Which previous president was most like Trump? Which biographies did Meacham tell Trump to read? Whose presidential management style is Trump likely to emulate? Listen now to find out.
Excerpt:
3:27 – 4:31
ROBERT SAMUEL (HOST): Trump has been a dominant user of social media and probably uses it a little bit better than all of his political opponents of the time. Is it a re-occurring theme among presidents that get elected, obviously, that they use the modern means of communication better than their opponents, they pick up on it quicker?
JON MEACHAM (HISTORIAN): Absolutely, it’s something, that’s not something you stick on the end of a leadership style, it’s an inherent part of it. Jefferson and Lincoln learned how to write quickly and well at a time when the printed word was so important. Franklin Roosevelt -- and across the Atlantic, Winston Churchill – understood radio. John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan fully understood television. And now Trump now fully understands, not only social media, which is important, but also reality TV.
SAMUEL: Right.
MEACHAM: So he is very much a creature of how ordinary Americans, many of whom feel alienated from institutions, actually think and feel.
