Will President Trump do as Woodrow Wilson Said?

Chapter 12 focuses on the presidency and discusses how the American presidency has grown and changed since our nation’s beginning. One specific aspect of change is in the relationship between the president and the general public. This evolution has made the presidency a more powerful and debatably more democratic office.

Woodrow Wilson, the 28^th President of the United States, made appeals to the public a pivotal part of his presidency. He advocated for a new theory of presidency that emphasized the importance of close connections between the president and the public. Woodrow Wilson argued that presidents are unique because “only they are chosen by the entire nation.” Furthermore, he said that presidents should help inform the citizens about government, interpret their desires, and respond to it. His new theory of presidency has been followed more and more fully in the 20^th and 21^st century.

While there is not doubt that President Donald Trump is a controversial president, it cannot be argued that President Trump has interpreted the desires of the American citizens regarding the Parkland, FL. Shooting and has begun to respond to them. On February 14, 2018 there was a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. In the aftermath of one of the world’s deadliest school massacres, some of the survivors started the #NeverAgain movement, which pushes for gun-law reform. These survivors’ efforts have captured the public’s attention and encouraged similar efforts across the country.

In the past, mass shootings have played out in similar ways on the public stage. First, the nation is overcome with sorrow and grief followed by a period of outrage. There then comes a push back from gun-rights forces, the political discussion shifts from guns to mental health (or other factors), the public attention drifts, and there is a lack of action by lawmakers, congressmen, and the president. This time, however, President Trump has responded in a different way.

Trump has hosted a group of bipartisan lawmakers at the White House in order to discuss gun reform. There are 6 measures that lawmakers are now debating, however I will only mention a few here. First, Trump suggested arming teachers. On Twitter, Trump promoted this measure of having “trained and gun adept” teachers and coaches in schools who could confront a shooter before first responders arrived. Secondly, Trump is open to the idea of strengthening federal background checks on those that purchase guns. These strengthened background checks would eliminate the “loopholes” that currently exist allowing people to purchase guns even when they legally should not be able to do so. A third proposed and Trump supported measure is to ban bump stocks, an attachment that allows a semi-automatic rifle to resemble a fully automatic weapon.

The question now is this; will President Trump make the changes the people want to see? Will President Trump turn the above measures into legitimate changes in the existing policies? Or will President Trump undermine democracy and stop responding here, just as lawmakers and congressmen have done so many times in the past?

Sources:

Textbook

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/02/parkland-students-power/554399/

http://deadline.com/2018/02/donald-trump-florida-school-shooting-17-dead-mental-health-gun-control-1202289971/

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/03/15/gun-control-measures-proposed-by-trump-lawmakers-after-florida-school-shooting.html

5 Responses to "Will President Trump do as Woodrow Wilson Said?"

Elizabeth Curland says:

April 11, 2018 at 5:14 pm

Chloe,
I enjoyed your post – specifically, I enjoyed your connection to Wilson’s presidency. President Trump in one way reminds me of President Wilson. President Woodrow Wilson’s authorization of U.S. intervention in World War I, in some ways, mimics President Trump’s nature of trying to set rules rather than follow them. President Wilson is remembered mostly for his pledge to keeping our world safe. However, many criticize Wilson’s presidency as being hypocritical and naive. Many people felt America wasn’t equipped to intervene in this political war and had no business getting involved. Therefore, those who value world peace and cherish our democracy should perhaps fear the similar world model Trump’s presidency encompasses.
Abigail Belcher says:

April 12, 2018 at 9:51 pm

Chloe,
I think the President Trump has done a good job so far with responding to the students, faculty, families, and public that were affected by the Parkland shooting as well as I think he is doing a nice job responding to the nation as a whole on this issue. It has to be difficult to have the weight of this decision on your shoulders, with students crying in fear of their lives at school and second amendment lovers who are fearful their rights to guns will be taken away. By holding those meetings at the Whitehouse that you were referring to and listening to the students and public who are informing him of how the majority of the nation feels, he is providing us will the feeling that our thoughts and opinions matter. I do think Trump will continue to work with these students and the citizens on these gun reform issues because, no matter what we all say about Trump and his tweets, I do think everyone has a soft spot for these kids along with every other school that has had to endure such tragedies in the past. These laws take time to pass, as we have learned from the Congress chapter that passing laws is supposed to be time-consuming and difficult. I think that since the Parkland shooting happened nearly two months ago and we as a nation are still talking about it and Trump is still holding meetings, that we are much closer to change than we have ever been in the past where it hasn’t gone much further than “thoughts and prayers.”
Hannah Grow says:

April 15, 2018 at 9:08 pm

Dear Chloe,

Thank you for your interesting post. I am also curious to see if Trump will continue to move forward with these policy changes that the public is demanding so vehemently or if he will partake in the same behavior as so many politicians have before and not actually make any real changes. I am worried that in the wake of the Parkland shootings along with the March For Our Lives demonstration, Trump is going to be doing a lot of talking but not actually integrating any real changes in order to appease the public. I recently read online that a poll taken stated that a Politico poll found that 82% of Americans supported raising the age limit to 21 to buy guns. However, after suggesting on Twitter that he wanted to raise the age limit originally, he backed off of this statement saying that there was “not much political support (to put it mildly).” If 82% of the public is saying that they support these initiatives then should it not be the responsibility of the President to work tirelessly to achieve this? I am worried that just like we saw with raising the age limit that President Trump will continue to go back on previous promises and deflect the blame on having “not much political support” instead of actually have a close, responsive relationship with the American people whom he is meant to represent.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/3/12/17109798/trump-gun-control-proposal-betsy-devos-parkland-nra
Carlin O'Neill says:

April 15, 2018 at 10:40 pm

Thanks for the post, Chloe. I definitely believe that Woodrow Wilson was right in making it a point make sure that the president played a more direct role in and had a more personal relationship with the people and their public opinions. I think that a connection between the two is definitely necessary to the protection of the public’s interest as it is the avenue for which the government can glean what the public is feeling. I also think that President Trump, while sometimes unprofessionally, realizes this importance to a certain degree as well due to his constant use of social media such as Twitter. Twitter allows both him to convey information and his opinions to millions of Americans instantly, while Americans can also make their ideas and opinions known to him quickly. I think that as social media and technology has evolved, Wilson’s idea that the president needs a solid connection with the people has become more realistic and present, and I definitely hold that this connection was the reason for President Trump taking action in response to the #NeverAgain movement.
Sophia Harrison says:

April 16, 2018 at 12:29 pm

Chloe,
Thank you for your post! I think it will be definitely interesting to see how all of these reforms play out. It is unclear whether or not Trump was proposing these reforms as an initial reaction to the shootings to ease the publics’ mind, or whether he will actually go through with them. The debate about arming teacher’s is definitely a controversial one. A few weeks after the Parkland shooting a teacher at a California high school accidentally fired his gun during a class, injuring a few students. He pointed his firearm at the ceiling during a lesson and accidentally shot it. One student was injured when bullet fragments became lodged in his neck after ricocheting off the ceiling. No nurse or paramedics came to check on the students, and the parents of the injured student didn’t hear about it until her son called hours later. I understand the immediate reaction to think that arming teachers would assume helpful, however, accidents do happen. I don’t know if Trump is equipped to make the kind of decision that completely alters the role of a school teacher, considering they didn’t sign up for this aspect of the job.

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