Nearly one year ago, Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, signalling his return to Washington for a second, non-consecutive term. Since Trump’s inauguration in January, the president has unleashed a slew of controversial new policies teased during his campaign, including large-scale layoffs of federal workers, reshaping of foreign relations and tariffs, mass deportation of undocumented immigrants, and slashing of funding for renewable energy and education.

But in the midst of the longest full-government shutdown in U.S. history, Trump has seen his approval ratings slide to new term lows. A recent survey from PRRI and the Brookings Institute found that 62% of Americans believe “things in the country are going the wrong way” and 54% believe Trump’s handling of the federal government is “an assault on constitutional checks and balances and the rule of law.”

“People are angry,” said Erin O’Brien, professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts Boston. “It feels worse. It feels harder to make a living. The one place of unity in the country right now is that level of dissatisfaction and how deep it is.”

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But O’Brien points out that Trump’s continued ability to get his agenda through Congress shows an uptick in GOP allegiance. As the government shutdown drags on, the right and left seem no closer to a funding bill than they were one month ago — a division that is having real-world impacts for millions, with federal worker furloughs and the loss of SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits.

“Unfortunately, the reason why this [government shutdown] is going to continue, I think, catastrophically, is that there’s no pain for either side,” said Luis Jimenez, associate professor of political science at UMass Boston. “In terms of Democrats, their constituency wants them to fight against Trump and standing against this is the little leverage they have. Unfortunately, there’s people caught in the middle, and it doesn’t seem to me that it’s going to be easily resolved.”

Conversely, while President Trump has threatened to permanently lay off government workers during the shutdown, at least one federal agency is hiring: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, has led an aggressive recruiting campaign in an effort to hire 10,000 new enforcement officers. This coincides with the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants, which is facing widespread allegations of using ICE to enact racial profiling against Americans and detain non-violent immigrants.

“It is not a crime to be an undocumented alien,” said Jerold Duquette, professor of political science and director of the Public Policy & Management Concentration at Central Connecticut State University. “They are not criminals simply because they are here without proper documentation. It doesn’t become a crime until you’ve already been deported and you come back. So that means that only a tiny fraction of the people that they’re trying to get rid of are criminals.”

Duquette, who refers to this sharp uptick in ICE presence as “state-sponsored terrorism,” sees further evidence of presidential abuse of power in recent military actions against boats that the Trump administration says were smuggling drugs in the waters off Central and South America — actions which have involved use of lethal force.

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“I think the president genuinely thinks that the president can do whatever he wants,” said Duquette. “And I think he’s just going to push it as far as he can.”

As the second Trump administration enters its second year, O’Brien, Jimenez and Duquette continue to focus on the deepening of political partisanship. With battles looming over redistricting in red states like Texas and blue states like Virginia and California, O’Brien believes leaders don’t have their voters’ best interests in mind.

“The few Texas Democrats, the few California Republicans make for better representation in these states,” O’Brien said. “So now with these districts drawn in ways that are even more arcane, the advantage that Democrats have in California and the advantage that Republicans have in Texas will be artificially high. And that leads to problems with representation for everyday citizens.”

“You’re going to have, basically, the representation of the extremes, which is the opposite of what you’d want,” Jimenez said. “And so the median voter is going to be even more upset, and [it’s] just going to lead to more radicalization on both sides.”

Guests

  • Erin O’Brien, professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts Boston
  • Jerold Duquette, professor of political science and director of the Public Policy & Management Concentration at Central Connecticut State University
  • Luis Jimenez, associate professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts Boston

Stories featured in this week’s episode