"The Strongman Presidency"

*On today’s episode, we’re continuing a conversation about presidential power that we broached a couple of weeks ago on Statecraft in an essay called, “**What Trump Can Learn From Nixon**.” It was about the attempts, in* *Richard Nixon**‘s one and a half presidential terms, to build what observers called the “administrative presidency” — the presidency that actually fully controlled the administrative state.* *My guests today have thought very deeply about presidential attempts to control the administrative state.* *William Howell* *and* *Terry Moe* *are co-authors of a book called,* *Trajectory of Power: The Rise of the Strongman Presidency**. They’re both political scientists. Terry is a professor of political science at* *Stanford**, and senior fellow at the* *Hoover Institution**. Will is the Dean of the* *School of Government and Policy* *at* *Johns Hopkins University**.* ***We discuss:*** ** Why most federal employees in the 1800s were mailmen, and what changed* ** How presidents have tried to control the administrative state* ** Whether Republicans have used presidential power to rein in agencies they object to* ** Whether the Supreme Court has been a firewall against Trump* *For the full transcript of this conversation, go to*http://www.statecraft.pub*www.statecraft.pub**.* This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.statecraft.pub