Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Maggie Haberman has covered Donald Trump for decades. Now, she says his second-term focus offers a revealing look at how he thinks about power, legacy and his place in history.
Haberman joins Axios’ Mike Allen to explain why Trump is spending so much attention on renovations and monuments, what she and Jonathan Swan saw during a remarkable Oval Office interview and why Trump’s idea of presidential legacy looks very different from his predecessors.
They also discuss the extraordinary security operation that secretly moved Trump off Air Force One amid an Iranian threat.
Timestamps:
0:00 - Maggie Haberman joins Mike Allen
0:55 - Why Regime Change resonated
2:20 - Trump’s secret Air Force One exit
3:07 - Trump’s siege mentality
4:54 - Why Trump values secrecy
6:04 - The Taylor Swift comparison
8:04 - The press aboard the decoy plane
9:26 - What occupies Trump’s mind
10:22 - Trump’s monuments to himself
11:31 - The White House ballroom
12:45 - Trump and the Kennedy Center
14:41 - Inside Haberman and Swan’s Oval Office interview
16:42 - “An assault on the senses”
18:21 - What Trump thinks legacy means
19:29 - Will Trump’s changes last?
20:48 - Why Trump enjoys these projects
21:55 - “He is a construction guy”
24:31 - What Trump wants next
25:27 - Does Trump expect Americans to honor him?
26:21 - Trump as a “great man of history”
Maggie Haberman has covered Donald Trump for decades. Now, she says his second-term focus offers a revealing look at how he thinks about power, legacy and his place in history.
Haberman joins Axios’ Mike Allen to explain why Trump is spending so much attention on renovations and monuments, what she and Jonathan Swan saw during a remarkable Oval Office interview and why Trump’s idea of presidential legacy looks very different from his predecessors.
They also discuss the extraordinary security operation that secretly moved Trump off Air Force One amid an Iranian threat.
Timestamps:
0:00 - Maggie Haberman joins Mike Allen
0:55 - Why Regime Change resonated
2:20 - Trump’s secret Air Force One exit
3:07 - Trump’s siege mentality
4:54 - Why Trump values secrecy
6:04 - The Taylor Swift comparison
8:04 - The press aboard the decoy plane
9:26 - What occupies Trump’s mind
10:22 - Trump’s monuments to himself
11:31 - The White House ballroom
12:45 - Trump and the Kennedy Center
14:41 - Inside Haberman and Swan’s Oval Office interview
16:42 - “An assault on the senses”
18:21 - What Trump thinks legacy means
19:29 - Will Trump’s changes last?
20:48 - Why Trump enjoys these projects
21:55 - “He is a construction guy”
24:31 - What Trump wants next
25:27 - Does Trump expect Americans to honor him?
26:21 - Trump as a “great man of history”
