Donald Trump is using his growing executive power as a central argument to voters ahead of the US midterm elections, claiming his second term has given him the authority to act in ways he would not have attempted previously.
Speaking to supporters in Northern Kentucky, the president pointed to measures including renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America as evidence of his increased influence.
“I don’t think I could have done this in my first term,” he said. “This is a much more powerful term. I can do stuff that’s unbelievable.”
Mr Trump also joked that large companies had refused to take his calls during his first term, whereas “now they kiss my ass”.
Trump’s executive power faces few restraints
The administration’s actions have extended beyond symbolic changes. The Justice Department has raided the home of a congresswoman, while Mr Trump has ordered trees to be cut down in Washington DC despite a judge’s wishes.
His administration is also making deals with Russia that conflict with sanctions passed by Congress, according to the account of his second-term approach.
Tevi Troy, a presidential historian who worked in the George W Bush White House, said Mr Trump had inherited a presidency that had been accumulating power for 25 years as Congress gradually surrendered authority.
But Mr Troy said the president was using that power in a distinctive way, not simply to overcome congressional deadlock but also to target political and cultural opponents.
“His goals include going after some of his opponents reigning in ‘woke’ or ‘DEI’ stuff at universities, pushing back against the media,” Mr Troy said. “He’s what I call a unilateralist. He doesn’t have an ideology, he has a methodology, and the methodology is unilateralism.”
Ryan Williams, a Republican strategist who helped lead Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, described Mr Trump as a political brawler unwilling to be held back by established traditions or advisers urging caution.
“Trump has made it very clear that he wants to approach his second term in a way where he gets what he wants,” Mr Williams said. “He’s the president, he’s the boss, and he’s not going to be restrained by traditions or aides that may say you should hold back.”
The administration has also announced investigations into nine universities, including Harvard and Yale, over allegations that they brought in international students to undercut American wages.
Frank Sesno, a former CNN Washington bureau chief who is now a media and public affairs professor at George Washington University, said officials were prepared to use the machinery of government against individuals or organisations whose views they opposed.
He said that could include court action, the withdrawal of contracts, revoking security clearances or launching investigations.
“These are the extensions of power that can only be exercised in many ways by the executive branch of the federal government,” Mr Sesno said. “And they are awesome weapons.”
The question facing voters is increasingly not how much Mr Trump can achieve through executive action, but how far he can go and what, if anything, will constrain him.
