The Trump Presidency : From Campaign Trail to World Stage

★★★★★★ T H E E V O L V I N G A M E R I C A N P R E S I D E N C Y ★★★★★★

THE TRUMP

PRESIDENCY

FROM CAMPAIGN TRAIL

TO WORLD STAGE

-LQ\MLJa

5IZI7TQ^I

5IZS;PIVIPIV

Series Editors

Michael A. Genovese

Loyola Marymount University

Los Angeles, CA, USA

Todd Belt

Department of Political Science

University of Hawaii at Hilo

Hilo, HI, USA

The Evolving American Presidency

This series is stimulated by the clash between the presidency as invented

and the presidency as it has developed. Over time, the presidency has

evolved and grown in power, expectations, responsibilities, and authority.

Adding to the power of the presidency have been wars, crises, depres￾sions, industrialization. The importance and power of the modern presi￾dency makes understanding it so vital. How presidents resolve challenges

and paradoxes of high expectations with limited constitutional resources

is the central issue in modern governance and the central theme of this

book series.

More information about this series at

http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14437

Mara Oliva · Mark Shanahan

Editors

The Trump Presidency

From Campaign Trail to World Stage

Editors

Mara Oliva

Department of History

University of Reading

Reading, Berkshire, UK

Mark Shanahan

Department of Politics and

International Relations

University of Reading

Reading, Berkshire, UK

The Evolving American Presidency

ISBN 978-3-319-96324-2 ISBN 978-3-319-96325-9 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96325-9

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018949041

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2019

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the

Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifcally the rights

of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction

on microflms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and

retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology

now known or hereafter developed.

The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this

publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specifc statement, that such names are

exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.

The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and

information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication.

Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied,

with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have

been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published

maps and institutional affliations.

Cover credit: Paul Hennessy/Alamy Stock Photo

Cover design by Akihiro Nakayama

This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature

Switzerland AG

The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

To my unforgettable yaya Julia (Vamos a dejarlo estar!)

Mara Oliva

For Rory: sleep tight son xx

Mark Shanahan

vii

Acknowledgements

This book is a collection of essays presented at the Monroe Group

Inaugural Conference held at the University of Reading in May 2017.

The editors wish to thank all contributors for their research, thoughtful

insights and stimulating discussions. The event would have not been pos￾sible without the fnancial support of the British Association of American

Studies (BAAS), the Vice-Chancellor’s Endowment Fund, The School of

Humanities, SPEIR, and the Departments of History and Politics & IR

at the University of Reading.

