Book Description

Great presidents are determined first and foremost by the circumstances and times of their presidency. But great presidents also demonstrate great personal leadership in being in the forefront of necessary changes in our country. President Donald Trump recognized that after 70 years of promoting economic and political policies that rebuilt other nations following the devastations of WW II, it was time to rebuild and refortify the United States. Within three plus years, he has been doing that with renegotiated trade agrees, deregulation of overzealous bureaucratic oversight, tax cuts, increased military funding and judicial appointments. He also has demonstrated personal leadership in our nation's response to the worldwide pandemic. His effectiveness, like most national and international leaders, is questionable but he has been courageous in demonstrating leadership. Among the greatest U.S. presidents, I rank Donald J. Trump number eight of the forty-five presidents. Seven before President Trump, I list as: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson, Woodrow Wilson, Harry S Truman and Ronald Reagan. I justify my ranking by thoroughly examining the ratings of U.S. presidents by three acknowledged presidential rating historians: Clinton Rossiter, James David Barber and Alvin Stephen Felzenberg. I predicted in a newspaper column that Barack Obama would defeat Mitt Romney in 2012. I predicted that Donald Trump would defeat Hillary Clinton in 2016. I am predicting Donald Trump is odds-on favorite to beat any Democratic candidate for president in 2020. Having been a journalist for 40 years covering presidents and other international leaders, Congress and national and international business, I have found that to overcome a plethora of conflicting information and disinformation the simplest answer in understanding leaders is often the best. I have studied all 45 U.S. presidents and have found that the simplest way to determine why they got elected and why they were successful, less successful or not very successful at all, is to determine if they were a Daddy's Boy or a Mama's Boy from their birth on. I also identify in the book whether our presidents were balanced, atyplical, conflicted or unbalanced. Our greatest presidents were balanced. In other words, if they were at birth Mama's Boys, they learned to acquire the attributes of the other parent to balance them. Abraham Lincoln was a Mama's Boy who married at Daddy's Girl, Mary Todd, who taught him to man up. I identify President Trump as an atyplical Daddy's Boy. Though his father loved him and he loved his father, Donald has an inordinate need to be independent of a dominant father. To be his own man. Too simplistic? Of course, many other factors are involved.But I am talking about a simplistic rule of thumb, a poker tell, a major determining factor in predicting: who can get elected, in terms of their ability to campaign and attract a following; their personality and character; how they might make decisions; their policy inclinations; their management style, in terms of being able to delegate or not; if they have administrative capability; and, what is their worldview.