Trump could be the most powerful US President
- noemieviterale
- Apr 9
- 2 min read
The most powerful US president since FDR will demand a different approach, say Steven R Okun and Thurgood Marshall Jr.
In just three days, Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 47th president of the United States, marking the start of his second term and ushering in a new era of presidential power.
The US Constitution’s system of checks and balances was designed to prevent an imperial executive, distributing authority among the president, the Congress and the courts. Yet, Trump re-enters the White House poised as one of the most powerful non-wartime presidents in US history, dominating Washington and international affairs.
Governments and businesses will need to navigate Trump’s ways, given he will push an even more aggressive agenda than he did in his first term, one in which he achieved significant accomplishments on immigration, taxes and China, among others.
He will accomplish this through a combination of aggressive use of powers, such as his promise to declare a national emergency to carry out mass deportations, appointing loyalists throughout the government and leveraging his influence within a party that holds controlling majorities in both chambers of the US Congress.
The US media will not hold Trump to account as it has in the past, witness varying instances in which the Washington Post, LA Times and ABC defer to Trump.
The US business community now finds itself adapting to Trump’s influence. Sure, that happens when it comes to preparing for every new occupant of the White House, such as by hiring that person’s loyalists or donating to their inaugural committee.
But with such a transactional president, business takes this to new levels. Meta, Google, Apple, Microsoft and Amazon have each given US$1 million to the inauguration, and boards and CEOs are likely to provide more money for his presidential library and foundation.
American companies are also dropping employment policies anathema to his Make America Great Again movement, scaling back on diversity, equity and inclusion programmes and scrapping fact-checking content on their platforms.
Their reward: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg will not only attend the inauguration, but they reportedly will have the unprecedented honour of sitting with Trump’s Cabinet nominees.
Governments and businesses in the region must find ways in their own context to emulate the tech titans.
