Abstract
Some scholars have judged the Trump presidency to be an ineffective failure by applying theories of presidential power derived from the research of Richard Neustadt, who emphasized the need for presidents to master the task of bargaining with other stakeholders in the American political system to overcome what he saw as the limited potency of unilateral action. Such an approach, however, fails to account for two important considerations: (1) whether Trump’s goals in office were similar to those of other presidents, and (2) whether the Trump presidency was instead organized around the principles of unitary executive theory, an increasingly popular conception of the presidency in conservative intellectual circles. Viewing the Trump presidency through this alternative lens emphasizes its successes in gaining political control over elements of the executive branch bureaucracy and resisting institutional checks by Congress, raising serious questions about whether Trump was indeed often effective in realizing his goals—and whether future presidents will follow in the same path.
References
Achen, C., and L. Bartels. 2016. Democracy for Realists. Princeton: Princeton University Press.10.1515/9781400882731Search in Google Scholar
Baker, P., K. Benner, and M. D. Shear. 2018. “Jeff Sessions is Forced Out as Attorney General as Trump Installs Loyalist.” The New York Times. November 7, 2018.Search in Google Scholar
Barrett, D., and M. Zapotosky. 2020. “Justice Dept. Winds Down Clinton-Related Inquiry Once Championed by Trump. It Found Nothing of Consequence.” Washington Post. January 9, 2020.Search in Google Scholar
Bauer, B., and J. Goldsmith. 2020. After Trump: Reconstructing the Presidency. Washington, DC: Lawfare Press.Search in Google Scholar
Bernstein, J. 2017. “The 1960 Book that Explains Why Trump is a Failure.” Bloomberg View. Also available at https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-08-16/the-1960-book-that-explains-why-trump-is-a-failure.Search in Google Scholar
Bolton, J. 2020. The Room Where it Happened: A White House Memoir. New York: Simon & Schuster.Search in Google Scholar
Bump, P. 2021. “The Government Finally Connects the Line from Trump’s Campaign to Russian Intelligence.” Washington Post. April 15, 2021.Search in Google Scholar
Calabresi, S. G., and S. B. Prakash. 1994. “The President’s Power to Execute the Laws, 104.” The Yale Law Journal 541: 559–99.10.2307/797113Search in Google Scholar
Calabresi, S. G., and C. S. Yoo. 1997. “The Unitary Executive during the First Half-Century.” Case Western Reserve Law Review (47): 1452–561.Search in Google Scholar
Calabresi, S. G., and C. S. Yoo. 2003. “The Unitary Executive during the Second Half-Century.” Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy 26 (3): 668–801.Search in Google Scholar
Callahan, M., and R. Fischer-Baum. 2019. “Where the Trump Administration is Thwarting House Oversight.” Washington Post. October 11, 2019.Search in Google Scholar
Campbell, B. 2020. “President Trump Fires Top US Prosecutor Who Investigated His Allies, Barr Says.” National Public Radio. June 20, 2020. Also available at https://www.npr.org/2020/06/20/881148365/geoffrey-berman-u-s-attorney-who-prosecuted-trump-allies-says-he-wont-quit.Search in Google Scholar
Cheibub, J. A., and F. Limongi. 2002. “Democratic Institutions and Regime Survival: Parliamentary and Presidential Democracies Reconsidered.” Annual Review of Political Science 5 (1): 151, https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.polisci.5.102301.084508.Search in Google Scholar
Cohen, M. 2020. Disloyal, a Memoir: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump Brattleboro: Skyhorse Publishing.Search in Google Scholar
Comey, J. 2018. A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership. New York: Flatiron Books.Search in Google Scholar
Diamond, D. 2021. “Trump Officials Celebrated Efforts to Change CDC Reports on Coronavirus, Emails Show.” Washington Post. April 9, 2021.Search in Google Scholar
