Political scientists available to discuss Trump's first 100 days in office

Monday, April 24, 2017 - 14:10

Donald Trump's first 100 days as president end this Saturday, April 29. Those 100 days have been marked by criticism over Trump's failed efforts to convince Congress to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act and his failure to enact executive orders to limit U.S. immigration of those in certain nations with ties to terrorism. 

However, Trump successfully filled the vacant seat on the Supreme Court with Neil Gorsuch, who was sworn in less than three months after being nominated. Trump has focused on job creation in the U.S. by cancelling the Trans-Pacific Partnership – which would have caused more jobs to move overseas – and convinced companies like Carrier Air Conditioners, Chrysler and Ford to manufacture and build plants in the U.S. He also has started to fight ISIS by ordering airstrikes in Syria and a bomb dropped on Islamic State forces in eastern Afghanistan. 

Several University of North Texas faculty members are available to analyze Trumps first 100 days in office.

Matthew Eshbaugh-Soha is chair of the UNT Department of Political Science and co-author of The President's Speeches: Beyond "Going Public."

Eshbaugh-Soha said that despite some "easy wins" for the Trump administration, including the Gorsuch nomination and unilateral actions, the first 100 days will likely be remembered more "for ill-advised tweets, congressional investigations into his campaign's connections with Russia, and a failure to repeal and replace Obamacare."

Phone: 940-565-2329

E-mail: mes@unt.edu

J. Michael Greig is a University Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Department of Political Science and also a faculty member in UNT's Peace Studies program. He is available to discuss Trump's accomplishments and failures in foreign policy. Greig researches conflict management and international conflict. He is the co-author of International Mediation and has published many articles in Conflict Management & Peace Science, International Interactions, Journal of Peace Research and other professional journals.

Cell phone: 940-372-0964

E-mail: michael.greig@unt.edu

 

John Ishiyama is a University Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Political Science who specifically researches Russia and North Korea. He has been a research fellow at the University of Kansas' Center for Russian and East European Studies since 2002 and focuses on comparative politics, including politics in post-communist nations, particularly Russia and North Korea. He is the author or editor of seven books and 130 academic journal articles and is the former editor-in-chief of the American Political Science Review and current director of the National Science Foundation’s Research Experience for Undergraduates on Conflict Management and Peace Science.

Ishiyama says the two greatest foreign policy challenges Trump will continue to face do not involve ISIS. He says Russia's presence in the Ukraine and North Korea will become far more demanding.

"These two challenges, which were not a focus of his campaign, will be the most serious of his presidency," he says.  

Office phone: 940-565-4326

E-mail: john.ishiyama@unt.edu

 

Kimi King, professor of political science, teaches a constitutional law course on discrimination and the powers of the government, and a course on laws and institutions in American government.

"President  Trump's first 100 days have illustrated that he  will continue on a path that resembles the direction he  took during the campaign," King said. "He has continued to show his willingness to follow through on promises he made, while being forced to come to terms with all of the difficulties new presidents encounter during their 'honeymoon period.'"

Phone: 940-597-4802

E-mail: kking@unt.edu

 

James Meernik, professor of political science, directs UNT's Castleberry Peace Institute and will discuss Trump’s foreign policy issues. Meernik researches post-conflict security, transitional justice, U.S. foreign policy and international criminal tribunals. He is the author of The Political Use of Military Force in U.S. Foreign Policy and U.S. Foreign Policy and Regime Instability and co-editor of Conflict Prevention and Peace Building in Post-War Societies: Sustaining the Peace. Meernik is a former associate editor of International Studies Quarterly and has published extensively in that journal and in Foreign Policy Analysis, Journal of Conflict Resolution and other professional journals.

Cell phone: 940-367-3727

E-mail: james.meernik@unt.edu

 

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