It didn’t take long after President Trump took office for conflicting views about the strength and duration of his legacy to surface. A “regime” theory of the presidency — developed in “The Politics Presidents Make” by Stephen Skowronek, a political scientist at Yale — provides the theoretical basis for the […] Read more »
When Americans go to the polls, they look to the past – not the future
Where will Americans want to go in 2020? C Z/shutterstock.com J. Edwin Benton, University of South Florida There’s one question that almost every American voter asks him- or herself when casting their vote for president. Has the incumbent’s – or the incumbent party’s – past performance in office been sufficient […] Read more »
Socialism: A short primer
Something new is happening in American politics. Although most Americans continue to oppose socialism, it has reentered electoral politics and is enjoying an upsurge in public support unseen since the days of Eugene V. Debs. The three questions we will be focusing on are: Why has this happened? What does […] Read more »
Trump might make us miss Watergate
We may be approaching the third presidential impeachment effort of the past half century. There was widespread talk after Richard Nixon’s resignation that the “system had worked” despite the strain of a criminal president. Bill Clinton’s impeachment arguably placed the system under far less pressure; only the most obsessed Clinton […] Read more »
Populists Don’t Lose Elections
… Contrary to conventional wisdom, populists are not distinctive just because they criticize elites. There’s nothing wrong with critiquing the powerful; in fact, it’s often healthy in a democracy. What is specific to populists is the claim that they are the only ones who represent those they often call “the […] Read more »
From ‘Total exoneration!’ to ‘Impeach now!’ – the Mueller report and dueling fact perceptions
Can a country move ahead when its citizens hold dueling facts? Shutterstock David C. Barker, American University School of Public Affairs and Morgan Marietta, University of Massachusetts Lowell The Mueller report was supposed to settle, once and for all, the controversy over whether the Trump team colluded with Russians or […] Read more »