05/07/2026
In Barack Obama’s final days in office, he found himself in the painful position of trying to console his staff, the Democratic Party, and millions of supporters. He attempted to convince them—even if he could not entirely convince himself—that the looming Presidency of Donald Trump was not a national calamity. In the past, he would say, the country had endured slavery, the Civil War, the Great Depression, Jim Crow, assassinations. And, though Trump was alarming in many ways, America was blessed by the strength of its institutions and the resilience of its people. The word “guardrails” was uttered constantly. In Obama’s estimation, Trump would not erase all his achievements. As he put it, “Maybe 15 per cent of that gets rolled back.”
Peter Slevin recently spoke to Obama about how he’s spent the past decade—and whether events have shaken the confidence that he expressed in that farewell speech. “I would be dishonest if I didn’t acknowledge that,” Obama replied. In the course of their conversation, Obama made it plain that he no longer harbors illusions about the nature of the Trump Presidency. His early prediction that Trump was capable of rolling back only a modest percentage of his achievements, and that political norms would prevail, has not remotely proved to be the case. Still, he remains optimistic. Obama discusses his evolving political role, the damage Trump is doing to the international order, and why Democrats shouldn’t be hopeless: https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/vHq6pr
