University of Virginia / US News and World Report
Mary Kate Cary is a senior fellow for presidential studies at the University of Virginia's Miller Center and a contributing editor for US News and World Report. From 1989-1992, she served as a speechwriter for President George H. W. Bush.
The 'bully pulpit' in a divided nation After condemning Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan on Monday, President Trump spoke again yesterday of this weekend’s violence at the University of Virginia. The White House scheduled a press conference to change the subject from Saturday’s violence at the University of Virginia to infrastructure repair, but President Trump turned it into another defense of armed white racists and the demonstration they called Unite-the-Right. He seemed to find moral equivalence between armed white racists supporting a Confederate symbol and those who protested. David Duke and other white nationalists say they’re grateful for those words; Republicans are almost unanimous in their outrage. What are the consequences when a President provokes ideas and emotions that go back to the Civil War?
A new president. What comes next? For the 45th time, America has accomplished a peaceful transition of power-- leaving the country with a sense of uncertainty about the future. President Donald Trump's inaugural address repeated familiar themes from his campaign for office. The President painted a dark picture of the nation's current condition, and promised to disempower the Washington elite — but he was short on specifics. Did he reassure the majority of Americans who voted for Hillary Clinton?
Barack Obama Begins His Second Term America's first black president was sworn in for a second term today, on the national holiday dedicated to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Barack Obama's traditional call for unity and equality echoed King's words at the same time he acknowledged what he called, "skepticism of central authority." He renewed commitments to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, promised response to climate change and emphasized the equality of gay Americans. Did he reach out to Republicans or challenge them to more political conflict?
President Trump: US to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord Trump says he was elected to serve Pittsburgh, not Paris.
Replacing Obamacare: Now you see it… now you don’t As the Senate deliberates replacing Obmacare, health coverage for millions of people is at stake. There've been no public hearings, and a draft measure won't be made public. Is the House version so unpopular that that Senate is hiding a version that looks much the same?
Trump's 'America First' goes missing abroad In the Middle East, President Trump is changing some policies of the Obama Administration—and reversing his own campaign attacks on Islam as a religion that "hates us." We hear about his visit to Saudi Arabia and what's at stake for the rest of his foreign excursion.
What happens when America retreats from the world? Is President Trump taking his "America First" agenda to extremes, withdrawing the country from the international stage on trade and climate change, distancing America from its traditional allies across the Atlantic and even threatening to physically isolate the country through the building of a wall along its southern border? León Krauze guest hosts.
