Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast for Tuesday, January 20th, 2026.
I'm Ashley Lopez.
I cover politics.
I'm Tamara Keith.
I cover the White House.
And I'm Mara Eliason, senior national political correspondent.
We're recording this at 12.20 p.m.
Eastern time and almost exactly one year ago from when we're taping this,
Donald Trump took office for a second time.
Tam, Mara, Aaron Trepid,
White House reporters who have been following every minute of the past year.
I want to talk about this first year back in the White House,
and I want to start by asking you both a simple question,
which is, if you had to summarize this past year in one word, what would it be and why?
My word would be power as in comma, unchecked executive.
He has transformed our system of government to Instead of three co-equal branches and an executive that has checks and balances limiting their powers,
he is well on his way to creating a system with a much,
much more powerful executive that is unfettered.
How long that will last in the future when he's gone is unclear.
How much the Supreme Court might Chip away at that is also unclear