TIP seminar leader Rogers Smith shared his post-election thoughts with CNN October 14, 2020 – Posted in: Uncategorized

CNN political commentator Tara Setmayer, who is a former GOP communications director, spoke with constitutional scholar and TIP seminar leader Rogers Smith about the 2020 election’s impact on the identity of the Republican Party. The event was part of the Andrea Mitchell Center’s Race and Politics series. They discussed the power struggle taking place within the GOP between “Trump-apologist Republicans and more traditional Republicans.” Though Smith and Setmayer agreed that Trump will dominate the Republican party for the next four years, they also believe that there is much that Biden can accomplish and that he may indeed be able to get bipartisan support for certain measures. This will likely include a COVID-19 relief package because there is real incentive for both parties to work together on such a measure.

Professor Smith was instrumental in the founding of TIP in 2006. He has served in the University Advisory Council and created an endowment for the program through his family’s Ivywood Foundation. Professor Smith also led two political science TIP seminars: American Racial Politics in 2012 and American Political Culture in 2009. American Racial Politics examined the 2012 election and explored how politics has affected the creation and development of racial identities and statuses. Participants in American Political Culture explored primary sources from the nation’s founding to the present and sought to understand and asses the different and historically evolving traditions that have made up American political culture.

TIP Fellow Bonnee Breese attended Prof. Smith’s American Political Culture seminar and created a curriculum unit entitled American Politics through Literary Exposures: Film, Essays, & Speeches . In her unit she analyzes several historical documents and film clips which she uses to help her ELA high school students understand American political trends, facts, and foundations.