The American Histories of President Trump: Beyond the Jacksonian Parallel. (January 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Brown, Robert E.
• Other Names: Payne Gregory guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: American behavioral scientist. Volume 66:Number 1(2022)
• Page Start: 43
• Page End: 60
• Publication Date: 2022-01
• Subjects: Jacksonian -- Donald Trump -- Jacksonianism; Social sciences -- Periodicals; Political science -- Periodicals; United States -- Social conditions -- Periodicals; United States -- Politics and government -- Periodicals; 300
• DOI: 10.1177/0002764220978270
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0002-7642

Abstract

This article begins with a consideration of the putative parallels between the presidencies of Andrew Jackson, the nation's 7th president, and Donald Trump, the 45th. Underlying Trump's and his supporters' partisan case for his Jacksonian populism and similarly volatile temperament is another argument explored in this article: that such a Jacksonian framing implicitly situates Trump in the pantheon of the nation's greatest, most consequential presidents who have expanded the powers of the office itself. Several standards of judgment are adduced for the critical consideration of the Trump presidency as it nears the completion of its first term. The consequentialism of the Trump presidency is weighed against standards of ethics and the personality trait known as Machiavellianism.