Dale, D. 2020. “Fact Check: Trump Falsely Claims House Democrats Never Asked John Bolton to Testify.” CNN.com. January 27, 2020. Also available at https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/27/politics/trump-false-claim-democrats-subpoena-bolton-testify-fact-check/index.html.Search in Google Scholar
Drapalova, E., A. Mungiu-Pippidi, B. J. Palifka, and J. Vrushi. 2019. “Corruption and the Crisis of Democracy.” Report Transparency International. http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep20482 (accessed June 1, 2021).Search in Google Scholar
Drezner, D. 2020. The Toddler in Chief: What Donald Trump teaches us about the Modern Presidency. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.10.7208/chicago/9780226714394.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Edwards, G. C. 2006. “George C. Edwards III, “Why not the Best? The Loyalty-Competence Trade-Off in Presidential Appointments”Readings in Presidential Politics, 311–36. Belmont: Thomson Wadsworth).Search in Google Scholar
Edwards, G. C.III. 2017. “No Deal: Donald Trump’s Leadership of Congress.” TheForum 15 (3): 451–97, https://doi.org/10.1515/for-2017-0031.Search in Google Scholar
Eisenmann, J. 2020. “Trump’s Plan to Gut the Civil Service.” Lawfareblog.com. https://www.lawfareblog.com/trumps-plan-gut-civil-service (accessed December 8, 2020).Search in Google Scholar
Ellis, R. J. 2012. The Development of American Presidency. England: Routledge.10.4324/9780203853009Search in Google Scholar
Elsea, J., and E. C. Liu. 2019. “CRS Report: Legal Authority to Repurpose Funds for Border Barrier Construction.” Congressional Research Service. December 30, 2019. Also available at https://fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/R45908.pdf.Search in Google Scholar
Ferejohn, J. 1999. “Independent Judges, Dependent Judiciary: Explaining Judicial Independence.” Southern California Law Review 72 (Issues 2 & 3): 353–84.Search in Google Scholar
Fisher, L. 2010. “The Unitary Executive and Inherent Executive Power.” University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law 12 (2): 569–91.Search in Google Scholar
Fishman, E., J. Lamond, and M. Bergmann. 2020. “No, Trump Has Not Been ‘tough’ on Russia.” Washington Post. October 13, 2020.Search in Google Scholar
Fogel, M., S. Hennessey, Q. Jurecic, and B. Wittes. 2020. “The President Tweets and the Justice Department Complies.” Lawfareblog.com. February 11, 2020. Also available at https://www.lawfareblog.com/president-tweets-and-justice-department-complies.Search in Google Scholar
Folkenflik, D. 2020. “‘Substantial Likelihood of Wrongdoing’ by VOA Parent Agency, Government Watchdog Says.” National Public Radio. December 2, 2020.Search in Google Scholar
Friedman, L. 2020. “Judges Tell Trump His Officials Are Serving Illegally. He Does Nothing.” The New York Times. October 5, 2020.Search in Google Scholar
Gardner, A., and P. Firozi. 2021. “Here’s the Full Transcript and Audio of the Call between Trump and Raffensperger.” Washington Post. January 5, 2021.Search in Google Scholar
Harris, G. 2017. “Diplomats Sound the Alarm as they are Pushed Out in Droves.” The New York Times. Nov 24, 2017.Search in Google Scholar
Howell, W. G. 2005. “Introduction: Unilateral Powers: A Brief Overview.” Presidential Studies Quarterly 35 (3): 417–39. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-5705.2005.00258.x.Search in Google Scholar
Irfan, U. 2020. “Trump’s ‘Sharpiegate’ Grudge May Have Cost NOAA’s Acting Chief Scientist His Job.” Vox. October 31, 2020. Also available at https://www.vox.com/2020/10/31/21540150/noaa-trump-hurricane-sharpiegate-science-zeta-dorian.Search in Google Scholar
Johnson, E. 2019. “The Real Reason Bill Barr is Defending Trump.” Politico.com. May 1, 2019. Also available at https://www.politico.com/story/2019/05/01/william-barr-donald-trump-mueller- report-1295273.Search in Google Scholar
