Directing the Whirlwind: Deconstruction, Distrust, and the Future of American Democracy

Donald J. Trump ran on a platform that, among other things, promised to "drain the swamp" that is Washington, DC. Part of that draining would entail what his chief strategist, Steve Bannon, would call "the deconstruction of the administrative state." Set in the political environment of 2020, with a raging pandemic and nationwide protests, this work examines the philosophy that guides the Trump Administration’s approach and the mechanisms by which it seeks to accomplish the deconstruction. By combining journalistic accounts with presidential and public administration scholarship, the book raises questions about the impact of Trump’s approach on the future of public administration. As such, this work makes a strong contribution to public administration and presidential studies and casts a scholarly light on treatments of Trump’s contribution to governance and politics.

This new edition brings the narrative up to date and speculates about the future of the administrative state and our democracy in the aftermath of January 6th under the new Biden Administration and future presidents.

"A powerful defense of the administrative state and equally powerful indictment of the attempts of Donald Trump and his ilk to deconstruct it. The growing threats to our democracy go beyond the malignant acts of courts, state legislatures, and Congress. To overlook the administrative branch is to miss a large piece of the danger we face as a nation."―Thomas E. Patterson, Bradlee Professor of Government & the Press, Harvard University

"President Donald Trump launched an unprecedented assault on American federal government. This book provides a thorough assessment of how that assault proceeded and the dangers it posed. This is an essential guide for scholars in public administration and political science, as well as students of American history."―Alasdair Roberts, Professor of Public Policy, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Lisa K. Parshall is Professor of Political Science at Daemen University in Amherst, New York. She earned her Ph.D. at the SUNY-Buffalo in 2001 and is the author of Reforming the Presidential Nominating Process: Front-Loading’s Consequences and the National Primary Solution and the forthcoming In Local Hands: Village Government Incorporation and Dissolution in New York State. Dr. Parshall is also the co-author of Directing the Whirlwind: The Trump Presidency and the Deconstruction of the Administrative State.

Jim Twombly is Professor of Political Science at Elmira College in Elmira, New York. Earning his Ph.D. at Stony Brook University in 1992, he is the author of The Progression of the American Presidency and Sex, Power, and Cover-ups: Political Scandal and American Pop Culture. Dr. Twombly is also the co-author of Directing the Whirlwind: The Trump Presidency and the Deconstruction of the Administrative State and The Preamble as Policy: A Guidebook to Governance and Civic Duty.