One Year of Trump 2.0 with Scott Waller, Matt Van Hook, Dustin Steeve

One Year of Trump 2.0 with Scott Waller, Matt Van Hook, Dustin Steeve

From Tim Talks Politics by Tim Milosch

February 25, 2026 · 1h 7m · Season 7 · Episode 89

About this episode

A panel discussion analyzing the first year of Trump 2.0 and its implications compared to the Biden administration.

It’s a panel discussion on the podcast today as Dr. Scott Waller, Dr. Matt Van Hook and Dustin Steeve rejoin the podcast to unpack the arguable normal first year of Trump 2.0 despite the consequential vibes. Bottom line, despite movement on key campaign promises with measurable results, Waller notes that the Trump administration’s first year is something of a “normal” presidency, and Van Hook makes the point that what makes it feel consequential is that the Biden administration was just so poor in its execution that “normal” presidential behavior makes it seem extreme. Steeve underscores that point by unpacking the extent of the Biden administration’s dereliction of duty on immigration, in particular. With the midterm election cycle taking shape and voters registering some displeasure with the economy and the handling of immigration, my guests all agree that the Trump administration has leaned into doing the hard work of governing, even if it means short term pain in the approval ratings, a posture for which we give the Trump administration high marks, even as we wait to see how a lot of these efforts play out. Subscribe to Tim Talks Politics ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ on…

People in this episode

Guests: Scott Waller, Matt Van Hook, Dustin Steeve

Topics covered

  • Trump administration
  • Biden administration
  • midterm elections
  • immigration
  • governing

Keywords

  • politics
  • economy
  • approval ratings
  • campaign promises

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