Maxwell School News and Commentary

"One of the most significant things that's happened since the presidential campaign began is the spread of conspiracy theories, largely through Donald Trump and his representatives. In a sense, that's both a product of trends that were out there before the campaign began, but it was also a significant innovation," says Michael Barkun, professor emeritus of political science.

"Trump has an uncanny ability, in part through his 'brute force' use of language, to force difficult conversations and get us to break through on the sensitivities and political correctness barriers that had held the public back from dealing with some basic obligations of governance,'' says Corri Zoli, director of research at the Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism.

Margaret Susan Thompson, associate professor of history and political science, compares the volume of leaks coming out of the Trump administration to the Nixon administration and its handling of the Watergate scandal.

University Professor James Steinberg says that Secretary of State Rex Tillersor "needs to be able to convey to the world that the administration is going to pursue an orderly process in which there is a deliberate thoughtful development of policy that takes various points of view into account." 

"Muscular tweets and orations will not intimidate an Iranian leadership that has dealt with five other American Presidents over the last 38 years," says Mehrzad Boroujerdi, professor of political science.

According to Professor of Political Science Grant Reeher, President Donald Trump "is doubling down, and I think the reaction on the part of those who are not favorably oriented toward him is going to harden.”

Judge Neil Gorsuch will be vetted and reviewed by the Senate, and needs the votes of at least 60 senators to be confirmed. "That requirement is not in the Constitution, but it's one that Congress itself, the Senate has chosen to impose. It's been that way for a long, long time,"  says William C. Banks, professor of public administration and international affairs.

Mehrzad Boroujerdi, professor of political science, has been working to get an Iranian scholar to teach Iranian politics at Maxwell for the last ten months and now the whole process has been called into question because of the ban.

"Since the 1940s we've been not only recruiting nurses from other countries but actually in some cases getting people into training abroad and then bringing them to America," says Elizabeth Cohen, associate professor of political science. "This H-1B shift could really reduce the population of highly skilled doctors and nurses."