Mara Liasson

And what I'm going to be watching for is how much of their feelings about Trump, because let's face it, Trump is kind of all present all the time, how much of that affects their choice for the midterms as they start turning their attention to it?

He's not on the ballot in 2026, but because he's such an all-encompassing figure and he kind of sucks all the oxygen out of the room, what I'm wondering is,

Do their feelings about him affect their feelings about Republican candidates?

I'm Ashley Lopez.

I cover politics.

And I'm Mara Liason, senior national political correspondent.

on Monday, January 12, 2026.

Man, I went to Mexico City like two years ago and I still think about the tacos on an almost weekly basis.

Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast.

I'm Myles Parks.

I cover voting.

And today on the podcast, Donald Trump is the America first president.

He started his political career campaigning against the neoconservative policies that brought years-long conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Here he is talking at a Republican presidential debate in 2016.

But how does that square with what looks to be a little bit like nation building in Venezuela right now?

Danielle, I want to start with you.

Give a little bit of context here.

When we talk about the neoconservative values of the George W. Bush era, what do we mean by that?

Well, I want to walk through because I do think this evolution over the last 25 years is fascinating.

Danielle, kind of walk through how we end up in the 2015 era then where Donald Trump kind of opens his political career by being very America first, by being what seems to me to be almost isolationist.