Andrew Johnson (The American Presidents, #17)

by Annette Gordon-Reed

He crushed his rivals in their first public debate, employing the take-no-prisoners style that would become his trademark. His talent for invective and savage ridicule apparently disoriented his opponents. They simply did not know how to respond to him. It is also possible that his early audiences had never seen anything like this, or simply were not expecting to see such a display of bravado from a semi-educated tailor confronting his social “betters.” But a little bit of the “bully boy” style goes a long way, and in later years this “talent” became something of a liability because Johnson did not always know when to bring his inner attack dog to heel.

This sounds a little too familiar in 2019.