Four scholars weigh in on President Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech, exploring his statements on immigration, childhood poverty, the border wall and the investigations into his campaign.
The line of succession works like this: If Trump is removed from office, Pence takes over. If both Trump and Pence go, Pelosi would take over.
AP Photo/Evan Vucci
Democrats control the House and could impeach Trump if they wanted. But removing the president from office is in the hands of the Senate – which is still dominated by Republicans.
Australia’s unspoken antipathy to experience is not new, but contrasts sharply with the attitude found in other countries such as the US.
Wes Mountain/The Conversation
A corrosive ageism in Australian politics overvalues the new, while discounting experience. If the US and UK can see the value in older politicians, why can’t we?
Letter from President Trump to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
AP/Wayne Partlow
After the recent government shutdown and breakdowns in functioning within all three branches, it looks like the separation of powers system is broken or unbalanced. It is – and it isn’t.
President Donald Trump speaks in the Rose Garden.
AP Photo/ Evan Vucci
Timothy Ryan, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Andrew W. Delton, Stony Brook University (The State University of New York), and Peter DeScioli, Stony Brook University (The State University of New York)
Research on the psychology of politics reveals that when issues are framed in terms of moral right and wrong, the possibility of compromise becomes very small.
What will it take for the president and speaker to shake hands again?
Reuters/Yuri Gripas
Two labor negotiation experts explain how a 2015 dispute that seemed intractable got resolved, with important lessons for the partial government shutdown.
The departure of Liberal women is a sign that they have always been outsiders within the party, and by world standards the gender imbalance is stark and woefully out of touch.
Trump meets with Schumer and Pelosi at the White House in December.
Reuters/Kevin Lamarque
Trump, Schumer and Pelosi have fallen into a classic negotiation trap that often prevents deals from getting made, which has led to the shutdown stalemate.
Self-proclaimed ‘white nationalists,’ white supremacists and ‘alt-right’ activists hold what they called a ‘Freedom of Speech’ rally in Washington, June 25, 2017.
REUTERS/Jim Bourg
In the US, non-whites have higher birth rates and make up the bulk of new immigrants. As white people lose their demographic majority, some will resist the accompanying political changes.
Screenshot of ‘Elaine Luria for Congress: Sea Change.’
YouTube
First elected in 1987, Pelosi offers decades of experience at building coalitions and she excels as a Democratic fundraiser. Still, the vote was closer than expected.
What will a divided Congress do over the next two years?
Shutterstock
The new Congress is divided into a GOP Senate and Democratic House. History provides a glimpse of what this could mean: Democrats hold the power to investigate, if not to legislate.
Carol Miller of West Virginia is the only newly elected Republican woman joining the 116th Congress.
AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster
The latest Fairfax-Ipsos and Essential polls give a strong lead to Labor, with some interesting – and variable - detail on the attributes voters see in the leaders of the two major parties.
The women elected to the 2019 congress pose for a photo.
Nancy Pelosi/Flickr
After a year of headlines and ousted CEOs, Congress has yet to pass a single piece of legislation on sexual harassment – let alone hold a hearing. That may change as lawmakers get to work in 2019.
California’s Katie Porter, seen here with Democratic candidates and former president Barack Obama, is one of just three first-time female congressional candidates in California.
AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu
A record number of women are poised to win public office in 2018. But don’t look to California for help shifting the gender balance in Congress during the ‘year of the woman.’
An early voter in Norwalk, California.
REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson
The speaker of the House is the most visible and authoritative spokesperson for the majority party in the House. But their role goes beyond politics to everything from accounting to procurement.
On September 24, 2019, US President Donald Trump was at the United Nations to speak to the general assembly. His visit was overshadowed by the decision by the House of Representatives to initiate impeachment proceedings against him based on revelations in the unfolding Ukraine scandal.
Saul Loeb/AFP
On September 24, 2019, Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that the House had launched a formal impeachment inquiry against the president. But as history shows, the outcome is anything but assured.