Jones, C. O. 2001. “Professional Reputation and the Neustadt Formulation.” Presidential Studies Quarterly 31 (2): 281–95, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0360-4918.2001.00171.x.Search in Google Scholar
Kagan, E. 2000. “Presidential Administration.” Harvard Law Review 114: 2245–383.10.2307/1342513Search in Google Scholar
Katz, E. 2020. “Trump Administration Officially Opens Interior Dept. Bureau’s New Western Headquarters: Office Opening Follows Most Career Staff Refusing to Relocate Out of Washington, DC.” Government Executive. August 11, 2020. Also available at https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2020/08/trump-administration-officially-opens-interior-dept-bureaus-new-western-headquarters/167616/.Search in Google Scholar
Katyal, N. K. 2018. “Can’t Indict a President: That Could Hurt Trump.” The New York Times. May 21, 2018.Search in Google Scholar
Kelley, C. S., and B. W. Marshall. 2008. “The Last Word: Presidential Power and the Role of Signing Statements.” Presidential Studies Quarterly 38 (2): 248–67. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-5705.2008.02638.x.Search in Google Scholar
Korte, G. 2017. “Facing Veto Override on Russia Sanctions, Trump’s Signing Statement Raises Constitutional Issues.” USA Today. August 2, 2017.Search in Google Scholar
Krebs, C. 2020. “Trump Fired Me for Saying This, but I’ll Say it Again: The Election Wasn’t Rigged.” Washington Post. December 1, 2020.Search in Google Scholar
Kriner, D. L., and E. Schickler. 2016. Investigating the President: Congressional Checks on Presidential Power. Princeton: Princeton University Press.10.23943/princeton/9780691171852.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Kruse, M. 2019. “Donald Trump’s Talent for Turning Wins into Losses.” Politico. Also available at https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/03/29/donald-trumps-talent-for-turning-wins-into-losses-226339.Search in Google Scholar
Leonnig, C. 2019. “A Beefed-Up White House Legal Team Prepares Aggressive Defense of Trump’s Executive Privilege as Investigations Loom Large.” The Washington Post. January 9, 2019.Search in Google Scholar
Linz, J. 1994. “Presidential or Parliamentary Democracy: Does It Make a Difference?” The Failure of Presidential Democracy. Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press.10.56021/9780801846397Search in Google Scholar
Lynch, S. N., and A. Sullivan. 2019. “Mueller says he could Not charge Trump as Congress weighs impeachment.” Reuters. May 29, 2019. Also available at https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia/mueller-says-he-could-not-charge-trump-as-congress-weighs-impeachment-idUSKCN1SZ1OC.Search in Google Scholar
Manigault, N. O. 2019. Unhinged: An Insider’s Account of the Trump White House. New York: Gallery Books.Search in Google Scholar
McCarthy, B. 2020. “Trump Has Pushed Out 5 Inspectors General Since April. Here’s Who They Are.” Politifact.com. May 19, 2020. Also available at https://www.politifact.com/article/2020/may/19/trump-has-pushed-out-5-inspectors-general-april-he/.Search in Google Scholar
Mickey, R., L. Stephen, and L. A. Way. 2017. “Is America Still Safe for Democracy: Why the United States is in Danger of Backsliding.” Foreign Affairs May 2017.Search in Google Scholar
Miller, G., G. Jaffe, and K. Demirjian. 2019. “State Dept. Intensifies Email Probe of Hillary Clinton’s Former Aides.” Washington Post. September 28, 2019.Search in Google Scholar
Miroff, N., and E. Nakashima. 2020. “Two Senior Homeland Security Officials Forced Out as White House Firings Widen.” Washington Post. November 12, 2020.Search in Google Scholar
Morrison v Olson, O. 1988. Also available at https://www.oyez.org/cases/1987/87-1279 (accessed June 1, 2021).Search in Google Scholar
Mueller, R. S 2019. “Report on the Investigation Into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election.” US Department of Justice.Search in Google Scholar
Narea, N. 2019. “The Demise of America’s Asylum System under Trump, Explained.” Vox.com. November 5, 2019.Search in Google Scholar
