GovExec Daily: The Administrative State Under the Trump Presidency

While elected officials often decry bureaucracy, regulations and the size of government, President Donald Trump’s four years in office have furthered that cause in ways unseen in decades. Today’s guests write in their book that Trump not only criticized the size of government in speeches, pulled back regulations and fought openly with federal employee groups, his administration has also attacked “root and branch” the legitimacy of the administrative state.

Dr. Lisa Parshall is a Professor of Political Science at Daemen College and Dr. Jim Twombly is Professor of Political Science at Elmira College. Their book, Directing the Whirlwind: The Trump Presidency and the Deconstruction of the Administrative State, looks at the last four years and their effect on the machinations of the federal government. They joined the show to discuss the book and how President Trump has decreased the efficacy of the bureaucracy through a series of decisions and actions.