How Donald Trump reshaped the world in a year | Global News Podcast

Welcome to the Global News podcast on. YouTube, where we go behind the. headlines. And today we're looking at. Donald Trump's first year back in the. White House. We're joined by our chief. North America correspondent, Gary O. Dono, in Washington. And Gary, what is. the mood in America, one year into Trump. Mark 2? >> Well, I think that depends where you are. and who you ask. among his supporters, many of them are very very supportive. and indeed their support is hardening in.

terms of what he's doing in the world in. particular uh and also here at home. For. those who are opposed to him, of course, their opposition is also hardening. So. this polarization that we've seen in. America for many years that predates. Donald Trump has solidified has. calcified in a way where there is very. little common ground whatsoever uh. between those who back the president and. those who don't and you've seen so his. appro approval ratings slide pretty much. uh but the core support that he has.

pretty much follows him wherever he. wants to go. Give you a quick example. Most uh Republicans or a lot of. Republicans were against uh any kind of. adventurism in Venezuela, but as soon as. uh Donald Trump went in and took. Nicholas Maduro, that sort of turned. around and they backed it. So what he. want what he does and what he wants to. do, his core support will back him. >> Yeah. I mean, let's look at what he's. done on the international stage. There. was much talk how this presidency would. mark a return to American isolationism.

And yet, as you say, he's seized a. foreign leader. He's bombed Iran and. basically gone around making lots of. threats. What do you make of all that? >> He would reject the idea of. isolationism. And he would use the. phrase America first, and that's the. phrase he's always used. Now I think you. know there might have been a time where. that was a kind of introspective type of. policy you know getting jobs back. bringing jobs back to America improving.

the manufacturing base which we haven't. seen much of uh all that kind of thing. whereas his view is America first is. essentially subduing subjugating other. countries around the world to America's. will. Uh and that's what he's been doing. and that's what he's been doing. reasonably successfully. But at the same. time, of course, uh he's been putting. under enormous strain, unprecedented. strain the alliances that America has. traditionally relied upon. Uh but from. Donald Trump's point of view, he doesn't.

think those alliances are all that. necessary. And that's where he really. differs from previous presidents who. have, you know, believed, of course, that America is the most powerful. country in the world, which it it is in. in in many and most respects. But. previous pre presidents have wanted. allies. They've wanted people to come. along with their view in order to to. project their view onto the world. Donald Trump doesn't care about other. people's view. >> Yeah. Well, related to that, he says. he's ended eight wars and yet the big.

one, Ukraine, which he promised to. finish on day one, is still the fighting. is still raging. What does that tell us. about how he sees Russia, how he sees. Europe, and indeed how he sees the rest. of the world? >> It's an enormous frustration to him. He. makes that very clear pretty much uh. every time he's asked about this. He. blows hot and cold particularly on. Vladimir Putin. Uh some people who are. take a generous view about his. presidency say that is a tactical.

approach that keeps his opponents and. keeps his adversaries get advers. adversaries guessing and that that is. you know strategically a good thing to. do. But as you say, uh, the Russians in. particular haven't acquiesced, haven't. gone along with his view, have sort of, uh, played the game a little bit at. various points in terms of negotiations, in terms of the the mood music, but. really haven't changed their approach or. the behavior in Ukraine whatsoever. And. I think he finds that enormously.

frustrating. At the same time, of. course, he's put a lot of pressure on. European uh, countries to do more in. Ukraine. And indeed, they are doing. that. And to some degree you will find. people who say look it's long overdue. that Europe started to act in a more. coordinated way that it started to put a. bit more muscle behind uh its strategic. views this so-called strategic autonomy. that people have talked about in. European terms for many years but to get. up to sort of gear up to that is is.

taking time and will take a lot of time. and still you've got a diverse set of. countries albeit under the EU umbrella. and of course along with Britain in the. case of Ukraine but still a diverse set. of countries that do have differing. interests. So the the extent to which. they can act as one as one uh is under. question I think at this point in time. but they're certainly trying to but at. the same time this this traditional this. relationship that stretches way back. certainly to the second world war.

between Europe and the United States is. under the kind of pressure I don't think. anyone has seen for the last 80 years. Now, President Trump has also made. plenty of waves domestically, of course. Let's look at immigration first. He's. been very successful in shutting the. southern border, but even amongst his. supporters, there's some concern over. the actions of ICE agents across the. country. Has he gone further than people. thought he would? >> I don't think he's done anything in. particular that people weren't expecting.

or that he had said he would do. He did. say he would crack down at the southern. border and the apprehensions at the. southern border border are a fraction a. minuscule fraction of what they were a. year before. So to some degree that is a. huge uh political success for him. Now. people will point to other factors at. play there but uh that that influence. the movement of people across that. border but no doubt his policies have. have contributed significantly to that. I think the problem for him is that.

