The Conversation

Trump may seek more punishment of Cuba

Written by William M. LeoGrande, Professor of Government, American University School of Public Affairs

If Cuban exiles can sue businesses operating in Cuba, it could affect flights to the country, like this JetBlue landing in Havana.AP/Desmond Boylan

President Donald Trump may soon do a huge favor for Cuba’s wealthy, upper-class exiles, many of whom are now U.S. citizens living in Miami.

Some of them still dream of recouping their lost...

Indict or shut up: The public may never see a report from Mueller's investigation

Written by Stanley M. Brand, Distinguished Fellow in Law and Government, Pennsylvania State University

Will the public ever see a report from Special Counsel Robert Mueller?Shutterstock

Almost from the day of Robert Mueller’s appointment as special counsel, the media and the public have expected that his investigation will end with a report to either the Congress or the public or both.

I’m a law school professor who teaches a course on...

The survivors of clergy sexual abuse who finally pushed the Vatican to recognize the problem

Written by Brian Clites, Instructor and Associate Director, Case Western Reserve University

Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests protest against clergy sex abuse in Los Angeles in 2010.AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes

The Vatican’s decision to defrock Cardinal Theodore McCarrick comes just days before the world’s leading bishops gather in Rome for a summit on the clergy sexual abuse crisis.

The bishops were instructed to...

Virginia politics: The uneasy marriage of new liberalism and historic racism

Written by Julian Maxwell Hayter, Associate Professor of Leadership Studies, University of Richmond

Virginia is home to America’s original contradiction – the peculiar juxtaposition of slavery and freedom.

The recent “blue-ing” of Virginia has obscured a sobering political reality: Racial progress and racial bigotry can exist at the same time.

Those contradictions were on display when Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph...

Must the president be a moral leader?

Written by Michael Blake, Professor of Philosophy, Public Policy, and Governance, University of Washington

President Donald Trump, former President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton, during the funeral for former President George H.W. Bush.AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool

The best presidents – including figures such as Abraham Lincoln and George Washington – are celebrated not only as good leaders, but as good men. They embody not...

A brief history of presidential lethargy

Written by Stacy A. Cordery, Professor of History, Iowa State University

A television set turned on in the West Wing of the White House.AP Photo/Susan Walsh

No one doubts the job of president of the United States is stressful and demanding. The chief executive deserves downtime.

But how much is enough, and when is it too much?

These questions came into focus after Axios’ release of President Donald Trump’s...

Senate vote could end US complicity in the Saudi-led genocide in Yemen that spans Obama, Trump administrations

Written by Jeff Bachman, Professorial Lecturer in Human Rights; Director, Ethics, Peace, and Human Rights MA Program, American University School of International Service

Severe malnutrition, like this Yemeni boy experienced, is one of the results of the Yemen conflict. AP/Hani Mohammed

The U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to pass legislation to deny further military assistance for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen.

The bipartisan vote for the bill was a repudiation of the Obama and Trump...

Senate vote could end US complicity in the Saudi-led genocide in Yemen

Written by Jeff Bachman, Professorial Lecturer in Human Rights; Director, Ethics, Peace, and Human Rights MA Program, American University School of International Service

Severe malnutrition, like this Yemeni boy experienced, is one of the results of the Yemen conflict. AP/Hani Mohammed

The U.S. House of Representatives has voted overwhelmingly to pass legislation to deny further military assistance for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen.

The bipartisan vote for the bill was a repudiation of the Obama and Trump...

Can Congress or the courts reverse Trump's national emergency?

Written by Chris Edelson, Assistant Professor of Government, American University School of Public Affairs

Trump declared a national emergency in order to build a wall.AP Photo/ Evan Vucci

President Donald Trump declared a national emergency to pay for the construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, after Congress, in its new spending bill, denied him the full money to build it.

“We’re talking about an invasion of our country with...

Why Maduro is blocking Venezuela-bound humanitarian aid when so many people in his country need it

Written by Morten Wendelbo, Research Fellow, American University School of Public Affairs

Venezuelan soldiers stand guard on the bridge linking their country and Colombia, under orders to obstruct U.S. humanitarian aid.AP Photo/Fernando Llano

Relations between the United States and Venezuela have been strained since the late Hugo Chávez rose to power two decades ago. They got worse when the Trump administration recognized...