= There Are No Adults in the Room =

'''There Are No Adults in the Room''' was written by Daniel W. Drezner and published on his [[https://open.substack.com/pub/danieldrezner/p/there-are-no-adults-in-the-room|blog]].

Draws from the authors earlier work, [[TheToddlerInChief|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"
 * [[PoliticalPhilosophy/Pluralism|interest groups politics]]
 * bureaucrats as a scapegoat
 * "powerful ideas"/"groupthink"

But the [[UnitedStates/DonaldTrump|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.



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CategoryRicottone