In the News: Grant Reeher

“[President Trump] has got to go there, and he has got to go there while the problem is still extreme, while the place is still in a state of crisis,” says Grant Reeher, professor of political science. 

Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute, says a primary challenge to Trump would be futile unless Republicans could "have an agreed-upon person that's going to represent that challenge."

 According to Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute, the timing of Trump's plan to speak on Afghanistan "feels a little like a ‘wag the dog' type of effort at distraction."

"No matter how strong or dominant a personality the president has, he is going to have trouble taking on an American political institution as powerful as the U.S. Senate," says Grant Reeher, professor of political science.

“The two parties are very close in number—it’s a very even split—and they are polarized,” says Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute. “Those things tend to reinforce each other, make it harder to work across the aisle, which makes it harder to pass any big bill.” 

According to Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute, Trump's basic policy framework for energy—reducing regulation, producing and consuming more of America's own energy resources—has more obvious appeal and is easier to sell to voters.

Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute, theorized that Gillibrand's language could be an effort by the senator to closely connect with critics of Trump.

Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute, says without key people pushing the administration’s agenda, "the government is going to have a tendency to kind of trundle along in the same direction it was beforehand."

"We're at a point now where I would think that the pressure to not be seen as toeing the party line for the White House would probably be more powerful than the pressure to protect the president in some way," says Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute.

The Campbell Conversations, a public affairs interview radio program hosted by Professor Grant Reeher, was awarded first place from the New York State Associated Press Association. The half-hour show features extended, in-depth interviews in which Reeher goes beyond and behind the current news cycle to explore more lasting questions about public affairs.

The FY 2018 New York State Executive Budget established the County-wide Shared Services Property Tax Plan requiring local governments to consider ways of sharing services in order to save taxpayer money, and improve the delivery of those services. To support the implementation of this new law, the New York State Department of State contracted with the Campbell Institute to develop a non-partisan guide to help public officials and citizens more usefully consider the possibility of sharing services within their counties.

Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute, says that the ordering and execution of military action in Syria could make President Trump look more conventional, even if the polls look distinctly tepid for him now.

Grant Reeher, professor of political science, describes Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch's confirmation as “a normal accomplishment; and I think he [President Trump] needs a couple of those at this point, given everything else.” 

According to Professor of Political Science Grant Reeher, "A lot of prominent Republicans, the usual suspects, either aren't interested or they were critical of the Trump campaign so therefore, they are not being looked at."

"These are the folks who actually attempt to implement the policy changes that the administration is trying to push down from above," says Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute, about the importance of political appointees below the Cabinet level.

 According to Professor of Political Science Grant Reeher, progressives will have to sustain the movement to the midterm elections of 2018 if they want to enact fundamental change. "The question from here on in is how sustainable will this be," Reeher said. "What will this look like a year from now?"

According to Professor of Political Science Grant Reeher, President Donald Trump "is doubling down, and I think the reaction on the part of those who are not favorably oriented toward him is going to harden.”

"Anti-SAFE Act signs still dot the upstate countryside...That speaks to the 'cultural differences' that often lead to very different voting patterns in upstate and downstate communities," says Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute, about Upstate New York opposition to Governor Cuomo's gun-control law.