Experts in the News | Miller Center

Why Trump's Cabinet vacancies, turnover threaten our government

Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen's ouster just contributed to the the high rate of turnover among Trump's Cabinet. And while public attention to the Trump administration's vacancies has been low, it's a matter that greatly affects the federal government's ability to serve the American people.

Chris Lu

Is America’s media divide destroying democracy?

“I would not say it is just Fox News. It is that entire conservative media bubble that matters,” says Nicole Hemmer, an assistant professor at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center of Public Affairs and author of “Messengers of the Right: Conservative Media and the Transformation of American Politics.”

Nicole Hemmer

Year of the Woman? Not So Fast

In 2018, the Atlantic concluded, “The White Nationalists Are Winning. Fox News anchors and high-profile politicians are now openly pushing the racism of the alt-right. The fringe movement’s messages have permeated the mainstream Republican party.” Fox is the most-watched cable news network and has become what The New Yorker calls a “force multiplier” for Trump’s ideas. Nicole Hemmer, an assistant professor of presidential studies at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, told the magazine, “It’s the closest we’ve come to having state TV.”

Nicole Hemmer

A President of the People or a President of His People?

“Donald Trump has never adopted that presidential rhetoric,” said Nicole Hemmer, a University of Virginia professor who studies the conservative movement. “He’s always continued with the campaign rhetoric.”

Nicole Hemmer

Bernie in the Fox's den: Sanders takes anti-Trump pitch straight to 'state TV'

Nicole Hemmer, an assistant professor at the University of Virginia and author of Messengers of the Right: Conservative Media and the Transformation of American Politics, said the relationship between Fox and Trump was both “unprecedented” and symbiotic. Shifting directions, she said, could therefore cost Fox an important segment of its viewers.

Nicole Hemmer

After Columbine, President Clinton Set A New Standard As 'Consoler In Chief' — And He’s Still Thinking About The Survivors

Barbara Perry, a presidential historian at the University of Virginia's Miller Center, said daytime talk show hosts in the 1970s, 80s and 90s, like Phil Donahue and Oprah, pushed their audiences, and eventually the larger culture, to be more open with feelings. “Presidents, I believe, have had to respond to that by becoming both the receivers of that kind of information and then coming back to the people as the therapist who listens to them,” Perry said.

Barbara Perry