The Incredible Shrinking President

H ey, remember April? When President Donald Trump marked his 100th day in office at the end of that month, he was on a seemingly unstoppable roll. After taking four years out of office to prepare, he and his team returned to power with a blitz of more than 140 executive orders. He bent the Republican-controlled Congress to his will and dismantled much of the federal bureaucracy. He brought powerful institutions, including prestigious universities and law firms, to heel, demanding that his ring be kissed and his wallet fattened. He upended the nation’s economic and diplomatic relations with the world. He hijacked Americans’ attention—he was everywhere!—while openly musing about tearing up the Constitution and serving a third term. Moreover, Democrats were in disarray—truly—and their party’s future seemed in doubt. Trump stared out from the cover of this very magazine with the accompanying quote “I run the country and the world.” Honestly, it was hard to argue with him. But as 2025 draws to a close, Trump seems a whole lot smaller. His party has been battered in recent elections. His poll numbers on even his signature issues—the economy, immigration—have tumbled. He’s seemingly lost touch with what got him elected, instead focusing on projects both petty and self-aggrandizing. As Americans worry about affordability, Trump and his family have profited wildly from his time in office. Republicans have begun to openly and repeatedly defy him. Democrats have started to outmaneuver him. Today, the Jeffrey Epstein scandal once more erupted with embarrassing revelations and unanswered questions. And every now and then, Trump seems to have a hard time even staying awake. Every president is inherently a lame duck the moment he takes the oath of office for the second time. But many presidents have been at least able to delay their diminishment until after the midterm elections, at which point—political capital largely exhausted, the political world turning to the race to pick a successor—they tend to focus on things over which they still have control, such as foreign policy and legacy building. Remarkably, Trump, not even a full year into his second term, seems to have already gotten there. Intensely focused on winning a Nobel Peace Prize and on striking lucrative business deals, he’s hosted a parade of world leaders at the White House while increasing his foreign travel and cutting back his domestic trips. He’s also intent on leaving a physical mark on the nation’s capital, slapping his name on the Kennedy Center and commissioning the construction of a massive arch (surely the “Arc de Trump”) while using gold fixtures and a demolition crew to remake the White House itself. That myopic focus has worried Republicans, who are now sounding the alarm on a possible wipeout during next year’s midterm elections. There has been a wave of congressional retirements and rumors of more coming early in the new year. And among some of those who look to outlast Trump in Washington, there has been a growing willingness to defy him. To be...

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