Narea, N. 2020. “Trump’s Obstruction of the 2020 Census, Explained.” Publicintegrity.org. October 9, 2020. https://publicintegrity.org/politics/system-failure/trump-obstruction-of-2020-census/.Search in Google Scholar
National Geographic Staff. 2019. “A Running List of How Trump is Changing Environmental Policy.” Nationalgeographic.com. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/how-trump-is-changing-science-environment (accessed May 3, 2019).Search in Google Scholar
Neustadt, R. 1990. Presidential Power and the Modern Presidents: The Politics of Leadership from Roosevelt to Reagan. New York: Free Press.Search in Google Scholar
O’Donnell, G. 2004. “The Quality of Democracy: Why the Rule of Law Matters.” Journal of Democracy 15 (4): 32–46.10.1353/jod.2004.0076Search in Google Scholar
Ogrysko, N. 2021a. “Updated: Biden Repeals Schedule F, Overturns Trump Workforce Policies with New Executive Order.” Federal News Network. January 22, 2021. Also available at https://federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/2021/01/biden-to-repeal-schedule-f-overturn-trump-workforce-policies-with-new-executive-order/.Search in Google Scholar
Ogrysko, N. 2021b. “Schedule F is Gone, But the Debate Continues in Congress.” Federal News Network. February 24, 2021. Proceedings of the United States Senate in the Impeachment Trial of Donald John Trump” 117th Congress 1st session. Also available at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CDOC-117sdoc2/pdf/CDOC-117sdoc2-pt1.pdf.Search in Google Scholar
Pelley, S. 2021. “Georgia Secretary of State Describes Call where Trump Pressured Him to Find Evidence of Voter Fraud.” 60 Minutes. Cbsnews.com. January 10, 2021.Search in Google Scholar
Reynolds, M. E., and G. Jackson. “Tracking Oversight in the Trump Administration.” Brookings. Also available at https://www.brookings.edu/interactives/tracking-house-oversight-in-the-trump-era/.Search in Google Scholar
Rose, J. 2020. “How Trump Has Filled High-Level Jobs without Senate Confirmation Votes.” National Public Radio. March 9, 2020. Also available at https://www.npr.org/2020/03/09/813577462/how-trump- has-filled-high-level-jobs-without-senate-confirmation.Search in Google Scholar
Rudalevige, A. 2012. “The Contemporary Presidency: Executive Orders and Presidential Unilateralism.” Presidential Studies Quarterly 42 (1): 138–60.10.1111/j.1741-5705.2012.03945.xSearch in Google Scholar
Savage, D. G. 2020. “Supreme Court Sides with Trump on Building Border Wall with Diverted Military Funds.” Los Angeles Times. July 31, 2020.Search in Google Scholar
Savage, C., K. Benner, A. Goldman, and N. Vigdor. 2020. “Top Aide in Review of Russia Inquiry Resigns from Justice Dept.” The New York Times. September 11, 2020.Search in Google Scholar
Schaefer, T. 2021. Presidential Power Meets the Art of the Deal: Applying Neustadt to the Trump Presidency. Palgrave Pivot.10.1007/978-3-030-56029-4Search in Google Scholar
Skowronek, S. 2009. “The Conservative Insurgency and Presidential Power: A Developmental Perspective on the Unitary Executive.” Harvard Law Review Jun. 122 (8): 2070–13.Search in Google Scholar
Sonnett, N. R. 2006. American Bar Association Task Force on Presidential Signing Statements and the Separation of Powers Doctrine. August, 2006. Accessed at https://balkin.blogspot.com/aba.signing.statments.report.pdf.Search in Google Scholar
Sunstein, C. R. 1993. “Myth of the Unitary Executive, The Docket: Proceedings from the Administrative Conference of the United States.” Administrative Law Review 299: 7.Search in Google Scholar
Stein, M. M., and N. Florko. 2017. “HHS Memo Restricts Staff Communication with Congress.” Inside CMS 20 (19): 5–6.Search in Google Scholar
Stuccia, A., B. Everett, and H. Caygle. 2019. “Longest Shutdown in History Ends after Trump Relents on Wall.” Politico.com. January 25, 2019. Also available at https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/25/trump-shutdown-announcement-1125529.Search in Google Scholar
