Imagine receiving a call from the US President? Or being invited to a White House dinner? These methods and others like them have been used by all presidents to get lawmakers to do what presidents want them to do. Yet in the era of hyper-partisanship, this use of soft power is largely redundant. Presidents have resorted instead to using direct authority to bypass the hurdles that the constitution puts in place. Yet rather than showing a lack of necessity to persuade, these approaches indicate the weaknesses of presidents when persuasion is not possible or desirable. Yes, powerful presidents might not need to persuade, but most presidents are not powerful for long. Ultimately, the importance of persuasion depends on the capacity of the office holder (no point trying if you are not very good at it), and the circumstances in which they find themselves.

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