Chuck Todd Shocks Everyone with ‘Unprecedented’ Trump Comments [WATCH]

Former NBC News political analyst Chuck Todd described President Donald Trump as one of the most influential and transformative figures in modern American history during a podcast released Thursday, marking the tenth anniversary of Trump’s 2016 campaign launch.

Speaking on “The Chuck ToddCast,” Todd reflected on how Trump’s announcement on June 16, 2015, at Trump Tower fundamentally changed the political landscape in the United States.

“It’s been a transformational ten years for the Republican Party, for American politics, for Washington, D.C., for the global world order,” Todd said.

“It’s not been small.”

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Todd emphasized the long-term effects Trump has had on U.S. institutions and the broader culture.

“It’s been ten years since Donald Trump descended down those escalator, and ten years since a reality TV host, a real estate promoter, entered the political bloodstream,” he said.

“And whatever you want to call the moment — performance art, populist revolt, ego trip — it has turned into something far more enduring.”

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Trump won the 2016 presidential election as a political outsider, defeating former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a campaign that defied media predictions and shocked political analysts. At the time, Trump had no prior military or public office experience.

Todd noted that if Trump’s political involvement had ended with a single presidential term, historians might have viewed him as a “fluke” or “accident of history.”

He said, “One fluky win in the Electoral College could have been chalked up as an accident of history. And in fact, if he had only won in ’16 and never come back, that is how he would have been seen — an accident of history. More like Jimmy Carter or somebody like that.”

Instead, Trump returned to win re-election in 2024, becoming the first president since Grover Cleveland to serve non-consecutive terms.

His victory followed a turbulent campaign season that included multiple legal challenges and two assassination attempts.

“The staying power of Trump the man, the movement and now the comeback — it’s not an accident,” Todd continued.

“Looks like we’re in the middle of a realignment. We’re not talking about a blip. We’re talking about a decade, which means we’re probably going to be talking about a generation.”

Todd further compared Trump’s legacy to some of the most significant figures in U.S. history, stating, “You might say he’ll just be a chapter in the history books. But I’d argue he’ll be a long chapter. He’s already going to be a longer chapter than Grover Cleveland, the last guy to serve non-consecutive terms as president.”

He added, “He’ll be longer than most modern presidents because Trump didn’t just change his party — he changed the job. He changed the expectations. And he’s changed the culture. And that’s probably the biggest impact he’s made.”

Todd acknowledged that his perspective on Trump’s influence had evolved over time.

“Donald Trump’s impact on American politics and society is unlike anything I’ve seen in my lifetime. It’s greater than [Barack] Obama — something I would not have conceded three years ago. It’s greater than [Bill] Clinton,” Todd said.

“It’s greater even than [Ronald] Reagan. You probably have to go back to FDR [Franklin Delano Roosevelt] to find an American president who so thoroughly did a couple of things: he redefined the boundaries of the presidency and the shape of the national psyche.”

Political analyst Mark Halperin echoed this sentiment in a January 23 appearance on “On Balance with Leland Vittert.” He said Trump had already begun implementing sweeping government reforms during his first days back in office.

“Trump’s prone to hyperbole, but when he says he’s done more in three and a half days than some people do in four years there’s, maybe, if these things hold, there may be some truth to that,” Halperin said.

“Because he’s making Reagan look like a member of the deep state. He is changing things in a fundamental way and he’s benefited from four years off to think about it.”

Trump signed over 200 executive actions within 12 hours of taking office in January 2025, addressing issues such as the U.S. border, federal bureaucracy, and economic regulations.

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