President Trump and the Federal Personnel System
Theory and Practice
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19235777 |
|---|---|
| Authors | David E Lewis (0000-0002-0803-0074, Vanderbilt University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-6 |
| Publication date | 2026-04-13 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | PS Political Science & Politics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1049-0965 • E-ISSN: 1537-5935 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s1049096526101875 |
| OpenAlex | W7154116669 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 16 |
President Donald Trump’s actions to assert control of the executive branch in his second term have been breathtaking in their speed, volume, and diversity. Trump’s actions raise the more general question of how to make sense of his presidency in historical perspective. Presidency scholars have contributed landmark research characterizing presidents based on personal characteristics, historic patterns, common incentives at work in different institutional configurations, and behaviors associated with populist leaders more generally. This article is a distillation of the theory behind Trump’s actions and describes the mechanics of how the president has asserted control over federal personnel in his second term. It concludes with the implications of these actions for governance and for our understanding of the Trump presidency in history more generally
Corporate governance · Dismissal · Incentive · Presidency · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · History, Medicine, and Leadership · Policy Transfer and Learning
Trajectory of Power
The Presidential Difference
The Quality of Government
Who Leads Whom?
President Trump and the Shallow State
Contesting the Reach of the Rights Revolution
Politicization and Expertise
Deconstructing the Administrative State
Measuring the Impact of Appointee Vacancies on US Federal Agency Performance
| Highly cited | No |
|---|