Navigating Presidential Decision-Making: The Role of a Chief of Staff

Donald Trump’s “second first term”—an oddity of winning nonconsecutive presidential elections—begins with talk of dramatic policy shifts at home and abroad. 

Hoover senior fellows Niall Ferguson and “Trump 45” veteran H.R. McMaster discuss the odds of a successful second Trump presidency; whether the man himself has changed; the most salient questions to ask Pentagon and State Department secretary-designates; whether Elon Musk’s government reform will be more DOGE or dog; what America’s allies and adversaries are thinking; plus the seriousness of acquiring Greenland or other Trump-speculated land grabs (Canada, the Panama Canal). 

After that: the fellows opine on where the Biden presidency went off the rails (are historians to blame?), followed by a look at LA’s devastating wildfires and California’s shifting political landscape (the conflagration straight out of the pages of Niall’s 2021 book Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe), plus what prompted Mark Zuckerberg to abandon Meta’s fact-checking and DEI programs.

Recorded on January 15, 2025.