Political science professors weigh in on Trump’s State of Union speech
"We're at the point, two years into his presidency, that the State of the Union isn't going to change anyone's mind on how good of a job he is doing," political science department chair
"It was the typical display of partisan politics that has become the State of the Union," Professor
Both said Trump did well in sticking to the teleprompter and offering some sort of olive branch to opposition
As a professor who specializes in immigration and has traveled multiple times to the "Northern Triangle" countries of
"I believe it would be an environmental catastrophe that disrupts water flow and wildlife, and if he's really sincere about wanting to reduce undocumented immigration, it's not going to be very effective," Allison said. "Over half of those in the country illegally came here legally, and overstayed their visas."
He also cited the oft-repeated statistic showing illegal crossing peaked at 1.6 million nearly 20 years ago and has dropped to about 400,000 a year or less, though "the composition of those coming is much different. It used to be very highly dominated by men coming to work, but since 2014 and a little before that, there has been a much larger percentage of women and children. They are coming to the border to at least try to apply for asylum."
He also noted the situation in
Allison noted he is not affiliated with either party, and "never met anyone who advocated for open borders."
"There are serious challenges posed at the
Abortion
As director of Women's and Gender studies, Harris said she was surprised by Trump's decision to speak forcefully on abortion.
"Politicians usually stay away from that because it's such a controversial issue. I think he was trying to tap into his base."
Similarly, she suspected the pronounced comments on socialism played to the base while jabbing at the newly-elected female contingent of
Harris said discussions Wednesday with students about the speech turned to issues they felt were omitted, including climate change, gun control and voting rights. They also pointed out that while Trump spoke at length about anti-Semitism, "he didn't talk about other 'isms,' especially racism."
Both professors agreed Trump hit on a wide range of topics, including some bipartisan issues like infrastructure, the opioid crisis, and that he backed some things
But both said the speech was short on specifics -- another hallmark of most modern State of the Union speeches.
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