Calendar of Events

Penick Academic Complex, D-54

Over the past year, Donald Trump has surprised practically everyone with his domination of news coverage and his ability to win the Republican nomination for president. Now he is in a contested race for the presidency against Hillary Clinton. Some believe that only Trump can "Make American Great Again" while others fear that he is a detriment to the nation and the Republican Party. But what will the real impact of Trump be on our nation, the Republican Party, and the nation's ability to resolve some important problems?

To help answer these questions, Ron Rapoport, the John Marshall Professor of Political Science at the College of William & Mary, will talk about who supports Trump and why, how Trump supporters will impact the Republican Party, and how Trump’s nationalist supporters and the conservative base of the Republican will influence governance over the next decade. Rapoport is a nationally recognized expert on party change as he has studied party activists in the Democrat and Republican Parties, the Perot movement of the 1990s, and both the Tea Party and the Trump movement more recently. He is author of Three’s a Crowd: The Dynamics of Third Parties, Ross Perot, and Republican Resurgence, The Life of the Parties: A Study of Presidential Activists, and numerous articles and book chapters on political parties and party change.