Impeachment alert: Rice political scientist available for interviews

EXPERT ALERT

Amy McCaig
713-348-6777
amym@rice.edu

Impeachment alert: Rice political scientist available for interviews

HOUSTON – (Nov. 12, 2019) – With public hearings in the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump scheduled to begin tomorrow, Rice University political scientist Paul Brace is available to discuss what to expect.

Paul Brace. Photo by Jeff Fitlow.

“For only the fourth time in U.S. history, Congress has initiated presidential impeachment proceedings,” Brace said. “History provides some but little guidance on what to expect. Modern impeachments (former Presidents Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton) were starkly different in character, with Nixon resigning when confronted with the loss of support in his own party, and Clinton persevering in the face of what was a largely partisan process.”

Brace said Trump enters this process with solid support among Republicans, but emerging facts threaten this support.

“Recent election results provide little evidence that the threat of impeachment has served to galvanize his support,” he said. “To the contrary, impeachment appears to be a growing threat to vulnerable Republicans in the House and Senate.”

Entering this process, there is little dispute about facts or law, Brace said.

“The battle commencing this week is over narratives,” he said. “The hearings will restate much that is known, while polarized parties will labor to characterize these facts as either malignant or benign. The critical question will be how these competing narratives play among Republican constituencies, particularly those of vulnerable incumbents.”

Brace, the Clarence L. Carter Professor of Political Science at Rice, is widely published in the areas of U.S. politics and judicial decision-making. He comments regularly on presidential politics, the judiciary and the U.S. government. To schedule an interview with Brace, contact him directly at 832-628-5285.

-30-

This news release can be found online at news.rice.edu.

Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews.

Related materials:

Brace bio: https://politicalscience.rice.edu/paul-brace

Image for download: https://news2.rice.edu/files/2019/01/brace-1uyteya.gif

Photo credit: Rice University/Jeff Fitlow

Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,962 undergraduates and 3,027 graduate students, Rice’s undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is just under 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for lots of race/class interaction and No. 4 for quality of life by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance.