Is Trump testing limits or trying to eliminate them?

Most presidents want as much power as they can get. And it's not unusual to see them claim authority that they don't, in the end, actually have.

We saw it just last term, when former President Biden tried to unilaterally forgive hundreds of billions of dollars in federal student loans.

Or when he announced, days before leaving office that the 28th Amendment, on gender equality, was now the law of the land.

So are the opening moves of Trump's presidency just a spicier version of the standard playbook or an imminent threat to constitutional government as we know it?

For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org

Email us at considerthis@npr.org

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy