The Role and Responsibilities of the US President

📚 The lecture discusses the formal and informal powers of the unilateral president.

🏛️ The office of the president was designed to solve collective action problems among the states.

💼 The president's duties include implementing federal law and ensuring fairness among the states.

The president was not supposed to be too democratic and was elected by electors in the Electoral College.

The Electoral College allocated electors based on the number of members in the Senate and House, giving small states some influence.

The president's role includes conducting foreign policy and serving as the commander-in-chief.

📜 The president has formal powers and can issue presidential directives, including executive orders.

⚖️ Presidents can make major policy changes, but this may lead to lawsuits to determine their authority.

🤝 Executive agreements are non-treaty agreements between the United States and other nations.

💼 Executive agreements are temporary political agreements that involve smaller issues, while treaties require Senate approval and become laws.

📜 Executive orders have become less common since the 1950s, but presidents often issue many during their first 100 days in office.

👥 Presidents may change how laws are implemented based on their priorities, leading to disagreements and policy reversals.

👥 Public opinion on the president's power to change laws without congressional approval varies based on political affiliation.

✍️ The president can utilize informal powers, such as popularity and personal relationships, to influence members of Congress.

📜 Certain actions, like issuing pardons and establishing new White House offices, tend to attract agreement from both Democrats and Republicans.

👥 The president can use various strategies, such as rallies and round table events, to gain support for their agenda from members of Congress and the American people.

📰 The president can demand media attention and utilize press conferences to communicate their ideas to the public.

🎙️ Presidents in the past century have increasingly relied on these tools, such as addresses, to go public and advocate for their agenda.

💼 Presidents, starting with Ronald Reagan, have been traveling both domestically and internationally to generate media coverage and drum up support for their proposals.

📱 In the modern era, presidents have been utilizing Twitter to engage with the public, with President Trump increasing his use of Twitter before elections and President Biden doing the same.

📲 Twitter allows us to have access to presidents every day, assuming we follow them on the platform.