Expanded mode in psql is a way to output the results of a
  query if the output is too wide to fit in the screen when
  shown as a table. This can be toggled by \x on or \x off.
  
  [...] In pgcli, we have the ability to do this but this is
  not enabled by default. It has to be enabled via the config
  file (~/.config/pgcli/config) by the user.
  
  I don't think we'll change this behavior.

Why not? Seems quite sensible a thing to do when the output otherwise wouldn't fit.