Experts in the News | Miller Center

Trump Plan To Merge Labor, Education Departments Could Undermine Them Both

Chris Lu, a former Labor official under President Barack Obama, said on Twitter that those training programs are the only real commonality between the two departments ― and that many other agencies, including the Department of Justice, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Environmental Protection Agency, carry out training programs as well. “If Trump were serious about making govt work better, he’d fill vacant positions with competent people, provide agencies with sufficient funding, and stop denigrating federal employees,” Lu tweeted. “Otherwise, this proposal is like the rest of Trump’s agenda: just a lot of hot air.”

Chris Lu

Plan to merge Education, Labor departments is just more 'hot air' from Trump administration

Every president comes to Washington wanting to show that he can transform government. With a few exceptions, every president leaves Washington having made only incremental progress in that transformation.

Chris Lu

President Trump Is Looking for Suggestions for Pardons. So We Asked 7 Historians for Their Thoughts

My nominee for a posthumous presidential pardon is the intriguing Vermont congressman Matthew Lyon. A member of Thomas Jefferson’s Democratic-Republican party, Lyon was convicted in 1798 of violating the Sedition Act and sentenced to four months in jail.

Barbara Perry

Jeff Sessions, religion, and the public square

Attorney General Jeff Sessions cited Romans 13 to justify the separation of families at the U.S. border. What can this tell us about the role of religion in public life? And what does it have to do with Abraham Lincoln? Join us for a fascinating and important discussion with Chuck Mathewes, one of our senior fellows and a professor in the University of Virginia's Department of Religious Studies

Charles Mathewes

Trump to Let Small Businesses Offer Cheaper Health Plans

Chris Lu, former deputy secretary of labor in the Obama administration and now a senior fellow at the University of Virginia Miller Center, said the rule is designed to undercut the ACA. Trump campaigned on a vow to repeal Obama’s signature law. “The overall effect of today’s action will be skimpier health plans and higher insurance premiums, which will lead to more Americans getting sick and dying,” he said by email.

Chris Lu

Why Donald Trump Was Right About George Washington

Douglas Blackmon, an author and senior fellow at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, said Trump either does not understand the history of the Confederacy or he’s sympathetic to white nationalist views.

Douglas Blackmon