In the News: Grant Reeher

"If President Trump and his advisers can out-think and out-strategize [Putin] in order to get Russia to provide some useful assistance in changing North Korea’s nuclear program, then it could be a win for the president, but it’s high-risk to say the least," says Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute.

"The current struggle over an affirmative message is further compounded by the fact that the negative messaging is taking up all the energy," says Professor of Political Science Grant Reeher. "Everything is about opposing Trump." 

Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute, says Trump could attempt to contain the criticism from retiring Republicans by moderating his tone and laying off individual attacks on members.

"Voting ‘yes’ on this particular ballot initiative does not mean there’s going to be a new Constitution," says Grant Reeher, professor of political science. "It means you’re setting the process in motion to rewrite the Constitution."

Grant Reeher, professor of political science, says Trump’s words were "pushing that frontier of just what is acceptable on the part of a president. I think that’s why it is getting the attention that it’s getting. Any time you start talking fast and loose about…families that have lost members in the line of duty, that is political dynamite."

According to Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute, "voting has become much more rigid" along party lines.

"On the one hand, it takes him to a region, and to individual countries, that he's criticized, and with which he's already had tensions. So, a lot of things could go wrong," says Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute. "On the other hand, a diplomatic trip like this almost forces him to behave in a more conventional way, and that could help his image at home."

"The swamp is pretty sticky and it is hard to drain," says Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute. "It is going to be very difficult for any one individual—even the president—to restructure the entire culture and network that exists inside the Beltway."

Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute, will moderate.

Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute, says it's too early to discount potential candidates' chances in the 2020 presidential election.

Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute, conducted an interview with Syracuse's three democratic candidates for mayor in the party's primary. Reeher attempted multiple times to get each candidate to articulate how they differed on policy positions from each other, with little success.

“[President Trump] has got to go there, and he has got to go there while the problem is still extreme, while the place is still in a state of crisis,” says Grant Reeher, professor of political science. 

Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute, says a primary challenge to Trump would be futile unless Republicans could "have an agreed-upon person that's going to represent that challenge."

 According to Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute, the timing of Trump's plan to speak on Afghanistan "feels a little like a ‘wag the dog' type of effort at distraction."

"No matter how strong or dominant a personality the president has, he is going to have trouble taking on an American political institution as powerful as the U.S. Senate," says Grant Reeher, professor of political science.

“The two parties are very close in number—it’s a very even split—and they are polarized,” says Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute. “Those things tend to reinforce each other, make it harder to work across the aisle, which makes it harder to pass any big bill.” 

According to Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute, Trump's basic policy framework for energy—reducing regulation, producing and consuming more of America's own energy resources—has more obvious appeal and is easier to sell to voters.