WASHINGTON: With Donald Trump back in the White House you never know what you\u2019re going to get. Will he berate a foreign leader? Rock the global markets? Take vengeance against his foes?
\nBut there has been one constant behind the chaos of his first 100 days \u2014 Trump is pushing US presidential power to almost imperial limits.
\n\u201cI think the second term is just more powerful,\u201d the 78-year-old Republican said during a recent event. \u201cThey do it \u2014 when I say do it, they do it, right?\u201c
\nTrump has been driven by a sense of grievance left over from an undisciplined first term that ended in the shame of the 2021 US Capitol riots after his election defeat to Joe Biden.
\nAnd while Trump freed hundreds of those attackers from jail on his first day back in office, he is taking no prisoners when it comes to consolidating the power of the White House.
\n\u201cTrump 2.0 is far more authoritarian-minded and authoritarian in its actions than Trump 1.0,\u201d political historian Matt Dallek of George Washington University told AFP.
\nTrump has also stepped up the sense of an endless reality show in which he is the star, as he signs executive orders and takes questions from reporters in the Oval Office almost daily.
\nThat slew of orders has unleashed an unprecedented assault on the cornerstones of American democracy \u2014 and on the world order.
\n\u201cWe have seen certainly not in modern times such a sustained attack to unwind constitutional safeguards,\u201d added Dallek.<\/p>\n
Controversially aided by Elon Musk, the world\u2019s richest man, Trump has launched a drive to gut a federal government he regards as part of a liberal \u201cdeep state.\u201d<\/p>\n
He has invoked a centuries-old wartime act to deport migrants to a mega prison in El Salvador \u2014 while warning that US citizens could be next.
\nHe has dug in for a confrontation with judges, and forced a string of punishing deals on law firms involved in previous criminal or civil cases against him.
\nHe has cracked down on the media \u2014 which he still dubs the \u201cenemy of the people\u201d \u2014 and limited access to news outlets covering him at the White House.
\nAnd he has launched an ideological purge, cutting diversity programs, targeting universities and even installing himself as head of a prestigious arts center.
\nThe US Congress, which is meant to have ultimate control over the government\u2019s purse strings, has been sidelined. Republicans have abetted his power grab while crushed Democrats have struggled to muster a response.
\n\u201cWe are all afraid,\u201d Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski said recently.
\n\u201cThe president appears indifferent to formal \u2014 even constitutional \u2014 checks on his power,\u201d added Barbara Trish, professor of political science at Grinnell College.
\nOn the foreign stage Trump has made territorial claims over Greenland, Panama and Canada \u2014 asserting a sphere of influence that echoes Russian President Vladimir Putin\u2019s expansionist bent.
\nTrump is meanwhile backed by a court of true believers. Aides with often fringe views, like vaccine-skeptic health secretary Robert Kennedy, take turns to praise him at cabinet meetings.
\n\u201cCompared to the first term, the president has completely surrounded himself with aides who not only facilitate, but in some cases catalyze, his brazen power moves,\u201d added Trish.<\/p>\n
But Trump\u2019s comeback has highlighted some familiar themes.
\nTrump is closing out his first three months with approval ratings well below all other post-World War II presidents \u2014 except for himself, in his first term, according to Gallup.
\nAnd there are signs of the same volatile leader the world saw from 2017 to 2021.
\nTrump\u2019s wild televised meltdown in the Oval Office with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky \u2014 abetted by hawkish Vice President JD Vance \u2014 deeply alarmed allies who were already unnerved by his pivot to Russia.
\nThen there was his introduction of sweeping global tariffs \u2014 only to reverse many of them after tanking global markets proved to be the only real check on his power.
\nWhen asked how he had reached one of his tariff decisions Trump replied: \u201cJust instinctively.\u201d
\nThe question now is whether Trump \u2014 who at one point referred to himself as \u201cTHE KING\u201d on his Truth Social platform \u2014 will be willing to give up power.
\nTrump recently said that when he repeatedly mentioned a Constitution-defying third term he was \u201cnot joking.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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