Halfway to 2020: Exploring Donald Trump's Speeches at Midterm

• In Event: The Public Presidency

Abstract

The places that presidents choose to give speeches matter. Over the last 30 years, we have seen American presidents speak more frequently and also in more locations throughout the United States. The Trump presidency at midpoint stands as a startling reversal to almost all modern administrations. His frequency of speeches resembles pre-Carter administrations. By looking at speeches through the lens of media markets and Electoral College results, we find he eschews large areas of the country as well as places with any Democratic party leanings. Most important, this paper carefully catalogs every speech in the "Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents" as provided by the Office of the Press Secretary. The paper explores how that office has systematically eliminated an entire class of public speeches out of permanent record for archival purposes. Throughout the Trump administration, they have chosen to not document all public speeches though all are freely available through media sources. This paper discusses the differences in the "Public Papers" with the actual collected speech locations and totals and what that means for the future of the American presidency.

Author

• Shannon Bow O' Brien, The University of Texas at Austin