This work attempts to understand the chaotic and enigmatic presidency of Donald Trump through Neustadt’s iconic work on presidential power and bargaining. Neustadt’s model explains much of Trump’s difficulties in office, but not his relative success. It argues he defies expectation due to new political realities such as party polarization, a transformed media, and the administrative presidency.
Todd M. Schaefer is Professor of Political Science, Central Washington University, USA
Todd M. Schaefer
Richard Neustadt Presidential Power US President presidency studies party polarization political leadership media and politics persuasion presidential bargaining reputation prestige Trump Administration Donald J. Trump executive power foreign policy
“Todd Schaefer has done a splendid job of using Richard Neustadt’s classic Presidential Power as a means of helping us to understand the trials, tribulations and inadequacies of the Donald J. Trump presidency. Schaefer revisits and reformulates core precepts of leadership persuasion and administrative dexterity—in an imaginative analysis of a troubled presidency. An excellent contribution.”
—Thomas E. Cronin, Colorado College, USA, and co-author of The Paradoxes of the American Presidency (2017), and Leadership Matters (2012)