Taylor, Margaret. 2019. “Congressional Subpoena Power and Executive Privilege: The Coming Showdown Between the Branches.” Lawfareblog.com. January 30, 2019.Search in Google Scholar
Sunstein, C. R., and L. Lawrence. 1994. “The President and the Administration.” Columbia Law Review 94: 1.10.2307/1123119Search in Google Scholar
Taylor, Miles. 2019. A Warning. New York, NY: Twelve Publishing.Search in Google Scholar
Vanden Brook, T., N. Wu, and D. Shesgreen. 2020. “Alexander Vindman Retires from Army, Citing ‘bullying’ from Trump for Impeachment Testimony.” USA Today. July 8, 2020.Search in Google Scholar
Waldman, S. 2018. “Climate Web Pages Erased and Obscured under Trump.” Scientific American. January 10, 2018. Also available at https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/climate-web-pages-erased-and-obscured-under-trump/.Search in Google Scholar
Wittes, B. 2018. “The President’s Alarming Sunday Tweet Could Genuinely Produce a Crisis Between the White House, on the One Hand, and the Justice Department and the FBI, on the Other.” Lawfareblog.com. May 18, 2018.Search in Google Scholar
Wood, B. D. 2009. The Myth of Presidential Representation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511818660Search in Google Scholar
Yankowski, P. 2020. “Trump Attacks Latest Quinnipiac Poll, Falsely Claims He Won Election in Live Event.” Ctpost.com. November 6, 2020.Search in Google Scholar
Yglesias, M. 2019. “Trump’s Flailing Shake-Up of the Department of Homeland Security, Explained.” Vox. April 8, 2019.Search in Google Scholar
Yoder, E. 2020. “Nonpermanent Federal Workers Could be Hired for up to 10 Years Under Trump Proposal.” Washington Post. September 16, 2020.Search in Google Scholar
Yoo, J. C. 1996. “The Continuation of Politics by Other Means: The Original Understanding of War Powers,” Cal L. Review 167: 174.10.2307/3480925Search in Google Scholar
Yoo, J. C. 2002. “War and the Constitutional Text,” Uni. of Chicago Law Review 4: 1639–84.10.2307/1600615Search in Google Scholar
Zapotosky, M., and D. Barrett. 2018. “FBI Agent Peter Strzok Fired over Anti-Trump Texts.” The Washington Post. August 13.Search in Google Scholar
Zapotosky, M., and D. Barrett. 2021. “US Attorney in Atlanta Abruptly Resigns, and Trump Bypasses His Deputy in Picking Temporary Successor.” Washington Post. January 5, 2021.Search in Google Scholar
Zengerle, P. 2017. “Senate Slaps New Sanctions on Russia, Putting Trump in Corner.” Reuters.com. July 27, 2017.Search in Google Scholar
© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- The Forum: Spring 2021 Introduction
- Articles
- Assessing the Trump Presidency on Its Own Terms
- Change and Continuity in White House Staffing: The Trump Factor
- The Role of Anti-Establishment Orientations During the Trump Presidency
- Angry about Fraud: How Congress Took up Trump’s Claims of Fraud
- Trump’s Immigration Legacy
- “In the Mold of Justice Scalia”: The Contours & Consequences of the Trump Judiciary
- The Trump Era Legacy of Partisanism
- Book Reviews
- Nazita Lajevardi’s: Outsiders at Home: The Politics of American Islamophobia
- Robert D. Putnam and Shaylyn Romney Garrett: The Upswing: How American Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- The Forum: Spring 2021 Introduction
- Articles
- Assessing the Trump Presidency on Its Own Terms
- Change and Continuity in White House Staffing: The Trump Factor
- The Role of Anti-Establishment Orientations During the Trump Presidency
- Angry about Fraud: How Congress Took up Trump’s Claims of Fraud
- Trump’s Immigration Legacy
- “In the Mold of Justice Scalia”: The Contours & Consequences of the Trump Judiciary
- The Trump Era Legacy of Partisanism
- Book Reviews
- Nazita Lajevardi’s: Outsiders at Home: The Politics of American Islamophobia
- Robert D. Putnam and Shaylyn Romney Garrett: The Upswing: How American Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again