By On February, 10, in Simperman, three Carroll College professors discussed the second Trump presidency, offering context and predictions.
Professors DJ Cash, Alex Street, and Elvira Roncalli drew upon disciplines of history, philosophy and gender studies, and political science to provide some insight into the upcoming four years.
Held in the Simperman Hall/Wiegand Auditorium, students, professors, and local community members packed into the auditorium like sardines..
The event was kicked off with introductions of the professors and promptly began with Cash who received his doctorate from Boston University, where he completed fields in American History and International History.
As a historian, Cash used his allotted time to compare past president Andrew Jackson and current president Donald Trump. The biggest similarity between the two was the removal of marginalized populations; the Trail of Tears for Jackson and mass deportation for President Trump.
Cash also compared the two through executive power. Jackson was known for the dismissal and willingness to ignore the Supreme Court, and many believe President Trump will follow suit. An example of President Trump getting rid of birthright citizenship. Even though the Supreme Court may declare this unconstitutional, if President Trump follows in Jackson’s footsteps, it would be an abuse of power.
Street followed. Street earned his doctorate in political science from the University of California, Berkeley. Street studies Comparative and American politics, focusing mainly on political participation.
Street mainly covered the recent events and problems with removing Birthright Citizenship and the 14th amendment and “Democratic Backsliding.”
Street offered some predictions:
- The next election may favor Democrats
- There may be a recession or a Crypto scam bust (because oversight is decreased)
- Trade wars between countries
- And “externalizing” of migration controls.
The final professor to talk at this event was Elvira Roncalli. Roncalli obtained her doctorate from the Université Catholique de Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium, and her Laurea degree from the Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy.
Roncalli discussed some parallels. They followed as 1) political, social, and economic instability, 2) the creation of a “Fictitious Reality,” 3) the “Enemy”, 4) the executive branch of power, and 5) power as dominance.
Within these five main topics, Roncalli gave a brief explanation of each. She stressed that we as the people have a responsibility to know the facts, to see the evidence, and to understand it in context. She also stressed that we need to understand what is said and what is done, by whom and why, and call it out when it bypasses the rule of law and undermines democratic institutions.
After all three professors had their chance to talk, they opened the conversation to the crowd to ask questions.
One anonymous community member in the crowd asked “Is this the first panel you’ve ever done for a president during their first few weeks? Did you do one for Biden or other presidents?”
The professors answered that yes, there have been many panels over the years on previous presidents. The community member continued his question with, “Was there a title ‘what to expect from Biden?’ Is it steering at all, is it leading, is it biased?”
A simple “You tell me,” response concluded this set of questions.
Many students continued to ask questions and thanked the professors for coming together to contribute to the students learning. Many productive questions followed.
However, there are always two sides to every tale. Some audience members like senior Josie Stevenson, had only positive things to say about the event.
“It was what I expected and it flowed well,” said Stevenson. “I am glad we were able to have this conversation because it had lots of information and gave some history for context.”
Stevenson is from Redmond, Oregon, and is studying International Relations and political science.
On the other hand, some audience members did not agree. One anonymous community member said, “It was so far left, I thought we were in Great Falls.”
Whether the audience agrees with the information and standpoints of the professors or not, many agree that it is important to have this opportunity for the students.
“[This is] one of the good things Carroll does for the community and is what a college should do,” said another anonymous community member.
