2025-01-27
8 分钟The Economist. Hi, John Priddo here.
I host Checks and Balance, our podcast on US politics.
Welcome to Editors Picks.
Here's an article from the latest edition of The Economist handpicked by our team and read aloud.
I hope you enjoy it.
What will Donald Trump do next?
A decade after he became the Republican frontrunner, it is still the urgent question.
In a distracted era,
Mr Trump has an unmatched genius
for grabbing attention and for reimagining presidential power.
His second inauguration took place in the Capitol's rotunda,
the same spot where four years earlier his supporters had punched police officers in the face.
The power he used to pardon the capital rioters on January 20th was originally designed to bring the nation together,
to pardon political opponents,
not the president's supporters or members of the outgoing president's family.
But that was the convention, not the law.
And with Mr. Trump in power, conventions are over.
Historians talk about the long 19th century ending in 1914.
Precisely when the 20th century ended is, in this sense, debatable.
But it is over.