ix

Contents

1 Introduction 1

Mara Oliva and Mark Shanahan

Part I A Historical Perspective

2 Outsider Presidents: Comparing Trump and Eisenhower 9

Mark Shanahan

3 Style and Substance: Trump in the Context of Camelot 33

Mark White

4 Make America Great Again: Ronald Reagan and Donald

Trump 59

Iwan Morgan

Part II Winning at Home

5 Pushing Back the Obama Legacy: Trump’s First Year

and the Alt-Right—Evangelical—Catholic Coalition 85

Lee Marsden

x Contents

6 Racial Policy Under Trump 111

Richard Johnson

7 Bad Hombres: The Trump Administration, Mexican

Immigration and the Border Wall 137

Kevern Verney

8 Grab ‘Em by the Legacy: Rolling Back the Years with

President Trump 159

Clodagh Harrington

9 Trumpism, Conservatism and Social Policy 179

Alex Waddan

Part III Winning Away

10 “Stability Not Chaos”? Donald Trump

and the World—An Early Assessment 205

Maria Ryan

11 Trump and China: Much Ado About Nothing 227

Mara Oliva

12 Conclusion 249

Mark Shanahan and Mara Oliva

Index 255

xi

Contributors

Clodagh Harrington De Montfort University, Leicester, UK

Richard Johnson Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK

Lee Marsden University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK

Iwan Morgan Institute of the Americas, University College London,

London, UK

Mara Oliva Department of History, University of Reading, Reading,

Berkshire, UK

Maria Ryan University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK

Mark Shanahan Department of Politics and International Relations,

University of Reading, Reading, Berkshire, UK

Kevern Verney Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, UK

Alex Waddan University of Leicester, Leicester, UK

Mark White Queen Mary University of London, London, UK

xiii

Abbreviations

ACA Affordable Care Act

AFDC Aid to Families with Dependent Children

AHCA American Health Care Act

BCRA Better Care Reconciliation Act

BLM Black Lives Matter

CBO Congressional Budget Offce

CIA Central Intelligence Agency

CoS Chief of Staff

CRD Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division

DoJ Department of Justice

EPA Environmental Protection Agency

GATT General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade

ICBM Intern Continental Ballistic Missile

MFN Most Favoured Nation

NAFTA North American Free Trade Agreement

NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

NSC National Security Council

OASDI Old Age Social Security and Disability Insurance

OMB Director of the Offce of Management and Budget

PRC People’s Republic of China

PRWORA Personal Responsibility and Work Reconciliation Act

RFRA Religious Freedom Restoration Act

SNAP Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

TCJA Tax Cut and Jobs Act

TPP Trans-Pacifc Partnership

xiv Abbreviations

TTIP Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

VRA Voting Right Act

WTO World Trade Organisation

xv

List of Figures

Fig. 6.1 North Carolina Ballot Security Leafet (Republican Party,

1990 Mid-Term Elections) Source North Carolina

Collection, UNC Chapel Hill 121

Fig. 6.2 Racial composition of prisoners in US state and federal

correctional facilities. Based on data from https://www.bjs.

gov/content/pub/pdf/p16.pdf (Table 3) 127

1

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

Mara Oliva and Mark Shanahan

In May 2017, the University of Reading launched a new interdis￾ciplinary research centre for the study of the American presidency,

the Monroe Group. Co-directed by Dr Mara Oliva (Department of

History) and Dr Mark Shanahan (Department of Politics and IR),

its aim is to encourage dialogue between scholars in the arts, humani￾ties, social sciences and sciences working on all aspects of the offce of

the US presidency. As part of its creation, the centre hosted a one-day

conference on “Trump’s frst 100 days.” Historians and political sci￾entists from all over the UK gathered to assess the impact of a presi￾dency like no other. The breath and the quality of the contributions

prompted the organisers to put together an edited collection of the

essays presented. Charting his frst year from both historical and con￾temporary political standpoints, this book delves into key aspects of the

Trump campaign promises around immigration, trade and social and

© The Author(s) 2019

M. Oliva and M. Shanahan (eds.), The Trump Presidency,

The Evolving American Presidency,

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96325-9_1

M. Oliva (*)

Department of History, University of Reading,

Reading, Berkshire, UK

e-mail: [email protected]

M. Shanahan

Department of Politics and International Relations,

University of Reading, Reading, Berkshire, UK

e-mail: [email protected]

2 M. OLIVA AND M. SHANAHAN

foreign policy and unpicks how the frst year of the presidency has played

out in delivering them.

The election of billionaire real estate entrepreneur and TV personal￾ity, Donald J. Trump, as 45th president of the USA in November 2016

came as a shock, to say the least, to the international community, the

vast majority of the American people (he lost the popular vote by almost

3 million votes) and some would argue to him too. Back in June 2015,

his announcement that he would seek the Republican nomination for

the presidency was greeted with amusement by many media outlets. It

was expected “the Donald” would provide some “entertainment” during

the primaries but he would then quickly turn into a funny anecdote of

US electoral history. Instead, Trump quickly gained popularity, not only

among Republican voters, but especially among angry working-class and

blue-collar white voters in battleground states, such as Florida, North

Carolina and New Hampshire, and once reliably Democratic states in the

Rust Belt area, such as Wisconsin and Michigan.

His aggressive campaign and skilful use of social media divided the

country. Despite criticism over his authoritarian leadership style and

concerns over his mental health, his promise to “Make America Great

Again” by “draining the swamp,” “building a wall” on the border with

Mexico to control illegal immigration and renegotiating international

trade deals to put “America frst” appealed to that group of the American

electorate that felt that the political elite had forgotten them. Presenting

himself as the “I alone can fx this” candidate, he eventually overcame

all odds and on election night secured the 270 electoral votes necessary

to win the White House. He also produced one of the major upsets in

modern political history, as the Republican Party gained control of

Congress, both chambers of 32 legislatures and 33 governorships.

While aspects of the 2016 presidential race and reasons behind Trump’s

victory are discussed in some of the essays in this edited collection, the main

aim of the book is look at how the candidate transitioned into offce and

how successfully, or not, his promises and plans have been implemented.

In his victory speech, president-elect Trump promised unity, “I pledge to

every citizen of our land, that I will be a president for all Americans.” He

added: “It is time for us to come together as one united people.” Fifteen

months into offce, the country is still as divided as in 2016.

To be fair, he has been able to keep and deliver on some of the cam￾paign promises. Congress has passed several laws that specifcally aimed

at rolling back some of the Obama administration’s regulations. Trump

had assured his voters that he would appoint a conservative to the