The Unusual Presidency of Donald Trump
| Published date | 01 September 2017 |
| Date | 01 September 2017 |
| DOI | 10.1177/2041905817726890 |
| Author | James P. Pfiffner |
SEPTEMBER 2017 • POLITICAL INSIGHT 9
The Trump presidency is unique
in a number of ways. He is the
rst US president to come to
oce without any government or
military experience. He is the rst presidential
candidate who said that the electoral system
is ‘rigged’ and implied that he might not
accept the outcome of the election if he did
not win. He is the rst presidential candidate
who intimated that if his opponent won, the
‘Second Amendment people’ might have to
resort to violence.
Trump is the rst presidential candidate
who threatened to put his opponent in
jail if he won. Although all presidents are
frustrated by their press coverage, he is
the rst president to refer to the press as
‘the enemy of the people’. President Trump
also diers from previous presidents in the
conduct of his administration, particularly in
three institutions central to the presidency:
White House organisation, dynamics of the
Cabinet, and presidential appointments.
The Unusual Presidency
of Donald Trump
A new president faces many challenges. But even by historical
standards, Donald Trump has struggled with White House
organisation, his Cabinet and his presidential appointments,
as James P. Pfiffner reports.
The Trump White House
After several months in oce, most presidents
have created a policy process that ensures
that important issues get vetted by the
appropriate Cabinet secretaries and White
House staers, before they are presented to
the president for decision. But six months
into the Trump administration, the White
House was not the ‘ne-tuned machine’ that
President Trump claimed it was. The President
even admitted: ‘This is more work than in my
previous life. I thought it would be easier’.
After he was elected, Donald Trump’s
instinct was to continue the approach to
management that had been so successful
in his real-estate empire – depend on a
small group of trusted business partners, use
selective micro-management, and negotiate
© Press Association
Political Insight Sept2017.indd 9 21/07/2017 11:57
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