When a president doesn't know the policy, it doesn't make for a very effective leader. — H. W. Brands Copy Share Image
On style points alone, Donald Trump makes GWB look magnificently presidential. — H. W. Brands Copy Share Image
I cannot think of a president or administration that has taken seriously the 100 days. — H. W. Brands Copy Share Image
In some ways, I would be absolutely fascinated if Trump gets elected. — H. W. Brands Copy Share Image
When you look at the development of the American presidency, you see that the presidents who have had the greatest impact are… — H. W. Brands Copy Share Image
Reagan has been deified by the Republican Party, which is odd. The Reagan that modern Republicans revere is not the real Reagan. — H. W. Brands Copy Share Image
It wasn't the smiling Trump that people elected. It was the frowning, glowering, angry Donald Trump that people elected. — H. W. Brands Copy Share Image
The shelf life of a seventh-year State of the Union address is about five minutes. Presidents can propose stuff. They're probably not… — H. W. Brands Copy Share Image
President Obama ran a campaign in 2008 that was entirely expected from a non-incumbent. You promise, and you imply that if you… — H. W. Brands Copy Share Image
When a president was elected with foreign policy experience, it was usually less about his foreign policy experience than other things. — H. W. Brands Copy Share Image
George W. Bush has shown himself to be a decent guy, not exploiting his former office to make top dollars giving speeches. — H. W. Brands Copy Share Image
The president of the United States from the 1940s until 2017 was considered the leader of the free world - probably the… — H. W. Brands Copy Share Image
I'm more inclined to say the presidency has changed Trump rather than Trump changed the presidency. He has moderated or reversed himself… — H. W. Brands Copy Share Image
You can always find people, ordinary people, who will support your particular view, so it becomes a politics of personality, especially at… — H. W. Brands Copy Share Image
To me, the puzzle of Ronald Reagan is how a comparatively ordinary man, someone with not extraordinary talent, accomplished such extraordinary results.… — H. W. Brands Copy Share Image
You might say presidents are drafting the first chapter of their memoirs in these seventh-year State of the Union addresses. They're trying… — H. W. Brands Copy Share Image
Previous candidates who get elected are almost always sobered by the office and the responsibility they take on. Donald Trump shows no… — H. W. Brands Copy Share Image
Reagan is the subject of ongoing political debate, and a lot of liberals don't want to take Reagan any more seriously than… — H. W. Brands Copy Share Image
President Trump is doing what he can to act decisively. And if there's one thing most people have in mind in distinguishing… — H. W. Brands Copy Share Image
There is a certain kind of sobering, civilizing effect that being president imposes on people. There is a certain kind of dignity… — H. W. Brands Copy Share Image
He used humor more effectively than any president since Abraham Lincoln. Reagan was not an especially warm person, but he appeared to… — H. W. Brands Copy Share Image
Reagan refused to demonize his foes. Instead he charmed them, with a few exceptions, including Tip O'Neill, the Democratic Speaker of the… — H. W. Brands Copy Share Image
I certainly don't think that the heirs of the American Revolution were a particularly noble class. — H. W. Brands Copy Share
The Republican Party has moved substantially to the right of where Reagan was. — H. W. Brands Copy Share
Reagan gave essentially the same speech from the beginning to the end of his political career, which was always, 'The American people are great,… — H. W. Brands Copy Share
Presidents are evaluated not by what they did by the stroke of their own pen; it's what they persuade Congress to do. — H. W. Brands Copy Share
In the business arena, the standard rules of morality don't apply. What we're really looking for is efficiency. It doesn't do anyone any good… — H. W. Brands Copy Share
There is a certain kind of sobering, civilizing effect that being president imposes on people. There is a certain kind of dignity with which… — H. W. Brands Copy Share
The Founders were anything but demigods to themselves and their contemporaries, who recognized full well that the experiment in self-government had only begun. — H. W. Brands Copy Share
The American political system is based on the president taking the initiative and Congress responding. With President Trump, it's been the opposite. — H. W. Brands Copy Share
The president was not the most important political player in the 19th century. Besides Jefferson at the beginning, Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln, the… — H. W. Brands Copy Share
The shelf life of a seventh-year State of the Union address is about five minutes. Presidents can propose stuff. They're probably not likely to… — H. W. Brands Copy Share
When you look at the development of the American presidency, you see that the presidents who have had the greatest impact are the ones… — H. W. Brands Copy Share
With my students, I always have to sell my subject because I know when you're 19, 20 years old, you've got other things on… — H. W. Brands Copy Share
I'm the farthest thing from a bibliophile. I purge my collection regularly: If I haven't read a book in a couple of years, I… — H. W. Brands Copy Share