Americans do not like seeing their own. citizens under the kosh on American. streets. Uh and those pictures that. we've seen from Minneapolis and. elsewhere and that tragic death of the. protester in Minneapolis uh don't sit. well even with some of those uh. supporters of Donald Trump. It looks to. them like this this is going too far. Now uh they will of course support many. of his many of his backers will support. the crackdown in immigration and they.

have record numbers of people in in uh. in uh custody at the moment on. immigration uh related cases. Uh they. managed to deport I think around 600,000. people last year. That's not an enormous. number. Um in historic terms it's pretty. high but it's not an enormous number. And of course when you think back to his. promise to deport every illegal uh alien. from this country uh that's in the realm. of you know 11 12 13 million whichever.

figure you you choose to accept. So. that's not going to that kind of rate is. not going to happen under this current. presidency. >> What do Americans make of his handling. of the economy so far? This is a really tricky one because you. know in some ways the Americans had it. very hard economically under the. previous president Joe Biden. Inflation. did go up to historically high levels. Uh that caused a huge pinch and uh. significant sort of political damage to.

Joe Biden and Donald Trump vowed to get. that under control. But he's sort of. blown hot and cold on how important he. thinks the economic uh situation is. At. times he said, you know, I've brought. the price of gas and eggs down and all. that kind of thing. And at the other. times he's sort of made fun of those who. say that this these uh midterm elections. which we're getting later this year will. all be about the affordability question. So the one thing I think he he he can. point to is that the imposition of the. tariffs and yes they've gone up and.

down. They've been on and off and. they've varied in their their nature. But the imposition of these tariffs. hasn't led to the huge spike in. inflation that many had predicted. Now. that may come, you know, the medium. long-term. I mean, the thing about the. medium and long term is they take a. medium amount of time and a long amount. of time to take place. So, we'll see. what happens about about those, but the. huge spike hasn't taken place. Unemployment uh is still pretty low. Uh. there are some signs that it's taking. people longer to find jobs, which is a a.

concern for people in the country. And. there are still concerns about, you. know, basic prices of of household goods. and how much it costs to to live. So. there is a lot of pressure from below on. Donald Trump to do more in that region. ahead of the the midterm elections. And. he's made some pretty eye-catching uh. attempts to do that. I mean, for. example, he's suggested to the credit. card companies that they should cap. their APRs, their annual percentage. rates at 10% just for the next year, of. course. Um, now there's no sign that's.

happening. that would eat into their. profits in an extraordinary way given. that you know most APRs on credit cards. in this country are well north of 20%. So you can see the kind of hit they. would take on that. But it's those sorts. of things he seems to be grasping at or. clutching at um rather than moving. towards some sort of structural issues. because they are they're much much. harder to solve. Of course. >> Now, you followed President Trump around. when he was campaigning, including, of.

course, when he was shot. What do you. make of how he's governed, often acting. quite aggressively? >> Yeah, I mean, this is a very different. presidency to the first presidency. um th that attempt to sort of co-opt the. traditional types of people that served. in government to his will that he tried. in the first term that has all gone. Uh. he has deliberately explicitly uh very.

specifically surrounded himself with. people of a clear like mind um and they. are attempting to do whatever he wants. them to do. What I would say is that. he's obviously choosing to govern by. executive order and in the sort of real. realm of foreign affairs. Of course, the. presidency has the president has huge. scope uh which he has pushed to the. limits in many ways. But a lot of the. things he's been doing through the. stroke of a pen. Of course, the thing.

about those is that they can also be. undone by the stroke of a pen. Uh. because he hasn't engaged all that much. with Congress be beyond his big bill. last year. uh even though he controls. both houses uh uh of of Congress, they. haven't passed legislation to sort of. solidify concretize the things he wants. to change, the ways in which he wants to. change this country because those things. are much harder to change uh with a new. administration, a different.

administration in the future. you know, getting stuff through Congress where you. need 60 votes in the Senate for most. things, uh, which is, you know, very. hard to get, uh, with a split Congress. between Republicans and Democrats, you. know, those things could really solidify. a legacy. Whereas the risk he has is. that, uh, many of the things, if a. different sort of flavor of president. were to come in, many of the things can. be undone pretty quickly. >> Yeah. Never. I was going to say, um, do. you think he's changed the power of the. presidency forever?

I think he has and that is you know in. part thanks to the Supreme Court. If you. bear in mind that landmark decision on. immunity that we had from the Supreme. Court that gave the president not Donald. Trump but the presidency you know huge. scope for acting with you know without. being without the risk of being you know. held to account on some issues. Donald. Trump has embraced that and future. presidents may embrace that as well and. really pushed the boundaries in all.

sorts of ways. So there's no question. that his term has uh his second term and. his first term have have changed the. nature of the presidency and this. constant pressure there's been really. since the birth of the nation to to. expand the executive branch uh has taken. a huge boost under him and you've seen. that you know in the corollery of that. of course is Congress which last year. spent weeks and weeks and weeks not just. through the shutdown but uh voluntarily. out of session passing very little stuff.

and a few little bits of resistance from. some Republicans on issues like the. Epstein files and the War Powers Act in. the Senate. A few little bits of. resistance, but very little otherwise, just in in some ways looking a bit like. spectators to the American political. process. >> Gary, thank you. Gary O' Donghue, our. chief North America correspondent in. Washington. If you liked this episode, please subscribe here on YouTube. And if. there's any stories you'd like us to.

cover, leave a comment below. For more. international news, download the Global. News podcast wherever you get your BBC. podcasts.