So far, the Trump administration has pursued its far-reaching agenda in part by radically changing how the president relates to executive branch lawyers. AEI scholar and Department of Justice veteran Jack Landman Goldsmith documents how the administration has replaced personnel and sidelined organizations like the Office of Legal Counsel to remove internal executive branch legal constraints on presidential action.

Writing in Foreign Affairs, Hal Brands evaluates the pros and cons of the administration’s worldview, highlighting both the important potential to strengthen the free world’s hard power and the serious risks of alienating America’s close allies.

On domestic policy, the administration has rightly turned its attention to America’s broken higher education system. In a new AEI report, Beth Akers outlines a conservative vision for reforming federal student loan and subsidy programs to maximize accountability and return on investment for students and taxpayers.

More than any other issue, economic discontent played a key role in Donald Trump’s return to the White House, and the administration’s success or failure hinges on its ability to deliver growth and prosperity. In new research, Paul H. Kupiec highlights an underreported aspect of Americans’ economic concerns: Household wealth is lower than it was in 2021.