Experts in the News | Miller Center

Republican National Convention spins an alternate reality on COVID-19

Barbara Perry, a presidential scholar at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, said Mr. Trump has been both uniquely unprepared to handle the major crisis of his presidency and uniquely willing to deflect blame because of his disregard for the truth. “He’s the worst President to have had for this kind of catastrophe, that required belief in science, belief in medicine and the co-ordination of state and local power,” Prof. Perry said. “But we’ve never had a president like this, who lies all the time.”

Barbara Perry

Melania Trump’s task at Republican convention? Reassure voters, and ‘not cause any trouble’

Barbara Perry, a University of Virginia government professor who wrote a book about former first lady Jackie Kennedy, said most Americans — at the time it was happening — have been uneasy with first ladies such as Eleanor Roosevelt and Hillary Rodham Clinton who almost had a “co-presidency” with their husbands. “They don’t like a first lady to get too far advanced in the policy realm — for good reason,” she said. “They’re not accountable.”

Barbara Perry

The plan for Trump to speak every night at the RNC may be overkill: Expert

Kathryn Dunn Tenpas of the University of Virginia says President Trump is shattering norms in a very aggressive way and his speeches every night at the RNC may be overkill, that could lead to fewer viewers on the final night.

Kathryn Dunn Tenpas

What to watch for as the RNC kicks off

CBC News Network's Carole MacNeil spoke with Mary Kate Cary, former White House speechwriter for President George H.W. Bush and senior fellow at the University of Virginia's Miller Center on day one of the Republican National Convention.

Mary Kate Cary

American Defense and Security

Brent Scowcroft and American military intervention

The passing of Brent Scowcroft is an opportunity for a bit of reflection about the U.S. foreign policy elite and its attitude toward American military intervention in world affairs.

War on the Rocks

Trump, Republicans prepare to counterpunch Biden at 4-day convention

“He’s in a world of hurt,” said Barbara Perry, the director of presidential studies at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center. “It’s hard to imagine how Trump is going to pull this one out of the hat. But I would not say he couldn’t do it,” Perry told MarketWatch.

Barbara Perry