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UrduFaculty experts at the George Washington University are available to provide context, commentary and analysis on this matter. If you would like to speak to an expert, please contact the GW Media Relations Team at [email protected].
Peter Loge is the director of GW’s School of Media and Public Affairs. He has nearly 30 years of experience in politics and communications, having served as a deputy to the chief of staff for Sen. Edward Kennedy during the 1995 shutdown, a VP at the US Institute of Peace in 2013, and held senior positions for three members of the U.S. House of Representatives. Loge currently leads the Project on Ethics in Political Communication at the School of Media and Public Affairs and continues to advise advocates and organizations.
“I think Biden is hoping that Trump full on Trumps and I think that Trump is hoping Biden stumbles around,” says Loge in this video discussing a look ahead to the upcoming debate. “They’re each hoping the other person is the worst caricature they can be.”
Imani M. Cheers is an associate professor of digital storytelling at the George Washington University. Cheers is an award-winning digital storyteller, director, producer, and filmmaker. As a professor of practice, she uses a variety of mediums including video, photography, television, and film to document and discuss issues impacting and involving people of the African Diaspora. Her scholarly focus is on the intersection of women/girls, technology, health, conflict, agriculture, and the effects of climate change in sub-Saharan Africa. Cheers is also an expert on diversity in Hollywood, specifically the representation of Black women in television and film.
“For a lot of American voters, their minds are already made up,” says Cheers when asked in this video about what she is hoping for from the upcoming debate. “A lot of the norms we’ve seen in previous elections have gone out the window right now…I hope this is an opportunity, after everything we’ve seen over the past four years, for voters to hear directly from these two candidates and that they’ll be held accountable for their actions.”
Matt Dallek, a professor at GW’s Graduate School of Political Management, is a political historian with expertise in the intersection of social crises and political transformation, the evolution of the modern conservative movement, and liberalism and its critics. Along with four co-authored books, Dallek is the author of Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right, which explores the history and influence of America’s right-wing activism.
“There’s all kinds of moments that stick with the media and have a controversial-based narrative, really a life of its own to the point that decades later we can remember these moments,” says Dallek in this video when asked how impactful this debate could be. “How consequential these moments are for elections is an open question.”
Jesse J. Holland is an assistant professor and the associate director of the GW School of Media & Public Affairs. He is an award-winning journalist and the author of the first novel featuring comics’ most popular black superhero, The Black Panther. He is a former Race & Ethnicity writer for The Associated Press, having been recognized as one of the few reporters to be credentialed to cover all three branches of the American government during his career: the White House, the Supreme Court and Congress.
“We’re dealing with two candidates that the American electorate knows very well. While I do not think any of the debates would win the election for the candidate, it definitely can lose it for them,” says Holland in this video when asked to share the significance of the upcoming debate.
Todd Belt is the director of the Political Management Program at the GW Graduate School of Political Management. Belt is an expert on the presidency, campaigns and elections, mass media and politics, public opinion, and political humor. In addition to his expertise, Belt is co-author of four books and helps to run GW’s political poll, which recently shared new findings.
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