What to Expect From President Trump’s Domestic Agenda This Year

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Alex Ossola (0:20)

Hey, What's News listeners. It's Sunday, January 11th. I'm Alex Ossola for The Wall Street Journal. This is What's News Sunday, the show where we tackle the big questions about the biggest stories in the news by reaching out to our colleagues across the newsroom to help explain what's happening in our world. On today's show, what we can expect this year from the Trump administration's domestic agenda. Protect and defend.

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The Constitution of the United States. The Constitution of the United States.

Damian Paletta (0:48)

So help me God.

Alex Ossola (0:49)

So help me God.

Damian Paletta (0:50)

Congratulations, Mr. President.

Alex Ossola (0:53)

Since starting his second term, President Trump has been busy. His policies have upended global trade and relationships with foreign leaders. Trump kicked off the year with an aggressive operation in Venezuela that resulted in the capture of its president, Nicolas Maduro. But for many Americans, it's Trump's domestic agenda that's top of mind. They're worried about a softening job market and high prices, which could play a major role in this year's midterm elections. So what does 2026 have in store? I chatted with WSJ White House reporter, Natalie Andrews and Washington coverage chief, Damian Paletta, about the president's domestic priorities and their political predictions for the year ahead. Natalie, what was the mood in the White House wrapping up 2025?

Natalie Andrews (1:40)

The White House folks around Donald Trump, they feel like they've had a great year. So they're coming off of the first year and then looking forward to concerns that voters are having about affordability and how they confront that.

Alex Ossola (1:54)

Damian, what's your sense of the vibe in Washington more broadly and of how voters are feeling?

Damian Paletta (1:59)

Well, it was an incredibly consequential year for President Trump. He accomplished a tremendous amount. Whether voters supported it or didn't, no one could argue that he didn't have a huge impact, whether it was on tax cuts and tariffs he imposed and immigration changes that he was able to get through without much from Congress. So what we'll be watching for in 2026 is whether he is going to be able to sell this to voters in the midterms. He's not typically a great midterm election campaigner because he's not on the ballot. It's harder for him to sell other people than it is for him to sell himself. And so we're going to be watching really closely to see whether these kind of poor poll numbers that he has right now can improve in 2026 or whether the way he's been running his presidency turned enough voters off and enough independent voters off that Republicans really feel the brunt of it as we get later into 2026

Alex Ossola (2:52)

One of the things that Trump did in 2025 was, of course, tariffs. He made this a key part of his economic policy. And at least so far, it seems like the economic impact has been less than what a lot of people had feared back at Liberation Day in April. Damian, what can we expect from Trump this year on tariffs?

Damian Paletta (3:10)

Well, he says his favorite word in English language is tariffs. I don't expect that to change in 2026 He might not have all the tools legally that he had in 2025, but he still will find ways to impose tariffs because it just gives him a tremendous amount of leverage over other countries. The question is, if prices are going up for consumers in 2026, does he feel pressure on his own to kind of dial it back? Otherwise, you know, Republicans could be really in for it in November.

Alex Ossola (3:39)

Damian, Natalie mentioned affordability. It sounds like it's unsettling voters. And at the end of 2025, Trump made a couple of speeches addressing this. What can he actually do about this issue?

Damian Paletta (3:50)

Well, making prices lower can feel like putting the toothpaste back in the tube. I mean, it's just really difficult to do. He believes if there's lower rates at the Fed, then that'll bring down the price of homes and other stuff. But I think he's really finding it difficult to get prices down everywhere. And so, affordability is going to be a key theme in 2026, and it's only going to get more intense as we get closer to November.

Alex Ossola (4:14)

Natalie, has this come up at all in your reporting about the impact of affordability on the midterms? Like, how are voters feeling?