How Not to Be President

Robert Dallek: “Eight months into Donald Trump’s presidency, it is impossible to imagine him unifying the country behind his leadership. To be sure, the issues today are vastly different from those Roosevelt faced. Indeed, the calmer waters Trump sails on as president—calmer by any measure, for all the challenges—should make the task easier. He inherited an economy that was in decent shape and a country that faced no existential threats from the outside, whatever the ongoing dangers posed by terrorism.”

“Instead, Trump offers a master class in how not to be president. He has deepened skepticism about his suitability for the highest office by raging at opponents, decrying the media as enemies of the American people, dismissing as disloyal those who are in any way critical, and offering distorted versions of reality on virtually every subject, starting with the claim that the first 100 days of his administration were the most successful in history. His ignorant and offhand approach to foreign policy—first and foremost, his seemingly deliberate attempts to weaken and even threaten NATO—has dismayed America’s allies and emboldened its enemies. A special counsel has been appointed to investigate Russian interference in the election, reminding Americans of the process that drove Richard Nixon from office.”

“Trump would do well to study Roosevelt and, surely, Lincoln, along with other presidents, to grasp how they sought (or failed to seek) broad popular unity. It says something fundamental about the man that no one imagines he would actually do this. The problem is not just that it would take work. The larger problem is that he has no interest in the goal.”