GOVERNMENT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Richard M. Nixon once said, ‘People react to fear, not love; they don’t teach that in Sunday [2-3-19] school, but it’s true.’ No president since has deployed fear quite like Donald J. Trump. Whether it is the prospect of a crime wave at the border with Mexico or nuclear war with North Korea, President Trump has persuaded his supporters that there is plenty to fear beyond fear itself. In an interview as a presidential candidate in 2016 with Bob Woodward and Robert Costa of The Washington Post, Mr. Trump said, ‘Real power is — I don’t even want to use the word — fear.’ As president, he initially tried to intimidate some of the nation’s strongest allies, including Canada, Mexico, Britain, France and Germany, in trade talks. He demanded political loyalty from Republicans in Congress and drove several who bucked him from office, notably Senators Bob Corker and Jeff Flake. But as his presidency enters its third year, a less convenient truth is emerging: Few outside the Republican Party are afraid of him, and they may be less intimidated after the disastrous government shutdown.”
–Michael Tackett and Maggie Haberman, “Trump Once Said Power Was About Instilling Fear. In That Case, He Should Be Worried.,” The New York Times online, February 4, 2019