Maggie Haberman: A Gross and Messy White House
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What messy habits did Trump have in the White House?
Sujuu kuin sato. Vuokraa elämäsi koti. Sato.fi
Hello and welcome to the Bulwark Podcast. I'm your host, Tim Miller. We got a doubleheader for you today in segment two. It's the podcast favorite, Gen Z, bisexual, quasi-communist. We're assessing what's been happening with the DSA in the primaries. That's my man, Cameron Kasky, of course. But first, she's a New York Times White House correspondent, author of Confidence Man, and co-author of Jonathan Swan of the new book, Regime Change Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump. It's, of course, Maggie Haberman. What's up, girl? How are you? Thanks for having me. I'm doing great. It's been a minute. And it seems like you guys have sold so many of these books. Can I just say, I'm just going to say it.
We have this relationship. I can just be blunt. I don't get it. I mean, people want to relive the first year of the Donald Trump presidency in written form and long form. I mean, I understand wanting to watch Yellowstone reruns, you know, or the World Cup, but it's your magic.
I appreciate your talk, having me on to talk about a book that you say you don't understand why people want to read, but I am grateful that a lot of people do. I understand.
After reading it, I understand it.
I appreciate that. Okay. There are very long queues at libraries, which is great. In all seriousness, there's a very long audible queue. I don't think it's about reliving it, Tim, honestly, because this book nearly killed us. And I know Jonathan's line, my co-author's line is always, we're not in Fallujah, and we're not. That's correct. But This was incredibly hard to do because this is not term one. This is not, you know, walking around with what Swan would call the slop bucket and you're waiting for, you know, your scoop to just drop into it because everybody was fighting and everybody was leaking and, you know, half of that government, if not more, half of that White House, if not more. viewed Trump as dangerous, or at least unmoored for some of them, and were concerned about his behaviors.
This is a group of people who are relatively tight-knit. They really believe in Trump. They want to see him succeed.
How did Trump's presidency change after the 2020 election?
If they are concerned about some things that they see, they believe in his worldview, and they want to see his agenda implemented. So this took us a really long time, but this was, for us, this wasn't reliving last year. This was trying to understand much more about last year. And it took a really long time. And we focused on various aspects of how Trump has... He transformed, you know, we'll see what aspects of it are permanent, but I think more than people realize, he has transformed the U.S. presidency into something very different than we've ever seen in our lifetimes. And that was the impetus for the title regime change, because we are witnessing a form of it in our own country.
Yeah. Well, with the Supreme Court news yesterday, I mean, that's a good place to start about the way that he is changing the nature of the presidency. You have a scene in the book where he is walking around saying, I'm immune, I'm immune. And it does... That is another element of this, right? Absolutely. It's not only that he has a different staff, but it's this idea that he feels like he has... carte blanche to do whatever he wants, that there's no consequences for what he wants. He doesn't have to follow the laws. He can just make declarations by fiat and there isn't anybody that can stop him.
Well, there's a couple of aspects and you're right that it is not just one thing. There are many, many factors as to why this presidency has been the way it has and why he has expanded executive power to a degree that I think, you know, it was foreseeable that there would be an expansion. Exactly how it has gone has been at rapid speed and as maximalist as they've been able to do. You know this. Every president for decades now has incrementally expanded executive power. Sometimes it's bigger increments than others. But obviously the biggest was right after 9-11 during the Bush presidency, second Bush presidency.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What messy habits did Trump have in the White House?
0:00–2:38
2
How did Trump's presidency change after the 2020 election?
2:38–6:12
3
What revelations about Trump's health are discussed?
6:12–9:27
4
How did Trump's pardons impact his presidency?
9:27–12:11
5
What role did Elon Musk play during Trump's presidency?
12:11–16:45
6
How has the DSA influenced recent political races?
16:45–20:20
7
What insights does Cameron Kasky provide about voter sentiments?
20:20–23:25
8
How did the guests assess the current political landscape?
23:25–1:10:24
Speakers
4 identifiedMore from The Bulwark Daily
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Bill Kristol: A Blue Wave vs. the Toxic Red Tide
David French: MAGA Is Making America Less Free