What exactly will Donald Trump do, now that he’s President?
He’s said a lot of things, and made a lot of promises. A professor, and author who’s considered to be one of America’s leading Presidential historians thinks it may take a while to see what major initiatives are truly priorities for the new President. Douglas Brinkley says most Presidential candidates overpromise.
But, he says in President Trump’s case, he’s made a lot of conflicting statements, so it’s hard to tell what direction he will actually pursue. Brinkley is the author of more than a dozen books on U.S. history and politics, and is CNN’s Presidential Historian.
The Rice University professor will speak about U.S. Presidents and our National Parks in a lecture on the South Coast this week.
While some try to compare President Trump to President Ronald Reagan for his less government stance, the Rice University professor says he’s probably closer in attitude to another past President, Richard Nixon. Brinkley says that like Nixon, Trump sees himself as a leader in a position to make sweeping changes in foreign policy. He says they also both have adversarial relationships with the news media.
The historian notes that while Reagan always liked to play the role of a good guy wearing a white hat, Trump isn’t afraid to play the role of the bad guy. Brinkley is speaking at UC Santa Barbara Thursday night in a public lecture called Presidents and the National Parks: From Theodore Roosevelt to Barack Obama.
The historian says while it takes Congress to create a National Park, President Obama was one of the prolific Presidents in using Executive Orders to create, and expand a number of National Monuments.
Brinkley had the opportunity to speak with then President-Elect Trump in December, talking about our National Parks, and public land. The author and historian says he came across with the clear message that the new President is interested in improving the underfunded infrastructure of the parks. But, at the same time, he says there’s no question that Trump is intent on opening up great swaths of public land to new oil, and gas exploration.
Brinkley will speak at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at UCSB’s Campbell Hall. The UCSB Arts and Lectures event is open to the public.
