America at 250 – and a reckoning for President Trump

Since President Trump took office a year ago, the news has never let up. Just consider recent weeks: An attack in Venezuela; talk of acquiring Greenland (via what Mr. Trump described as "the easy way" or "the hard way"); a criminal investigation of the Federal Reserve chair; and the fatal shooting of an American woman in Minneapolis by a federal immigration agent.

Now, as we enter the second year of the second Trump presidency, we also enter the 250th year of our republic. Time to take a deep breath – and take stock. 

Historian Lindsay Chervinsky, executive director of the George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon, says that right now, America is at a turning point. "Most republics in history don't last 300 years, and it's because it's a really hard thing to do," she said. "It's a nation that is based on an idea rather than a shared ethnic or religious background. And that means it's going to be messy."  

"I alone can fix this"

Mr. Trump has put himself at the center not only of the American presidency, but the American system. One of his most famous quotes is "I alone can fix this."

"I think the American system was never designed to be based on one person; that's really what the Revolution is all about," Chervinsky said. "The best administrations that we have seen – I would put Washington at the top of that list, Lincoln, FDR, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower – they understood that they were better if they had Congress on their side, if they were working together to pass legislation, to make decisions that would stand the test of time, because they had the buy-in of the American people through their representatives."

To date, President Trump has had almost total "buy-in" from the Republican-controlled Congress. It passed his signature legislation last year, what he called his "big beautiful bill" of spending and tax cuts.

Chervinsky said, "From the very beginning, Congress was always envisioned as the vital force of the government. It was the body that was going to put forth legislation. It was going to pass a budget. It established the rules for any sort of military force. It could declare war. It was supposed to be the most powerful branch, which is why it's first."

The bounds of executive power

Recently, Mr. Trump told reporters that his "morality" is "the only thing that can stop" him. When asked whether the president is testing the bounds of executive power, Washington Post columnist George Will replied, "President Trump is denying that there are bounds of executive power."

Will, a conservative who has chronicled Washington dynamics for more than 50 years, has had sharp criticism for President Trump and his use of power. Indeed, many Republicans on Capitol Hill privately agree with Will, but are publicly silent.

Asked why, Will replied, "Fear. It's really simple. Of 435 members of the House, there are perhaps 35 competitive districts, which means that an incumbent Republican only has to fear a primary from the right – being primaried. And they all feel they are one hostile Trump tweet away from a primary challenge."

But would incumbents even want to stay in the job these days? Will noted, "We have this really unfortunate dynamic that the very sort of people you want to stay are leaving. You want them to stay 'cause they take the job seriously. They're leaving because they say it's not a serious job anymore."

Asked to comment on the Trump administration's use of federal forces in American cities and towns, Will said, "Other presidencies haven't done this. Surely when Detroit had horrible riots in the '60s, and Watts and all the rest, troops were sent in, National Guard. But no president has done what this one has done. These young men and women come in [as] ICE dressed for combat on Iwo Jima. 

"But the masks? Why are they wearing masks?" Will asked. "What are they hiding, and from whom, and why?

When Mr. Trump first came to power in 2017, he seemed almost unfamiliar with where the levers of power were in the federal government. This time around is different. "I think he has adjusted to the presidency," Will said. "And I also think (unlike in 2017), in the first year of the second Trump term, we realized that he had people around him now who understood the nuts and bolts of government. [And] they have pushed things."

"President to the world, not just to Americans"

That push is evident on the foreign front, where the president has pursued an aggressive policy that has been cheered by domestic allies – and rattled allies abroad.

"He came in this time really keen to be president to the world, not just to Americans," said Vivian Salama, who covers foreign affairs for The Atlantic. "He's coming to it with what his supporters call 'masculine' foreign policy."

Seven years ago, Salama and her colleagues at the Wall Street Journal revealed President Trump had designs on Greenland. "I thought it was a joke," she said. "It certainly is not a joke now. And in fact, we know that there are serious policy discussions happening at the State Department and the White House and elsewhere in the government, where the wheels are very much in motion to try to figure out how best to make this happen."

Even with Venezuela, China, Taiwan, Iran, the Middle East and other global tensions, Salama says the most vexing issue for President Trump in the world is the Ukraine-Russia war, still hovering over him. "Remember, on the campaign trail, he promised to solve it before he even took office. He said it would take 24 hours," she said. "It is a little harder than that. Governing is hard. Governing is actually hard. And then diplomacy is even harder, and especially when you're dealing with someone like Vladimir Putin, who was a shrewd KGB agent and knows how to manipulate his adversaries. And this is what President Trump is realizing. He says, This is a hard one and I thought it was gonna be easy, but it's hard."

Another hard one: this year's midterm elections. The economy will be issue #1, and who controls Congress could determine the future of the Trump presidency – and the president remains at the center of it all, leaving us all wondering what comes next.

Chervinsky says we are living through a historic time: "I personally like writing about historic times; I think I'd be okay living in a boring moment for a little while!" she said. "Those living through the Revolution or the Civil War understood that they were living through a historic moment. I think that is true of this moment. We can feel that history is being made. We're just not exactly sure what future generations are gonna say about us."

       
For more info:

• Lindsay Chervinsky, Executive Director, The George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon
• George F. Will, The Washington Post
• Vivian Salama, The Atlantic

       
Story produced by Ed Forgotson. Editor: Ed Givnish.