David Rohde, a political scientist now in his 50th year of teaching the subject, taught “Congress and President” from the time he arrived at Duke in 2005 until 2015.
“I teach about American Politics from a theoretical point of view, so that approach is resilient enough to deal with the myriad variations we have encountered over my career,” Rohde says. “In particular, I recognize that political actors have a wide range of motives and perceptions that shape their choices. Trump is, however, certainly the most unusual actor I have dealt with.”
The closest comparison to Trump’s first months in office, Rohde says, is Jimmy Carter’s early period.
“I think that both presidents -- although, again, this is much more extreme in Trump’s case -- lacked understanding of and respect for the way the Congress does business. Also, both had a low opinion of the people in the legislative branch.”
Political Science