POL

The Modern Presidency, Measured

Executive power, money, and accountability across six presidential terms, Clinton to present. One measured number per chart; the accent marks the standout, whoever it is. About & method → · Sources →

Debt by president

The real, inflation-adjusted (2026-dollar) increase in federal debt per presidential term, with the 2008 crisis and COVID spending broken out and Trump II projected from CBO figures.

Real GDP growth by president

Average annual real GDP growth per term, from BEA data. Clinton's late-1990s boom is the high mark; presidents don't control the business cycle.

Unemployment change by president

Change in the unemployment rate over each term, from BLS data. Below zero means it fell. The starting point is inherited, not chosen.

Inflation by president

Average annual inflation per term, from BLS data. Biden's post-pandemic surge is the outlier; the Fed, not the president, sets monetary policy.

Federal deficit by president

Average federal deficit as a share of GDP per term, from CBO data. Clinton near-balanced; Trump I highest, driven by COVID. Congress writes the budget.

Stock market by president

Real, inflation-adjusted, dividend-reinvested S&P 500 return per term. Bush the only loss; the starting valuation, not the president, drives the result.

Jobs & wages by president

Net jobs added per term, and real inflation-adjusted pay over time. Trump I's COVID loss shown with his pre-pandemic figure; Biden's gain is mostly the rebound; real pay grew far slower than productivity.

Net worth in office

Forbes's estimate of net worth on inauguration day against the end of the term: Trump down about $1.2B in his first term and roughly flat so far in his second. The other four are not on Forbes's tracker.

Stock trades in office

Individual stock and bond trades reported while in office. Zero by design for three decades, blind trusts or index funds only, then 14,500+ in a single year.

Media settlements to the president

Money paid by media and tech companies to settle the president's personal lawsuits. Zero for sixty years, then $86.5M from five firms with business before the administration, one in December 2024 and four in 2025.

Income from own financial products

Income received in office from financial products the president's own ventures sell to the public. Zero for every predecessor; ~$1.4B of 2025 crypto income in his own disclosure.

Nationwide injunctions

How often federal courts blocked each administration's policies nationwide, per year in office, a proxy for court–executive conflict, with two honest readings of what it means.

Prosecuting the president's critics

Indictments of people the president publicly demanded be prosecuted, by his own DOJ. Zero for Clinton through Biden; three people under Trump II. Two cases were dismissed, and one of those critics was then indicted again.

Covert drone strikes

Targeted-killing strikes outside declared war zones. Obama escalated tenfold and killed a U.S. citizen without trial; Trump I matched the pace and ended the reporting. Obama has the highest total; the current term has the fastest annual pace.

Leak & whistleblower prosecutions

Espionage Act cases against leakers. Obama brought more than all previous presidents combined; Trump I kept the pace. Applies the site's press-freedom lens to a Democrat.

Executive orders per year

Executive orders published per year of each presidency since Clinton, with historical context back to Carter and FDR.

Full pardons of the convicted

Full pardons of people actually convicted of federal crimes, Clinton to present, each bar split into routine grants and grants to the president's own circle.

Judicial appointments by president

Article III judges confirmed per term, from Federal Judicial Center records. Clinton the most; Trump I the fastest circuit pace. A lifetime legacy.

Foreign government money

Documented foreign-state money reaching the sitting president personally or their businesses, Clinton to present.

Legal accountability

Five charts, personal convictions & civil findings, officials convicted, shutdown days, sexual-misconduct allegations vs. the adjudicated layer, and lifetime business findings.

The caveat panels

The two metrics that ranked last for fairness, draft deferments, business bankruptcies, and fact-checked false statements, kept in the set with the compromise shown, not hidden.

Transparency norms matrix

Identical yes / partial / no questions, tax returns, divestiture, visitor logs, records, family roles, ethics pledges, asked of every president and answered from the record.

Watchdogs removed

Inspectors general and oversight officials fired or forced out, by administration.

Public money at own properties

Taxpayer and donor money flowing to the president's own businesses, direct agency payments, the cost of travel to his venues, and campaign spending at them.

Deportations per year

Formal removals (court-ordered deportations) averaged per term, Clinton to present, highest under Obama by this measure, with the removals-vs-returns caveat kept in view.

Border crossings, and the 2025 collapse

Monthly southwest border encounters fell about 97% from a December 2023 peak to July 2025, a genuine, dramatic drop. But no single president owns the curve: it began before this administration, deepened under a Biden-era rule, and bottomed after the January 2025 actions.

The goods trade deficit

The U.S. goods trade gap has widened over three decades under presidents of both parties, hitting a record $1.23 trillion in 2025, despite tariffs imposed to shrink it. A real number, but a contested one: economists don't agree a trade deficit is even bad, and it's macro-driven, not a scorecard.

Environmental enforcement

EPA civil enforcement against polluters, the cop on the beat for clean air, water, and chemicals. A 15-year decline, and a first-year collapse in 2025 to the fewest cases in two decades.

Workplace-safety inspectors

Federal OSHA inspectors per administration. Chronically understaffed for decades, then a record low of 618 in 2025, an estimated 191 years to inspect every workplace once.

