2025-09-08
9 分钟The Economist Hi, John Prado 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.
a single political idea has tied Americans together over their first quarter of a millennium.
It is that one person rule is a mistake.
Most Americans also agree that the federal government is slow and incompetent.
Together,
these things ought to make it impossible for one man to govern by dictate from the White House.
And yet, that is what this president is doing.
Sending in the troops, slapping on tariffs,
asserting control over the central bank,
taking stakes in companies scaring citizens into submission.
The effect is overwhelming, but not popular.
President Donald Trump's net approval rating is minus 14 percentage points.
That is little better than Joe Biden's after his dire debate last year.
and no one fretted that he was over mighty.
This is a puzzle.
Most Americans disapprove of Mr Trump.