Articles of Distraction

[Angrboda]

In other words, as far as Trump is concerned, his legislative agenda, for all intents and purposes, no longer exists. Most modern presidents from both parties have a laundry list of bills they’d love to see congressional lawmakers take up, but the current president is apparently under the impression that he signed one large bill into law, and he can now coast until January 2029.

Part of this reflects Trump’s ongoing indifference toward governing and policymaking, but it also reflects something equally nefarious: Part of the reason the president is indifferent toward Congress is that he’s already seized many of the responsibilities that are supposed to rest with lawmakers, including the power of the purse.

Trump’s impression of Congress as an irrelevant institution is an extension of his authoritarian worldview: He’s already acquiring power as GOP leaders on the Hill render themselves irrelevant, voluntarily ceding ground to the executive.

‘We don’t need anything more from Congress’: Trump has no legislative agenda