Consumer financial protection

CFPB enforcement actions per year. Created in 2011; roughly 25 to 31 a year under Obama, Trump I and Biden, then two in total since the bureau was dismantled in 2025.

Food safety: the whole ledger

The celebrated 2025 food-dye action set against the withdrawn rules, delayed traceability, staff cuts, collapsed foreign inspections, and Roundup liability shields. A balance sheet, and it leans the other way.

The deregulation ledger

Cutting rules is a genuine tradeoff, not a scorecard: the same repealed rule is “red tape removed” or “a safeguard removed” depending on your view. Regulatory volume and the competing dollar claims, laid out both ways. No accent, no standout, on purpose.

Medical research grants terminated

Active NIH research grants cancelled mid-stream. Effectively zero for every prior president; ~5,800 in 2025, though Congress rejected the proposed budget cut, so the top line itself held.

Uninsured rate by president

The share of Americans without health insurance, from CDC and Census data. A record annual low of 7.6% under Biden in 2023; the subsidies that drove it expired end of 2025, and coverage is projected to fall.

Measles: a preventable disease returns

Worst-year U.S. measles cases per term, from CDC data. Eliminated in 2000; a resurgence across administrations of both parties to 2,289 in 2025, with three deaths, and more than 4,000 so far in 2026, the most since the early 1990s.

Child poverty, and the credit that halved it

Child poverty by year, from Census data. Cut to a record 5.1% by the 2021 Child Tax Credit, it more than doubled when Congress let the credit expire, a policy story, not a party one.

Legal immigration by president

Green cards and refugee admissions per term, from DHS and State data. The admissions side of the deportations chart; refugee ceilings are the sharp lever.

Signing statements

Statutory provisions a president challenged when signing bills, Bush objected to more than all modern predecessors combined; the naive “total statements” count would hide it.

Vetoes by president

Vetoes issued per president, from official Senate records. Clinton the most, facing a hostile Congress; the count tracks divided government, not strength.

Military action without Congress

Major uses of force launched without congressional authorization, Bush's wars were authorized (so absent); five in the second Trump term so far, including the 2026 war on Iran. A contested, process-not-party count.

Troops in American cities

Troops sent into U.S. cities for law enforcement, not disaster relief. Four cities under Trump II, three over a governor's objection, the first since 1965.

Family in government roles

Relatives of the president in formal official positions, distinct from business conflicts. Clinton 1, Trump I 2, Trump II 3; the 1967 anti-nepotism law and its White House loophole explained.

Institutions that paid under pressure

Law firms and universities that paid or pledged after punitive orders or funding freezes. No precedent; 13 institutions, ~$1.35B, under Trump II.

Surveillance orders

FISA Court orders peaked under Bush and fell after 2018, but that count is a shrinking slice. Modern surveillance runs on Palantir, bought data, and AI that skip the court entirely.

Press conferences by president

Formal solo news conferences per year, from the American Presidency Project. Biden the fewest by far, though the measure excludes informal Q&A.

The revolving door

Officials moving between government and industry, a bipartisan pattern with no honest single count, shown as documented cases from each administration plus the one rigorous CRS comparison.

National emergencies

Emergencies declared under the National Emergencies Act, a steady, bipartisan rate; ~51 still active and renewed by every president. Accumulation by design.

Records opened by directive

Long-withheld historical collections opened by presidential directive, from Cold War satellite imagery to the JFK, RFK, MLK and UAP files. Trump II has the most, with four; distinct from routine declassification.

Democratic backsliding

How the US scores on the three independent democracy indices. They disagree on the number but agree on the direction, down, with V-Dem downgrading the US to an “electoral democracy” in 2025.

Polarization & political violence

Congressional polarization at its highest since Reconstruction, and threats against Congress up roughly 16-fold since 2016 to a record 14,938 in 2025. Two measures of a fraying system.

Clean energy: momentum & reversal

Wind and solar climbed from under 1% of U.S. power to nearly a fifth and passed coal in 2024, then 2025 repealed the credits and moved to halt wind. The line keeps rising from the pipeline; the reversal hits what comes next.

Housing affordability

Home prices climbed from about three times median income to roughly five, near a record, and the typical first-time buyer aged from 29 to 40. A structural, bipartisan squeeze on the American Dream.

Clean air: a win, now stalling

Fine-particle pollution fell about 45% since 2000, a real public-health success and one of the few things here getting better: now plateauing on wildfire smoke, with a 2025 attempt to drop the tighter standard rejected in court in 2026. Lower is better.

The fading American Dream

For children born in 1940, 92% grew up to out-earn their parents. For those born in 1984, just 50%. The clearest measure of opportunity, by birth cohort, and it points down.

The murder rate: a record decline

After a pandemic-era spike, the U.S. murder rate fell at a record pace: the largest two-year drop the FBI has recorded, then a further 18.1% in 2025, to 4.1 per 100,000. A rare clear win, and one that belongs to no party. Lower is better.

U.S. energy production: record highs

U.S. crude oil output hit an all-time high near 13.7 million barrels a day in 2025, more than any country in history, with gas and total energy setting records too. Real “energy dominance,” but driven by shale, not the president, and records fell under both parties.