President Trump’s campaign trail rhetoric focused heavily on presenting a tough, assertive image of American power. Indeed, he broke new ground in toughness — not only did he take traditional US oppon…
A Debate On Open Borders
RESOLVED: The United States federal government should establish open borders. Affirmative Constructive Speech (Nathan Fillingim-Selk) The U.S. has a border problem. According to the American Immigrati…
The Political Side of Fútbol
The FIFA World Cup is the most watched event in the world, and this summer, it will be played in Russia. There are 32 teams competing for the title, with powerhouses such as Germany, France, Brazil, a…
Uncharted Waters
The last time you used Facebook, it is entirely possible that like any normal social media user, you saw a cute picture or an interesting post and reacted by clicking the like button or commented how …
Democrats, Negative Partisanship, the 2018 Midterm Elections, Oh My!
Shock, disbelief, grief. That was the response of Democrats to the 2016 presidential election results. For others like political scientists, however, the election was confounding for different reasons…
Wanted: Young, White, and Angry
My friend was killed by a neo-nazi. It’s a strange thing to type out, but it’s true. Even stranger, though, are the details: killed by a former classmate of ours. He picked my friend up in his car, dr…
Thinking in Color: Disputing Identity Politics
On the 9th of November, 2016, in the wee hours of the morning, the news networks proclaimed Donald J. Trump the president-elect of the United States. From my vantage point, I watched hundreds of Berke…
Trump’s Twitter Regime: Empowering the People, Killing the Press
The president and the press are entrenched in a strenuous game of cat and mouse. It’s a trial of wits in which each president seeks to promote their version of factual truths to the populace without i…
Gassed up: Standoffs, Strikes, and Tension in West Virginia
A couple weeks ago, Lissa Lucas, a Democratic political candidate for the West Virginia House of Delegates, was physically dragged off the House Chambers floor during a Judiciary Committee hearing. Pr…
The Power in a Political Narrative
It may be a cliche, but the phrase “Trump means it seriously, but not literally” may be quite telling about the power of rhetoric that supports a particular worldview. Narratives, or larger stories ab…