Issue 1 | February 2026

Welcome to The Insider!

As we enter an election cycle that may shape the future of governance in the United States and abroad, understanding how policy is debated, negotiated, and implemented on Capitol Hill has never been more critical.

The outcomes ahead will signal either a continued shift toward a new global order or a return to a moment where Congress more fully reasserts its role in oversight and lawmaking.

At GW's Graduate School of Political Management (GSPM), we prepare leaders who understand not only how politics works, but why it matters. In each issue of The Insider, you'll hear from our faculty, alumni, and community as they explore today’s political realities and the opportunities they create.

Until the next issue,
Debbie Mucarsel-Powell
GSPM Executive Director

In This Issue:

WORLD POLITICS

A First Year That Signals a New Global Order

by Debbie Mucarsel-Powell
GSPM Executive Director

In its first year, the Trump administration has signaled a clear shift in how the United States engages the world. Power and economic interests now take priority over long-standing alliances, creating what looks increasingly like a new global order, one driven less by trust and more by transactions.

I’ve worked on foreign policy inside Congress and with partners across the hemisphere. Reexamining old long-standing practices is not partisan; it is necessary. What stands out in this first year, however, is how openly alliances are treated as leverage rather than relationships. Within NATO, the question has shifted from American strength to whether allies can still trust us as consistent and reliable leaders.

Venezuela illustrates the risks of this approach. The administration successfully removed Nicolás Maduro from power, ending a brutal dictatorship that had devastated its people and destabilized the region. But removing a violent and illegitimate dictator is only the first step. A clear, credible plan for a democratic transition, led by Venezuelans and supported by regional partners, has yet to fully emerge. Without it, uncertainty persists, outside actors will be quick to try and fill the vacuum and can leave the region with the same instability we’ve seen for more than a decade.

Greenland brought these tensions into sharper focus. The issue was never the Arctic itself, it was the signal this Administration has sent to its allies. When the United States treats allied territory as a bargaining chip for strategic or economic gain, it risks destabilizing NATO at a moment when unity is essential. Arctic security and competition with China and Russia are real, bipartisan concerns, but pursuing them in ways that undermine allied trust weakens the very alliance that amplifies U.S. power.

Foreign policy change can be necessary. Whether this approach ultimately strengthens American leadership or leaves us more isolated is a question that only time will tell. 

FIRST AMENDMENT

By Dr. Casey Burgat
Director of the Legislative Affairs Program

In mid-January, the FBI searched the Virginia home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson, seizing her laptops, phone, and other devices as part of an investigation into leaked classified material held by a government contractor. Although both Natanson and the Post were told she was not the target, the search immediately raised profound First Amendment concerns. When federal agents enter a journalist’s home and confiscate reporting tools, it tests long-standing constitutional protections designed to shield the press from government overreach.

The episode echoes a defining moment from 1971, when the Nixon administration attempted to stop publication of the Pentagon Papers and sparked a landmark Supreme Court ruling affirming the press’s role in checking government secrecy. The parallels underscore a recurring tension in American democracy: the government’s desire to control classified information and the public’s right to know what is done in its name.

Each generation confronts its own version of this conflict, and the durability of a free press depends on recognizing these patterns—and defending the hard-won protections established in earlier fights.

“A Congressional Stock‑Trading Ban Finally Has Legs” 

Momentum is finally building behind a congressional stock-trading ban, a reform that has stalled for years despite overwhelming public support. A bipartisan coalition in the House now backs legislation barring members of Congress—and in many cases their families—from trading individual stocks. What once felt symbolic suddenly has political teeth: House leadership is on board, dozens of cosponsors have emerged, and lawmakers in both parties say rebuilding trust in government requires stricter rules on personal financial activity.

But the path forward is still complicated. Critics argue the bill doesn’t go far enough, noting loopholes, weak enforcement, and the ease with which trades could still be funneled through blind trusts or relatives. Others insist only a complete prohibition on holding individual equities will eliminate conflicts of interest. And even with new momentum in the House, the Senate may ultimately decide whether meaningful reform passes—or stalls yet again.

