Trump came into office with enormous political capital and an unprecedented bully pulpit. He could have used that to push transformational things through budget reconciliation and to build a right-wing party with better primary endorsements. It’s not that he didn’t signal a lot of good policies in a vacuum; it’s that he chose to blow his capital on the tariff gambit, which has now drained his political support without having enacted a single major policy. I express my concern about where we will land in two and four years from now due to the lack of pressuring Congress, ignoring the courts, and making the right endorsements in red states. Meanwhile, there are always superficial, aesthetic distractions that keep the grift corps from demanding that we right the ship and actually fulfill the mandate.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices