"Regime Change" authors on Trump's "information bubble" and use of power

President Trump has "a fundamentally antithetic conception of the U.S. presidency" than his predecessors, New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan explicate successful their caller book, "Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump."

Haberman and Swan sat down with "CBS Mornings" Friday to speech astir their book, which dives into the president's 2nd word and is the effect of much than 1,000 interviews. 

"This medication is truthful unrecognizable [compared] to Trump's archetypal one," Haberman told "CBS Mornings" co-host Gayle King. 

She said "it became truly wide to us," implicit galore months of reporting, "that we were covering not the transportation of powerfulness from a Democrat to a Republican oregon a Democrat to a Democrat. This is simply a fundamentally antithetic conception of the U.S. presidency."

Here are immoderate of the cardinal takeaways from their reporting.

Trump is utilizing enforcement powerfulness similar ne'er before 

Swan said the 2nd Trump administration, and the book, are "really astir the mode he's utilizing enforcement power." 

"We haven't seen thing similar this successful our beingness successful presumption of the unilateral look of enforcement power," Swan said, noting that it comes astatine a clip erstwhile "it's beauteous hard to deliberation of a precedent for a U.S. president having the bid that Trump has had implicit his ain enactment successful Congress." 

"There truly isn't a precedent. I mean, helium fundamentally got them to bash immoderate helium wanted, and Congress wasn't adjacent consulted erstwhile helium went to warfare with Iran."

Even erstwhile President George W. Bush, for each the disapproval of the wars helium led successful Iraq and Afghanistan, got legislature authorization, Swan noted. 

"Trump is conscionable acting," Swan said. "He is acting and the strategy is trying to drawback up to him. That's truly the mode it's working."

Trump is fundamentally changing the U.S. attack to overseas policy 

Through his unilateral actions, Mr. Trump is besides changing the United States' attack to overseas policy, from his acquisition of Venezuelan oil to his unabated aspirations of acquiring Greenland. 

"It is changing however countries astir the world, leaders astir the world, however radical successful the U.S. look astatine their president, and we're not utilized to covering authorities change, arsenic you say, here," Haberman said. "But that is what we were doing." 

Two things that substance to Trump: Loyalty and looking the part

The president's decisions successful picking apical officials for captious roles boil down to 2 things, Haberman and Swan said: Is that idiosyncratic fiercely loyal to him, and bash they look the part?

"Loyalty was a premier diagnostic helium was seeking, and loyalty — and we constitute astir this — has a spot of a fungible definition," Haberman said. "What became the existent litmus trial was January 6th. Where you were connected January 6th and wherever you were connected January 7th? If connected January 7th successful Trump's caput successful immoderate mode you were separated from him, helium did not privation you around."

The authors besides wrote astir however the president selected members of his Cabinet. According to the book, earlier picking John Ratcliffe arsenic CIA director, the president said helium thought helium looked similar histrion Cary Grant, consecutive retired of cardinal casting.

"The 'central casting' facet is simply a large one," Haberman said. "Part of that is Pete Hegseth, however you present person him arsenic the caput of defense/war. He liked that Hegseth was bully connected TV. He liked that Hegseth defended, punctuation unquote, warriors. When it comes to idiosyncratic similar Tulsi Gabbard, who was the manager of nationalist intelligence, it was, 'Let's springiness it to her, what harm could she truly do?'"

Trump operates successful an "information bubble" and is seldom told atrocious news 

Much much truthful than successful his archetypal term, the president operates successful an "information bubble" wherever his advisers seldom archer him atrocious news, Haberman and Swan write. In the president's archetypal term, helium had much advisers who would propulsion backmost connected juncture — but not truthful overmuch these days. 

Haberman noted that erstwhile President Joe Biden besides hated receiving antagonistic news, but she said, "Trump is successful an accusation bubble that is dissimilar thing that I tin remember."

"The inputs that are reaching him are truthful small," she said, adding that galore times "decisions are being made by a radical of astir a fractional a twelve people."

For example, Haberman said, successful the lead-up to the Iran war, "The vigor caput and the treasury secretary, the 2 radical would person to negociate the after-effects and economical impacts of a planetary vigor situation caused by this war, were not portion of these meetings initially due to the fact that they were acrophobic astir leaks."

The Situation Room was utilized for meetings astir Epstein files 

In a bid of intimately held meetings, the Situation Room — usually the tract of top-level nationalist information decisions — was utilized for discussions astir however to grip fallout from Jeffrey Epstein and the Epstein files, Haberman and Swan constitute successful their book. 

"This was a beauteous bonzer bid of meetings that happened past summertime and the mounting itself was extraordinary," Swan said.

"Over the summertime of past twelvemonth they fundamentally turned the Situation Room into an Epstein situation effect center, and you had the astir elder officials successful the U.S. authorities gathering successful that country to fig retired fundamentally a PR strategy to woody with the Epstein crisis," helium said.

"One of the problems they had was they built this website that they were going to merchandise — a Justice Department public-facing website. And they were searching astir successful it for Trump and they were uncovering a batch of worldly connected Trump and immoderate of it was, you know, embarrassing, truthful they had to marque decisions astir what to disclose and what not to disclose. But that truly was a governmental situation that has had semipermanent effects mode beyond what his squad expected."

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• Donald Trump