American leader losing power and dwelling (8)
I believe the answer is:
resident
'dwelling' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'american leader losing power' is the wordplay.
'american leader' becomes 'president' (I've seen this before).
'losing' suggests deleting specific letters.
'power' becomes 'p'.
'president' with 'p' removed is 'RESIDENT'.
'and' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for resident that I've seen before include "Occupant's" , "Liver" , "Hotel guest staying for a prolonged period" , "Permanent dweller" , "Lodger" .)