"The goals of nativist enclave policies and a robust job-creating economy are fundamentally at odds with one another. A full-throated embrace of nativism at this point will mean that we are walling ourselves inside our nation only to discover that we have walled in the very people that enclave nativists sought to eject," writes Elizabeth Cohen, professor of political science.

“The moon program looks more and more like an astounding aberration in the American political context. The space station does show it’s feasible to have a long-term program, but it has to be maintained by a sequence of presidents and a sequence of NASAs. And that’s the dilemma,” says Professor Harry Lambright.

"These are the folks who actually attempt to implement the policy changes that the administration is trying to push down from above," says Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute, about the importance of political appointees below the Cabinet level.