Maxwell School News

“I just don’t see how they can, at least in good faith. Several other outlets made similar statements about his endorsements and recent upsets in primaries,” says Johanna Dunaway, professor of political science and research director of the Institute for Democracy, Journalism and Citizenship.

“This might be a time of thinking about liberty, equality, the pursuit of happiness,” says Carol Faulkner, professor of history. But in some ways this time is different, she says. “It's much more partisan. It's really much more about a divisive president than the 1876 or the 1976 commemorations.”

“The stress that families are facing throughout the country is tremendous, not knowing how they’re going to feed their families,” says Colleen Heflin, professor of public administration and international affairs.

“Social media can be a minefield for divisive commentary, so I imagine he’ll use it sparingly, perhaps for simple, pastoral messages (and yes, delivered on the official pope account) like holiday greetings, but not for anything controversial,” says Margaret Susan Thompson, professor of history and political science.

“Trump’s contention that Ukraine’s hope of joining NATO ‘caused the war to start’ is a claim that is often made, but one that doesn’t stand up to scrutiny,” says Brian Taylor, professor of political science. “Given that there was no serious prospect of Ukraine joining NATO between 2008 and 2022, it’s hard to see how Ukraine’s hope of joining NATO at some point in the future caused the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022.”

Williams Banks, professor emeritus of public administration and international affairs, says chilling student protests risks quieting the country's conscience. Protests might be sometimes-inconvenient or messy, but young people have long provided a valuable values check about what the United States stands for, he says.

“The U.S. has long used tariffs to collect revenue, aid manufacturing and exert power,” says Andrew Cohen, professor of history. “But I can’t think of a trade war initiated so randomly in a time of peace and prosperity.”

“There are people whose lives are literally on the line, whether that's service personnel, whether that's intelligence personnel,” says Michael Williams, associate professor of public administration and international affairs. “These guys are supposed to be leaders of the free world, the responsible leaders of the military, the greatest country in the world, and they can't perform basic operational security.”

“One of the things I think the split screen was able to do was to show Harris looking really composed. She was looking right at Trump and she wasn't going to let up. And I think part of the strategy wasn't really about him at all. It was about ‘I can hold the stage. I can be presidential. I can be commander in chief,’” says Shana Gadarian, professor of political science.

“Everybody has a risk of suicide,” says Michiko Ueda-Ballmer, associate professor of public administration and international affairs. “That also means that everybody basically should think about suicide prevention as their...business.”

"It's a pipe dream, in a way. What they're doing is partly performative, for ideological purposes," says Ryan Griffiths, professor of political science. "A lot of time, secessionist movements are really just bargaining efforts."

Trump's position “allows for competitiveness of Democrats in states where these state bans are still in flux, and where Democrats have the potential to put constitutional amendments up for the voters to vote directly on,” says Shana Gadarian, professor of political science. “That has been a story that’s been pretty successful so far for Democrats.”

“I think IVF is an issue that hasn't been politicized before and could be one that could get people thinking about the ways that reproductive health is connected to politics and engage them,” says Shana Gadarian, professor of political science and associate dean for research. “It may push people to the polls.”

"They [Ukraine] have used naval drones in ways that have been exceptional and not been seen in naval warfare," says Vice Adm. Robert Murrett (Ret.), professor of practice of public administration and international affairs.

Grant Reeher, professor of political science, tells Newsweek that Trump will continue to use his legal difficulties to rile up his MAGA base. However, Reeher adds that it remains to be seen if this will ultimately damage Trump's White House ambitions.

Sean McFate, adjunct professor in Maxwell's Washington programs, says the U.N. mission of preventing and ending wars has "become a punchline," citing struggles in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Zaire and Somalia and genocides in Rwanda, Darfur and Iraq.

"Things are going nowhere for Ukraine," says Sean McFate, adjunct professor in Maxwell's Washington Programs. "Wars are no longer won like World War II by taking the enemy’s land, killing their troops and flying your flag over their capital."

Sean McFate, adjunct professor in Maxwell's Washington programs, thinks Zelenskyy is in trouble. McFate says Zelenskyy kept pushing NATO countries for increasingly sophisticated weapons on the promise that Ukraine would have a decisive spring offensive. "When the offensive happened, it was summer and failing,'' he says.

Vice Adm. Robert Murrett (Ret.), professor of practice of public administration and international affairs, says the disappearance of the submersible underscores the dangers associated with operating in deep water and the recreational exploration of the sea and space, “two environments where in recent past we’ve seen people operate in hazardous, potentially lethal environments,” Murrett tells the AP.

“The critical difference is there was no threat to the integrity of a democracy in Tennessee,” says William Banks, professor emeritus of public administration and international affairs. “Insurrection conditions occur when civilian authorities are unable to enforce the laws. That was a real threat on Jan. 6. Not so in Nashville.”