Jonathan Swan discusses his and Maggie Haberman’s new book “Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump” in a series of recent interviews, centering on how the president wields executive power in his second term unlike any predecessor.
The book, published by Simon & Schuster on June 23, 2026, is based on more than 1,000 interviews conducted by the New York Times reporters and covers the first 14 months of Trump’s second presidency. Swan emphasized in media appearances that the work is fundamentally “about the way he’s using executive power,” a theme that distinguishes Trump’s current term from his first.
Swan characterized Trump’s mindset as one of historical ambition. “He wants to be the capital G, Great Man of history,” Swan said. “He wants to reshape the world.” This ambition, Swan explained, manifests in decisions that would have been unthinkable during Trump’s first term. “I don’t think he would have gone to war in Iran in the same circumstances in Term 1. I don’t think he would have rolled the dice on what he did in Venezuela,” Swan noted, adding that Trump “wouldn’t have started a trade war with the whole world” in his first presidency.
The shift reflects what Swan described as Trump being “untethered from all of those domestic political considerations” that constrained his first term. According to Axios reporting on the authors’ interviews, the two key themes of “Regime Change” are Trump’s greater willingness to use power—”like no other president, period”—and how his four years out of office built his determination to project that power globally.
The authors gained unusual access to the president, conducting an hour-long interview with Trump in March 2026. In that conversation, when asked about his power and place in history, Trump compared himself to historical figures including Mao, Stalin, and Attila the Hun, according to reporting from the book’s revelations.
Co-author Haberman added context in her own media appearances, noting that Trump’s current advisors have shifted their perception of him. “There’s none of that now,” Haberman said of the skepticism that surrounded Trump in his first term, when advisors questioned his fitness. “They believe there is something almost mystical about him, that he can hear frequencies that maybe they can’t.” She noted that aides now “hate the mainstream media more than they hate things they see him doing, that they have concerns about.”
The book itself contains a passage describing Trump’s willingness to take risks in his second term. According to the text, “In his second term, unlike his first, he was willing to take breathtaking risks, risks that could throw not only his presidency but the Republican Party and the entire world into chaos and carnage. More than ever before as President, he was operating on pure gut instinct.” The authors also note that some Trump aides told them they wished their boss “was more anxious about the dangers he was courting, and about his plunging poll numbers.”
The book has resonated commercially, selling more than 300,000 copies in its opening week. Swan and Haberman have since conducted extensive interviews across major media platforms, including appearances on CBS Mornings, The View, CNN, and PBS, where they continue to discuss the themes and revelations from their reporting on Trump’s second administration.
Sources
- Axios — Haberman and Swan’s key themes on Trump’s second-term mindset and executive power
- The New York Times — Details on the book’s content, March 2026 Trump interview, and Trump’s historical comparisons
- Wikipedia — Book publication details and interview count
- CBS News — Swan’s statements on executive power and the second Trump administration
- Chicago Tribune — Book sales figures
