Opinion | The Underachiever in Chief?

As long as it may have felt, we are one year into Donald Trump’s second term as president. To follow the Trump administration in the news is to be exposed to the full muzzle velocity of this presidency. The overwhelming procession of news stories, wild statements —— “You’re gambling with World War III ——” “The Riviera of the Middle East.” “Do you think President Trump is a fascist?” “I’ve spoken about ——” “That’s OK. You can just say it.” Spectacular, outrageous, sometimes terrifying events. It feels like so much more is happening than the human mind and the entire media, than the country can absorb. But how much has actually changed? How much has Trump actually gotten done? How many of these stories that were so spectacular when they began have followed through into durable difference in how the government works, or what it does or how we live? Donald Trump has signed fewer pieces of legislation than any president in the modern era. Economically significant rule-making has been slower than in the first year of the Biden administration or the Obama administration, or Bush or Clinton. We spent the first six months of the year watching DOGE take all kinds of actions intended to reduce federal spending and restructure the government. But at the end of the day, because there was no legislative action to change spending, there was no real change in spending. And overall, because the “big, beautiful bill” spent a little more on immigration enforcement and on defense, and because appropriations were even for the year, the federal government actually spent 4 percent more in 2025 than in 2024. In the first six months of the year, N.I.H. spending was far behind its 2024 levels. And then in June or early July, you see a sudden acceleration of N.I.H. spending. And clearly, there was some kind of decision made that actually, no, the money has to go out the door by the end of the year. They have not gotten nearly as much accomplished as they say, and they’ve not gotten as much accomplished as most presidents do in the first year of a new presidency.