The Problem of Lingering Sentiment: Is Donald Trump Still the Nation's CEO?

In: Presidential studies quarterly: official publication of the Center for the Study of the Presidency, Band 51, Heft 4, S. 802-817

Abstract

AbstractThis essay distinguishes the chronology of a presidency—how long it lasts in months and years—from the phenomenology of a presidency, what it comes to mean in the eyes of the American people. The case in point is the presidency of Donald Trump, an administration that has somehow "continued" since the time he left office because of the active rhetorical work performed not only by Trump and his supporters but also by the nation's journalists, who have found it wise to keep Trump in the headlines. Phenomenologically, that is, the nation now has two presidents, one statutory and the other stipulative, a condition that preserves a sharp dialectic between past and present. Depending on one's partisan outlook, this double presidency can be seen as reinforcing, annoying, or frightening, but it is nonetheless rhetorically compelling.