Daniel W. Drezner - The Toddler in Chief: What Donald Trump Teaches Us about the Modern Presidency

Daniel W. Drezner

The University of Chicago Press

Chicago and London

The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637

The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London

2020 by The University of Chicago

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations in critical articles and reviews. For more information, contact the University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th St., Chicago, IL 60637.

Published 2020

Printed in the United States of America

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ISBN -13: 978-0-226-66791-1 (cloth)

ISBN -13: 978-0-226-71425-7 (paper)

ISBN -13: 978-0-226-71439-4 (e-book)

DOI : https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226714394.001.0001

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Drezner, Daniel W., author.

Title: The toddler in chief : what Donald Trump teaches us about the modern presidency / Daniel W. Drezner.

Description: Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019057950 | ISBN 9780226667911 (cloth) | ISBN 9780226714257 (paperback) | ISBN 9780226714394 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH : Trump, Donald, 1946 Psychology. | PresidentsUnited StatesPsychology. | United StatesPolitics and government2017

Classification: LCC E 913.3 . D 74 2020 | DDC 973.933092dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019057950

This paper meets the requirements of ANSI / NISO Z 39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).

Im so young, I cant believe it. Im the youngest person.

President Donald J. Trump, April 26, 2019

At age two, children view the world almost exclusively through their own needs and desires. Because they cant yet understand how others might feel in the same situation, they assume that everyone thinks and feels exactly as they do. And on those occasions when they realize theyre out of line, they may not be able to control themselves.

American Academy of Pediatrics, Caring for Your Baby and Young Child

In this book I make two arguments, one simple and one not so simple. The simple argument is that Donald Trump behaves more like the Toddler in Chief than the Commander in Chief. Many of Trumps critics have argued this, but that is not the primary source of my evidence supporting this claim. In more than a thousand instances since his inauguration, Trumps own supporters and subordinates have made this comparison as well. The staffers who work for Trump in the White House, the cabinet and subcabinet officers who serve in his administration, the kitchen cabinet of friends and confidants who talk to him on the phone, Republican members of Congress attempting to enact his agenda, and longstanding treaty allies of the United States trying to ingratiate themselves to this President have all characterized Donald Trump as possessing the maturity of a petulant child rather than a man in his seventies.

The less simple argument is that having a President who behaves like a toddler is a more serious problem today than it would have been, say, fifty years ago. Formal and informal checks on the presidency have eroded badly in recent decades, and Trump assumed the office at the zenith of its power. For a half-century, Trumps predecessors have expanded the powers of the presidency at the expense of countervailing institutions, including Congress and the Supreme Court. Presidents as ideologically diverse as Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama all took steps to enhance executive power. To be sure, Trump has attempted massive executive-branch power grabs as well. This is problematic, but the underlying trendsall of which predate Trumps inaugurationmake the existence of a Toddler in Chief far more worrisome now than even during the heightened tensions of the Cold War.

Consider navigating the ship of state as analogous to driving a car on a twisty mountain road. The risk of driving off the side of a mountain is real. Two things can prevent a catastrophe: the drivers good sense and guardrails separating the road from the precipice. The guardrails were badly damaged before 2016, but a skilled driver could still navigate the road. In that year, however, the country elected the most immature candidate in American history to drive the car. The result has been a reckless President operating the executive branch like a bumper car, without any sense of peril. The car has not careened completely off the road yet, but that is due more to luck than skill. The possibility for a fatal crash remains ever-present. Even more disturbing, the driver is not getting any better at his job. He is just getting more confident that there is no risk to what he is doing.

Far too much of Donald Trumps behavior is comparable to that of a bratty toddler. Let me be as precise as possible about what this means. I am not saying that Trump is a toddler. Multiple physicianssome of admittedly dubious provenancehave confirmed that Donald Trump is a borderline-obese white male over the age of 70. Furthermore, even casual observation reveals that this is not a Benjamin Button situation in which Trump is aging into a small child. Biologically, the 45th President of the United States is a fully grown manjust like the 43 men who preceded him. I am arguing that unlike his predecessors, Trumps psychological makeup approximates that of a toddler. He is not a small child, but he sure as heck acts like one.

Furthermore, I am not indicting the behavior of toddlers by comparing Trump to them. The 45th President shares a lot of behavioral traits with small children. The difference, however, is that toddlers have a valid justification for their behavior. Many of the unsavory traits associated with toddlers reflect their effort to make sense of the world given their limited capabilities. At the toddler stage of cognitive and emotional development, children throw tantrums and act impulsively because they have no other means to cope with their environment. Over time, of course, toddlers grow out of these behaviors. Donald Trump shows no such signs of maturation. He offers the greatest example of pervasive developmental delay in American political history.

These are strong statements to make, and readers should approach such provocative claims with skepticism. This is particularly true for those Americans who voted for and continue to support the 45th President. Donald Trump is a polarizing figure in polarized times. The incentive to ridicule the President is strong among those who resist Trumps agenda. Since Trumps election, Democrats have frequently characterized the President as possessing the maturity of a boy who has yet to master his toilet training. Numerous party leaders have deployed this analogy. In December 2018, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer accused Trump of throwing a temper tantrum when a bipartisan appropriations bill contained no funding for a wall along the US-Mexico border. In January 2019, former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates tweeted that Trump was behaving like a spoiled two year old holding his breath. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi blasted Trump for his obduracy during the 2018/19 government shutdown, telling reporters, Im the mother of five, grandmother of nine. I know a temper tantrum when I see one.