As divisive as Trump is, virtually everyone can agree that he is a category of his own. Trump is Trump, and particularly in the 2016 election, there was no one else like him. For decades prior, I think I could make a very strong argument that while policies and decisions might be drastically different between Presidents, they all carried out their duties in a similar manner. Trump is exceedingly different, taking actions no Republican or Democrat (or any politician!) would have.
My knowledge of US presidents is not the best, and my knowledge of how they would have appeared to their contemporaries is even weaker. My question is if there are other Presidents that were similar for their time, choosing to run the Presidency is a manner no one else had. I also don’t mean the chaotic early years where parties were at each other’s throats trying to decide what the President should be. I mean mavericks who completely play by their own script, that made everybody scratch their heads.
Either specific actions, incidents, or their manner of governing throughout their entire administration. How did the contemporary world react?
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There are unique elements to Trump, but I would say that Warren Harding is similar in many important ways. He was defended the interests of the wealthy and his administration was corrupt, but he also enjoyed enormous popular support and was seen as a man of the people.
There were even some small similarities in their speaking style:
> “an army of pompous phrases moving across the landscape in search of an idea.” Their very murkiness was effective
He was opposed to the League of Nations, which mirrors Trump’s antipathy to NATO.
The policies sound familiar:
> [Republicans] … slashed taxes, established a federal budget system, restored the high protective tariff, and imposed tight limitations upon immigration.
https://www.whitehousehistory.org/bios/warren-g-harding
Andrew Jackson comes to mind as having been a populist with a cult of personality similar to Trump, who took extremely aggressive actions that are not remembered particularly favorably. Teddy Roosevelt had a similar cult of personality thing going but Teddy and Trump are so far apart in their goals it feels odd to compare them.
But yes, you are right in your assertion that there isn’t really a modern president who fits the mould of Trump.