“Donald Trump’s critics claim that he ignores the Constitution. But in a persuasive analysis, constitutional scholar John Yoo argues just the opposite. Trump may be an unlikely constitutionalist, but he certainly has done more than recent presidents in restoring executive powers as originally envisioned by the Founders from insidious encroachment by a progressive Congress and courts...An engaging, completely original, and superbly researched and argued analysis from one of America’s top legal minds that elevates the debate through Yoo’s mastery of history, jurisprudence, and dispassionate scholarship.”
––Victor Davis Hanson, the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, author of The Case for Trump

“Dreaded as a destructive demagogue, Donald Trump turns out to be a historically significant defender of the American constitutional order, of the Framers’ unique vision of executive vigor mindful of the law’s limits. No one could better elucidate this unlikely and welcome development than John Yoo, a Trump-skeptic and vitally important scholar of presidential power in our constitutional order. Defender in Chief is timely, brilliantly argued, and ultimately persuasive.”
––Andrew C. McCarthy, New York Times bestselling author and National Review contributing editor

“Why defend presidential power? Because, as counterintuitive as it might seem, energy in the executive actually advances individual freedom by curbing the threats of legislative and bureaucratic tyranny. The Founders understood this, and John Yoo’s Defender in Chief is an important reminder of the delicate balance of power our Constitution strikes.”
––Leonard Leo, co-chairman of the board of directors of the Federalist Society