The Toddler in Chief
What Donald Trump Teaches Us about the Modern Presidency
- Contents
- Review Quotes
Table of Contents

Contents
Introduction Once upon a Time, a Toddler Was Elected President . . .
1 Temper Tantrums
2 Short Attention Span
3 Poor Impulse Control
4 Oppositional Behavior
5 Knowledge Deficits
6 Too Much Screen Time
7 Potpourri; or, A Toddler Sampler
8 When Caregivers Give Up: Staffing the Toddler in Chief
Conclusion Will We All Live Happily Ever After?
Acknowledgments
Notes
Selected Bibliography
1 Temper Tantrums
2 Short Attention Span
3 Poor Impulse Control
4 Oppositional Behavior
5 Knowledge Deficits
6 Too Much Screen Time
7 Potpourri; or, A Toddler Sampler
8 When Caregivers Give Up: Staffing the Toddler in Chief
Conclusion Will We All Live Happily Ever After?
Acknowledgments
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Review Quotes
New York Times
"It is almost surprising that, nearly a third of the way into 2020, more books haven’t been inspired by viral Twitter threads. Drezner’s brisk offering is a good place to start, built as it is out of a three-plus-year, 1,000-plus tweet project documenting examples of the president’s own aides and allies describing him, in the author’s words, 'like a toddler.' . . . . Though the book is occasionally funny—early on Drezner goes out of his way to point out he doesn’t mean to indict toddlers’ comportment—it is, appropriately, also overwhelmingly grim."
Washington Post
“Drezner does not simply argue that Trump is ill-suited for the presidency; he contends that Trump is incapable of adult behavior. . . .We knew most of these things about Trump before Drezner published his book, but he presents a smothering avalanche of repeated presidential absurdity. The reader realizes that this pattern is not part of the Trump presidency; it is the whole thing."
New Statesman
"[A] crisp, witty and highly readable philippic."
The Times (UK)
"This book was written before the catastrophe of coronavirus and the Trump response. Its judgments about the president are all the more eerie as a result.”
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Political Science: American Government and Politics
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