Hey, listeners, it's Ross. I'm back just for a minute to share a really great conversation with you. My colleague, Patrick Healy, has been talking to a different columnist every week about how Donald Trump has been wielding power in his first hundred days in office. It's been a great way to hear my fellow columnists piece together their theories

of what Trump is doing and how far-reaching the consequences will be. So here's the latest

episode. Enjoy. I'm Patrick Healey, Deputy Editor of New York Times opinion.

And this is the first hundred days, a weekly series examining President Trump's use of power

and his drive to change America.

Okay, so we're now halfway through Trump's first 100, the onslaught of executive orders,

executive pardons, executive muscle flexing to fire anyone Trump wants and close agencies.

We're seeing an unprecedented use of the word unprecedented.

And this week we're seeing a president who promised a golden age of economic growth,

actually steering America toward a recession with his chaotic tariff policies. It's sometimes

hard to find the language to meet the moment. So I wanted to talk to two of my colleagues,

opinion columnist Michelle Goldberg, and opinion contributor Frank Bruni, to talk to two of my colleagues, opinion columnist Michelle Goldberg,

and opinion contributor Frank Bruney, to try to make sense of it all.

Michelle Goldberg, Frank Bruny, thanks for being here.

Patrick, thanks.

Great to be with you, Patrick.

So since we're at the halfway mark through 100 days,

I'd love to hear from each of you about an

issue or person or moment that that you think defines how Trump has used power during these

first 50 days. Michelle, do you want to start? Sure. I mean, there's a few, but one that stands out for me is the

gutting of USAID, both because it's illegal, it's so flagrantly immoral and so utterly self-destructive.

You know, during the first Trump term, I would sometimes have to catch myself because even though I thought and think that Trump is uniquely

...