Maxwell School News

Earlier this week, retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn promoted the idea that the U.S. military should oversee a new nationwide presidential election, ordered under martial law by President Donald Trump. Professor Emeritus William C. Banks calls  the idea "preposterous" and adds, "martial law has no place in the United States absent a complete breakdown of civil governing mechanisms."

Professor Emeritus William C. Banks assesses that "the world is out there, and our adversaries are all aware... that we're more vulnerable as a nation and national security apparatus than any other time during the last four years." He adds, "without a coordinated effort between the outgoing Trump people and incoming Biden people, things could quickly lose control."

Professor Emeritus William C. Banks thinks the delay by the Trump Administration to share information to Biden will be "negligible to none." However, he feels it comes with other costs. "I feel a great deal has been lost symbolically and I believe our democratic institutions have been severely beat up by the bruising battles that have been fought for no good reason," Banks says.

"Each day we tolerate President Trump’s behavior we aren’t just humoring an incumbent who refuses to accept the election results. We are putting American citizens at risk," says University Professor Sean O'Keefe.

"White women have to disabuse themselves en masse of the notion that they are inherently good. They have to put themselves in harm’s way, disrupt the status quo of their own complicity in white supremacy and defer to those who are more vulnerable than themselves," writes Jenn Jackson, assistant professor of political science.

Under Biden, New York state could find itself having a much more responsive federal government, and a number of Democrats, not just Cuomo, could be among the beneficiaries, says Grant Reeher, professor of political science.

Robert Murrett, professor of practice of public administration and international affairs, says he "would be more concerned" if the president-elect was someone other than Biden since he "is so familiar with the national security arena" from his tenure as vice president and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

William Banks, professor emeritus of public administration and international affairs,  says it is highly unlikely that Trump can do anything to change the outcome of the election. "It remains to be seen how his supporters react," Banks says. "It is too soon to tell."

"These baseless accusations of electoral fraud do a lot of damage to the public’s belief in the electoral system and in democracy itself," says Shana Gadarian, associate professor of political science. "And that is extremely damaging to our democracy."

"This was a climate election since a large majority of voters noted that they were concerned with climate breakdown," says Farhana Sultana, associate professor of geography and the environment. "Biden has a climate plan and a mandate and he has promised to listen to scientists…which is vastly different from the last four years of war on science." 

According to Alfonso Flores-Lagunes, professor of economics, improving jobs numbers may have "some explanatory power for the good showing by the president on election night."

Mark Jacobson, assistant dean for Washington programs at Maxwell School, commented on the firing of Defense Secretary Esper by Donald Trump. He said "Our enemies are going to take note of that, they know that now is a particularly vulnerable time"

Assistant Professor of Political Science Steven White notes, "If Democrats win the two Senate races in Georgia, their odds of being able to pass the legislation in their platform [go] up dramatically."

Emily Thorson, assistant professor of political science, and her co-author write about their takeaways from the 2020 Presidential elections, including the long-lasting impact of high voter turnout, the importance of candidate attributes even amidst partisan polarization, and the continued significance of survey research in understanding voting patterns and voter behavior.

"It may be the Democrats have yet to find the balance they need between the left wing of their party and the rest of it," says Grant Reeher, professor of political science. "Biden struggled to balance these two camps. Republicans beat expectations, and with a more ‘presidential’ candidate at the top of the ticket, they could be well positioned in 2024."

"If you are someone who already trusts the president and you trust him to handle the crisis, then you are both not as concerned as Democrats are and you're more willing to trust that he is the person who can keep you safe and keep the country safe from COVID," says Shana Gadarian, associate professor of political science.