Maxwell School News and Commentary

“It is in the government’s interest to do everything possible to avoid any appearance that rights violations are being permitted or encouraged,” says Elizabeth Cohen, professor of political science.

“Trump is not reading judicial decisions and criticizing constitutional arguments. He is denouncing a so-called judge and saying decisions are ridiculous. Those pointed attacks from a sitting president are for sure unusual," says Thomas M. Keck, professor of political science.

According to Professor Emeritus William C. Banks, terrorist groups like ISIS use Trump’s "anti-Islam rhetoric to say that the U.S. is waging war on Islam," but he is not aware of specific incitements or attacks based on the executive order.

Tom Keck was featured in The Daily Orange article, "SU political science professor evaluates President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee." "(Gorsuch) has also publicly praised Justice Scalia and indicated his hope to follow in his footsteps," he says, and notes that many Democrats and independents are unhappy with the nomination.

"One of the most significant things that's happened since the presidential campaign began is the spread of conspiracy theories, largely through Donald Trump and his representatives. In a sense, that's both a product of trends that were out there before the campaign began, but it was also a significant innovation," says Michael Barkun, professor emeritus of political science.

"Trump has an uncanny ability, in part through his 'brute force' use of language, to force difficult conversations and get us to break through on the sensitivities and political correctness barriers that had held the public back from dealing with some basic obligations of governance,'' says Corri Zoli, director of research at the Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism.

Margaret Susan Thompson, associate professor of history and political science, compares the volume of leaks coming out of the Trump administration to the Nixon administration and its handling of the Watergate scandal.

University Professor James Steinberg says that Secretary of State Rex Tillersor "needs to be able to convey to the world that the administration is going to pursue an orderly process in which there is a deliberate thoughtful development of policy that takes various points of view into account." 

"Muscular tweets and orations will not intimidate an Iranian leadership that has dealt with five other American Presidents over the last 38 years," says Mehrzad Boroujerdi, professor of political science.

According to Professor of Political Science Grant Reeher, President Donald Trump "is doubling down, and I think the reaction on the part of those who are not favorably oriented toward him is going to harden.”