indiv contributions by law enforcement since 2012 -- shifted sharply once Trump on the ballot

How should scholars who study American politics change what they do in a political time like ours?

I'm skeptical it will get much circulation on this site, but in a new review, I critique the emerging turn toward a kind of political advocacy mixed with research.

myumi.ch/w9R2W

NYT giving the president exactly what he wants. IT doesn't matter if this is legal or if it works. The point is the story. "The President Tried to Pay the TSA, but Congress Wouldn't Let Him"

www.axios.com/2026/03/11/t...

$500 we get an SPG executive order this week

what's there to debate, boris? It seems that we all should be very much opposed to shark attacks. Very bad for people, very bad in the long run for sharks. Holds regardless of whether it is 2026 or 1916. Case closed.

This only holds if think presidential approval ratings measure anything meaningful in American politics today. Is focusing so much energy on them in both academic and journalistic work helpful for understanding the world?

(I don't think so.)

Many thanks to generous support from the Hewlett Foundation for seeing the vision. If we are in a new era when most policy is made by American presidents from the top-down, we need to invest more resources into understanding what happens after the president says "go." Send me your students!

I'm looking for someone smart and motivated who is interested in expanding their research portfolio to include the presidency and executive politics. They'll spend at least a year with me working on that research, with the possibility of a second.

More context: The American presidency and the executive branch, more broadly, are far and away the most important political institutions in American politics. Yet every year, my discipline, political science, supports and trains few (if any) people dedicated to studying how it works.

I'm hiring a Postdoctoral Research Fellow! Applications due Feb 16. Please reach out to me with questions.

apply.interfolio.com/178829

Also, this figure would seem to be at odds with all those "father of a daughter" studies

Putting together my grad syllabus in American political institutions. Anyone have recommendations for new "must-read" books?

This is technically true. But if the rule of law is actually an attitude, and people believe EOs matter, then the technicality doesn't matter. This is why presidents sign symbolic orders anyway. The hope that people will believe in them.

Meh. Tomato, tomahto.

Fong is changing the study of legislatures, and he's not doing it by finding neat little RDDs and natural experiments.

This policy change might also might lead Congress to, at last, defeat Taco Bell in the contest for who has a lower annual staff turnover rate.

This isn't just a Trump thing. The presidency has been moving in this direction for decades. This is just the logical conclusion.

in order to adequately assess your submission and do our annual editorial reports we will now need your ssn and five years of residency history; plz post

i see your bat signal and respond by throwing a book

False Front: The Failed Promise of Presidential Power in a Polarized Age (Chicago Studies in American Politics) False Front: The Failed Promise of Presidential Power in a Polarized Age (Chicago Studies in American Politics) [Lowande, Kenneth] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. False Front: The Failed Promise of Presidential Power in a Polarized Age (Chicago Studies in American Politics)

I wrote a book about this, and attempted to do what you're saying would be helpful for orders since the 1990s: www.amazon.com/False-Front-...

Link to full study and more info: myumi.ch/W6Pz7

The Trump admin owns the public narrative by taking executive action, over and over. Our new study shows this strategy has detectable impacts on Google search traffic for the incumbent president. Ballpark est. similar to pop artists when they release a new album.

This study is joint work with some smart undergraduates at the University of Michigan, all of whom, would make great White House staffers -- for any president!

6/6

White House alumni lean correlates with 2025 investigations and funding cuts, after accounting for observables. We aren't saying this is causal. But it is a good illustration of how Trump actions reflect deeper, political divisions in higher ed itself.

5/6

Highly ranked (i.e., by US News) university alumni are overwhelmingly Dem-leaning, while large publics and small colleges are more diverse...

(I am having fun with my alma mater in this figure. Sic'em.)

4/6

Republican leaning majors:

3/6

Even within credentials, staffers were polarized by degree field. Democrat leaning majors:

2/6

NEW STUDY: White House staff hiring over 1996-2024 shows the diploma divide is in the White House. Elite universities sent far more alumni to work for Democratic presidents. Full paper: myumi.ch/pVMM5

Details:

First --> Overall, Democratic presidents tend to value more credentials...

1/6

This plots data from the DOD's 1033 program -- there are other programs, of course, and we'll be adding them as we process what we've obtained through FOIs.