Donald Trump and American Populism

Dissecting the populist leadership style of President Donald Trump

• Places Trump’s presidential leadership style within a comparatively historical and political development theoretical framework
• Considers Trump’s use of social media as a form of public politics that represents an adaptation of presidential communication style to new technology while rebuffing the traditional bully pulpit
• Assesses the impact of Trump’s negative rhetoric and efforts to challenge if not delegitimize other national institutions (Courts, Congress), question media truthfulness, and his personalization of political opponents
• Employs case studies to weigh Trump’s political strategy, from mobilizing grassroots support to foreign diplomacy

This book evaluates the presidency of Donald Trump from a comparative, historical approach to connect his populist style to his predecessors.

Trump’s method of communication through social media obviously differs from previous candidates and presidents with populist platforms, but his themes - a disdain for elites, grassroots support, majoritarianism, anti-intellectual discourse, and nativism―borrow variably from such figures as Andrew Jackson, Huey Long, Barry Goldwater, and Ross Perot. As such, Trump’s approach to governance falls within a long tradition of populism dating to the 19th Century.