SMU Political Science Professors Cal Jillson and Matt Wilson routinely field journalist queries from all over the world. So we thought President Donald Trump's First 100 Days in his second term was an excellent time to pause and reflect upon the Trump 47 Administration to date. This SMU Perspectives Podcast delivers sharp commentary amid the context of Jillson's and Wilson's observations of The President's political career ever since his decent from the 'Golden Escalator' at Trump Tower nearly a decade ago.

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After the architects of the U.S. Constitution framed the role of Congress in Article I, they set about to define the executive branch in Article II and a job description for the U.S. President — whom they envisioned to be a cheerleader for Congress. SMU Professor Jeffrey Engel — director of the Center for Presidential History — notes that vision was relatively short-lived. Professor Engel explains an escalation of presidential powers over time as Congress ceded control to a series of presidents navigating crises. Beginning with Abraham Lincoln and continuing with McKinley, Teddy Roosevelt and on through the world war administrations to the present, the office of the President has morphed into a more authoritarian and albeit imperial role.

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• Tweet us at @MustangOpine @NEWSatSMU
• email us a behlert@smu.edu or sfasoro@smu.edu

We waited to release our latest episode of SMU Perspectives Podcast until October because it’s the month of Halloween and pumpkins and things that go bump in the night. Our guest, SMU English Professor/Poet Greg Brownderville, hails from Pumpkin Bend, Ark., where folklore holds court like a poet-in-residence. It wafts through the Mississippi Delta breeze and lifts up mystical ideas like “marked” babies. That’s a situation where a tractor injury to a relative, like Greg’s father, might magically leave “marks” upon his sons. It did. Greg’s fascination with the “imagination of spirituality and the spirituality of imagination” conjures a feisty muse in his award-winning poetry collections. He reads from “Gust,” and the mysterious ways of God in scripture and life are examined. Inquire about Greg to an SMU Dean or fellow professors and they classify him as “genius” and “renaissance figure.” Though Greg will allow his creative bursts may cause loss of sleep at times, he will rise and devote his days to teaching poetry and creating writing, editing the iconic SMU literary quarterly magazine Southwest Review, producing “Go-Shows,” podcasts, and musical albums. Even if it is undetectable, all the while Greg Brownderville is influenced by Welsh Bards and Fairies and the pursuit of art. Thus, October.

Contact SMU Perspectives

• Tweet us at @MustangOpine @NEWSatSMU
• email us a behlert@smu.edu or sfasoro@smu.edu