Experts in the News | Miller Center

Why presidents speak out against religious hate — and why people notice when Trump doesn’t

Presidents since Washington have spoken out against hate crimes in different ways, according to Barbara Perry, presidential studies director at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center. For example, she said, multiple presidents condemned lynchings that took place across the South starting in the 1890s.

Barbara Perry

The Power of Breitbart

Donald Trump swept into office with promises to "drain the swamp." But less than two months into his presidency, it's clear that rather than draining it, he's transforming it into a fever swamp of conspiracism. And he's aided in his efforts by Breitbart, which has learned that it can not only can amplify Trump's message, but can shape it as well.

Nicole Hemmer

Eternally frustrated by "liberal" universities, conservatives now want to tear them down

No matter how often conservatives call attention to the ideological imbalance in the professorate, they fail to affect the makeup of college faculties. Indeed, faculties are markedly more liberal today than they were when the fight began. But persuading sociology departments to hire more Republicans is not really the point. Instead, these attacks have turned into a tool for undermining higher education, part of a far more serious — and far less conservative — project of dismantling American universities altogether.

Nicole Hemmer

Politics

From the Director: Presidents spying on presidents

At least twice, a sitting president has been connected to surveillance operations on presidential candidates. Both cases involved Richard Nixon—one as a president, and the other as a candidate.

William Antholis

Miller Center

Past Present Podcast: The Women's Strike, Anti-Semitism, and Robots

In this week's episode, Natalia, Neil, and Niki debate the complicated politics of the women's strike, the rise of anti-Semitism in America, and humanity's relationship to robots.

Nicole Hemmer

Absent Labor Officials Stall Trump’s Jobs Agenda

One challenge is that Trump’s campaign message, while repeatedly focused on job creation and wages, was light on policy specifics to accomplish those goals. This leaves the beachhead team and career personnel in the dark, Chris Lu, deputy labor secretary under Obama, told Bloomberg BNA.

Chris Lu