00:00Trump 2.0 has also seen the president testing the limits of executive power,
00:06putting pressure on America's system of checks and balances for the long term.
00:11David Lawler of Axios shares how that balance is shifting, both in Washington and nationwide.
00:19It's a mixed record in terms of the courts stepping in to stop him.
00:26This is a big country. We have a lot of different judges all over the place
00:29who have different ideology themselves,
00:31that have different levels of willingness to try to put the brakes on this president.
00:40He thinks in some cases they overreach.
00:43The big change is the legislative branch, which has been absent entirely
00:49because Trump has controlled both houses of Congress,
00:52and every Republican who's been elected to go to Washington
00:57is almost every Republican.
01:00Their top priority is staying on the right side of Donald Trump.
01:04He could end their political careers.
01:06He can put a lot, he can make life very uncomfortable for them if they cross him.
01:11So they have been entirely subservient to the executive this far.
01:17The midterms don't look very good for Republicans.
01:21If things continue on this course,
01:23they're almost certain to lose the House and the Senate.
01:25With Trump's ratings on the economy and immigration slipping,
01:29signs of voter discontent are emerging,
01:32raising questions over Republican prospects in November's midterms.
01:36I think you're going to have a very motivated anti-Trump coalition coming out to vote in the midterms.
01:46If I had to make predictions, I would say this is not going to be a good midterm election for Donald Trump.
01:53Now, the midterms are usually bad for the sitting president,
01:56so he's got history against him as well.
01:58But this one in particular feels like they're not going in in a strong position.
02:01You know, if we all sit down and see a blue wave, as you call it, in 2026 with Democrats winning a lot of House seats,
02:08I think that people shouldn't automatically think that that applies two years later to the next presidential election.
02:15Our politics tend to reset a little bit after the midterms.
02:18Who knows what the long longer term future is?
02:20Even nine months is a long way away.
02:22Nine months and two years is an eternity in U.S. politics.
02:26So please let me get started.
02:31I think that's the only thing.
02:36I think that's the only thing I want to do with the next election.
02:42The next election, we'll be coming in after all.
02:45If we want to see a new political election, we'll be coming in after all.
02:49We'll see you next time.
02:52Yeah.
02:52I think that's the only thing I want to do with it.
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