A PRESIDENT WITHOUT PRECEDENT?
Donald Trump appears to be an American president like no other. He has attacked political opponents with a venom unmatched by his predecessors. His apparent disregard for the truth, such as when refusing to accept photographic evidence that more people attended Barack Obama’s inauguration than his own, has shocked many observers. His musings – such as his comment that it would be “interesting” to consider the injection of disinfectant as a treatment for Covid – have sometimes appeared eccentric (even though, in this case, he later claimed that he was being sarcastic).
These are but a few examples of a brand of presidential leadership that appears unique. As one journalist put it a year into the Trump presidency: “Donald Trump was a very different kind of presidential candidate and from the moment he was inaugurated a year ago, it was clear he was going to be a very different kind of president.”
But is that true? One of the obligations of the historian is to provide perspective by putting the present in its historical context. So, as we approach the 2020 presidential election, it is important to consider the significance of Trump’s time in the White House in terms of the broader sweep of US history. Has he been a president unlike any other? Or is that assertion a lazy cliche?
When attempting to answer these questions, a good place to start is with the policies that Trump has enacted in the core domains of the
