Maxwell School News and Commentary

"The forces he is up against are much bigger than President Trump and are tectonic in nature. There are a set of forces that push us apart rather than bring us together," says Grant Reeher, professor of political science. But, he adds, "I do think having a period of time for the country to experience the absence of the daily melodrama of the Trump presidency will help."

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.

Mark Jacobson, assistant dean of Washington programs says that "the [John] Kerry pick [as Biden's special presidential envoy for climate] is really incredible from a structural standpoint." His selection, Jacobson says, is "an admission that our mid-20th century national security structures were not designed to deal with some of the more holistic and potentially existential threats, in this case, climate change."

"If there’s going to be some type of rapprochement with China on this [trade deals], there’s going to have to be negotiations before that between the Chinese and the Americans that deescalate the conflict and result in some other wins from both sides," says Mary Lovely, professor of economics.

"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.

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.

"The most important action the Biden administration can do is to undertake all its policies and actions through a climate justice lens...and approach action with equity, accountability and justice in mind," says Farhana Sultana, associate professor of geography and the environment.