EXECUTIVE POWER

By Dr. Todd Belt
Director of  the Political Management program

Donald Trump was vaulted into his second term in office on the strength of two issues: the economy and immigration. On his first day in office, Trump made good on his promise that deportations of illegal immigrants would begin on “day one” with one of his 26 executive orders on his first day in office. But meaningful implementation of the policy would have to wait for the money, which finally came in the form of Trump's singular legislative achievement, the Big Beautiful Bill (signed into law on July 4, 2025).

While many Americans consider illegal immigration to be a big problem (71% according to our GW Politics Poll), the means by which the administration went about solving the problem caused significant backlash. The issue, while still popular among his voters, has alienated many independents and may become a liability for Republicans in the 2026 midterm elections.

On the economy, President Trump has denied that the cost of living (or “affordability” in our current political lingo) is a concern — going so far as to call it a “hoax.” Only recently has the president taken steps to address voters’ concerns regarding the state of the economy. Trump’s focus on foreign affairs and his obsession with the Nobel Peace Prize have caused even his staunchest supporters to question whether he is truly following an “America First” agenda to make life better for average Americans. Trump’s trade policies haven’t helped the situation, with Americans footing the bill for 96% of the his tariffs.

While Trump hasn’t fully delivered on the issues that put him into office a second time, there has certainly been a lot of action. Trump has eschewed Congress as a partner in creating policy, issuing an astounding 229 executive orders. Emboldened by the Supreme Court’s decision to give the president presumed immunity for all executive actions, Trump argues that his election is a mandate for unfettered leadership. Trump’s exertion of executive power on various issues is sometimes running up against legal challenges, but he has yet to change his approach. Buckle up, because it appears we are in for more of the same in the coming year.

POLITICAL HISTORY

By Dr. Matthew Dallek
Professor of Political Management

Since Trump’s second inauguration, pundits and scholars have argued that the president has waged an assault on American norms, rules, and traditions. His administration is, we have heard over and over, “unprecedented.” This claim contains a lot of truth. Trump is the first president to pardon hundreds of Americans convicted of crimes related to storming the U.S. Capitol. No other president has trolled Canada by vowing to make it the 51st state or threatened military force to seize control of Greenland.

At the same time, however, Trump’s policies and rhetoric are rooted in ideas and traditions that at times dominated politics prior to the New Deal. There is precedent for many of Trump’s actions. His foreign policy echoes protectionist and imperialistic impulses of the late 19th century, and his mass deportation campaign is traceable to the nativism that prompted passage of highly restrictive immigration laws in the 1880s and 1920s.

Trump's second term in many respects represents not simply a break from presidential norms and expectations; it's also a culmination of 75 years in which presidents have reached for more and more power. Trump has impounded congressionally-appropriated funds, sent migrants to a terrorism prison in El Salvador, ordered up indictments of his enemies, and generally used ideas, powers, and legal theories that are rooted in the Cold-War-era imperial presidency to do as he wishes. There is, then, something familiar at work: a Commander-in-Chief pushing past Constitutional limits and concentrating more and more power in the Oval Office. 

Finally, Trump’s gift for creating drama and chaos – his trademark showmanship -- draws on the legacies of circus promoter PT Barnum and ‘60s activist Abbie Hoffman. Just as Barnum created “the greatest show on earth”; just as Hoffman used television to push his causes through outlandish stunts (throwing dollar bills onto the stock exchange floor to protest the capitalist system), Trump exploits social media and other modern communication tools to dominate news cycles and win the daily war for public attention. In his policies and politics, Trump’s second term may indeed be norm-busting, but it is also deeply American.

MEDIA STRATEGY

By Lesley Lopez
Director of  the Public Relations and Communications program

It’s clear Americans are divided across the political spectrum, but we’re also deeply divided in how we consume information. On January. 26, I hosted a panel discussion on “Understanding Conservative Social Media in 2026” with two Republican content creators, Drew Holden of Holden Court and Dustin Grage, columnist at Townhall. 

Here are five key takeaways from the talk:

Stay tuned for our upcoming webinar on progressive use of social media! 

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