E-Thesis 218 views 68 downloads
The Transgressive Presidency: Donald J. Trump / MARK HUGHES
Swansea University Author: MARK HUGHES
Abstract
It can be argued that the presidency of Donald Trump has been and indeed continues to be unlike any previous presidency. The Trump administration is defined by the idiosyncrasies of a person who, for many, was unqualified and, more damningly, unprepared for the role. Not surprisingly therefore, the...
| Published: |
Swansea, Wales, UK
2024
|
|---|---|
| Institution: | Swansea University |
| Degree level: | Master of Research |
| Degree name: | MA by Research |
| Supervisor: | Willcock, Bryn ; Chronopoulos, Themis |
| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa67881 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| Abstract: |
It can be argued that the presidency of Donald Trump has been and indeed continues to be unlike any previous presidency. The Trump administration is defined by the idiosyncrasies of a person who, for many, was unqualified and, more damningly, unprepared for the role. Not surprisingly therefore, the Trump presidency has been subjected to sustained scrutiny, comment and analysis. It was thought that the office of president would constrain this president—as it has with his predecessors—however the now burgeoning weight of opinion is that President Trump is anything but constrained. But is this really the case? The orthodox view is that the Trump presidency is an aberration—but, as aberrant as the administration might be, the question that has to be asked is whether the Trump presidency is a threat to the democratic process it is claimed to be? It is argued here that to draw this conclusion is to make the mistake of conflating the rhetoric of Donald Trump with a slide towards autocracy. It seems that the critics of Trump want it both ways: on the one hand Trump is a thoroughgoing incompetent and, on the other, a nationalist ideologue who, through his Twitter account, is capable of exercising a Machiavellian grip on the American political process. The truth is more prosaic. Trump is an incompetent. Before becoming president, he poorly managed his business enterprises and has run the presidency equally poorly. His legislative successes have been few and far between. The argument that there is a framework of logic underpinning his presidency is to divine ideological successes as well administrative successes where there are none. Donald Trump is more constrained than any president before him. This paper explores and describes those constraints—from the electorate, the office of the presidency, the constitution and most importantly those constraints as embodied by the holder of the office himself. |
|---|---|
| Keywords: |
Donald, Trump, Presidency |
| College: |
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences |