The Hardest Job in the World: The American Presidency

by John Dickerson

The president’s censures as a civilian have become uncanny predictors of his future behavior as president. Just about everything he once identified as unpresidential he has now done: attacking Syria without congressional approval; golfing excessively, including during an emergency; campaigning while in office; criticizing Bob Woodward; bantering with a rapper during a national emergency; and replacing his chief of staff three times in the first two years.29 “Repubs must not allow Pres Obama to subvert the Constitution of the US for his own benefit and because he is unable to negotiate w/ Congress,” he wrote on November 14, 2014.30 Five years later, on February 14, 2019, President Trump announced executive action to fund his border wall, circumventing the will of Congress after negotiations crumbled.