republican party. “American politics the last ten years have been dominated by this very singular disruptive figure of Donald Trump,” the staff writer Susan B. Glasser. “So what we define as the new abnormal, for a whole generation of Americans is, in fact, the new normal.”

This week’s reading:

“Dick Cheney’s Long, Strange Goodbye,” by Susan B. Glasser
“The Darkest Thread in the Epstein E-mails,” by Jessica Winter
“The Meaning of Trump’s Presidential Pardons,” by Benjamin Wallace-Wells
“Kash Patel’s Acts of Service,” by Marc Fisher
“How M.B.S. Won Back Washington,” by Isaac Chotiner
“Donald Trump Can’t Dodge the Costly K-Shaped Economy,” by John Cassidy

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the political scene from the New Yorker, a weekly discussion about the big questions
0:09.5	in American politics. I'm Evan Osnos, and I'm joined as ever by my colleagues Jane Mayer and
0:15.6	Susan Glasser. Hi, Jane, hi Susan. Hey, Evan. Hey, Susan. Hey, great to be with you guys.
0:23.3	We are coming to you live this week from the John F. Kennedy Forum at Harvard University's
0:28.8	Institute of Politics.
0:32.0	It says applause, people.
0:42.3	It almost made me have to jeb bush the situation. This was really a desperate turn of events.
0:45.3	It is a pleasure to be here with you tonight on this Wednesday evening.
0:49.3	It has been, believe it or not, one year, one dizzying, disorienting year since the election of Donald
0:58.7	Trump. The Trump presidency 2.0 has looked at times beyond any conceivable constraint as it slashed
1:07.8	at federal agencies, indicted its political opponents, deployed American troops on American
1:15.1	streets, while pursuing one showdown after another with universities, civil society, and news organizations.
1:23.0	And yet today, there are stark signs of what may prove to be a turning point.
1:29.3	This president's popularity has reached historic lows.
1:33.7	He's facing a rebellion for members of his own party in just the last few days.
1:38.3	These are members of Congress who were, until recently, in total lockstep with him.
1:43.4	His own Treasury Secretary has said that parts of the
1:46.1	economy may already be in recession, and the Epstein scandal shows no sign of going away. The Democratic
1:53.5	Party is watching and strategizing and trying to figure out which paths it has forward.
1:59.5	Tonight, we wanted to mark this moment with some serious Trumpology, trying to figure out which paths it has forward. Tonight we wanted to mark this moment with some serious
2:02.3	Trumpology, trying to figure out what we've learned over the course of the last year, where it
2:07.7	may be going, and what it's been like to cover it from Washington. So we got to start, guys,
	...

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