The Trump First Term

Julia Azari is professor of political science at Marquette University. She is the author of Backlash Presidents: From Transformative to Reactionary Leaders in American History. Bert Rockman is professor emeritus of political science at Purdue University. He is the author and coauthor of several books, including In the Web of Politics: Three Decades of the U.S. Federal Executive.

"Donald Trump opened his second term by testing the guardrails of American constitutional government. This book looks back at his first term, and with each chapter, written by leading scholars of American politics, shows how its conflicts and choices continue to shape today's political battles. Accessible, insightful, and extremely interesting, this book will find a home in classrooms and on the shelves of scholars who will be trying to understand this presidency for years to come."-Daniel E. Ponder, author of Presidential Leverage: Presidents, Approval, and the American State "Three of the leading presidential scholars, Azari, Rockman, and Rudalevige, have pulled together some of the top political scientists to provide the first comprehensive assessment of Donald Trump's first-term presidency. Their book confronts many of the traditional aspects of presidential performance while also zeroing in on Trump's norm breaking behavior. For anyone looking for a thoughtful and comprehensive assessment of presidential politics in the age of Trump this book is an essential read."-Mitch Sollenberger, coauthor of The Unitary Executive: A Danger to Constitutional Government "This volume makes an original scholarly contribution to understanding the unique first term of the Trump presidency. Major topics include elections and party leadership, public opinion, institutional conflict and cooperation, policy making, and Trump's enduring legacy in American politics. With richly detailed analyses by a broad group of presidency experts, the comprehensive study will be highly instructive for courses and scholarly research."-Meena Bose, author of Pragmatic Vision: Obama and the Enactment of the Affordable Care Act "The Trump First Term is a strong addition to the series of volumes on US presidential administrations that Bert Rockman has helped shepherd since the 1980s. Focusing on a controversial and provocative president, the book's essays, written by an impressive range of scholars, contain insightful analyses and trenchant observations, yielding initial assessments of Trump's consequential first term, and the lessons, risks, and opportunities that it produced for a once improbable second term."-Karen Hult, author of "Assessing the Trump White House," Presidential Studies Quarterly 51 (March 2021): 35-50 "This collection of essays by an extraordinary group of scholars examines the policies and principles, if one can label them as such, animating the nation's 45th presidency. Donald Trump followed a somewhat typical presidential trajectory during his first term, although the authors remind us of the serial shattering of traditions that began at this time. These penetrating essays should be read by all conscientious citizens concerned about the perilous state of the American republic during the age of Trump."-Stephen F. Knott, author of The Lost Soul of the American Presidency: The Decline into Demagoguery and the Prospects for Renewal