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| In a later piece, '''The Silliest, Brattiest Adult in the Room''' (2025), the author reflects that there ''were'' a few members of government who acted institutionally and constrained behavior. For example, John Kelly and John Bolton. |
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There Are No Adults in the Room
There Are No Adults in the Room was written by Daniel W. Drezner and published on his blog.
Draws from the authors earlier work, The Toddler In Chief.
Author hypothesizes about the implicit worldview of political journalists. Look to find a rational cause to the effect, and therefore a circumstance or method by which the effect can be reversed.
- "rational actors pursuing their interests"
- bureaucrats as a scapegoat
- "powerful ideas"/"groupthink"
But the Trump administration has systematically removed institutional and normative decision making.
Reading notes
The author might be right, and that still doesn't mean that the administration can't be analyzed this way. I think there's substantial evidence that Trump can be appeased in the traditional manner for autocrats; compliments, gifts, apparent deference, all as a transaction for backroom deals that affect the policy changes that are the actual goal.
In a later piece, The Silliest, Brattiest Adult in the Room (2025), the author reflects that there were a few members of government who acted institutionally and constrained behavior. For example, John Kelly and John Bolton.