As Donald Trump makes his first team selections Dr Ben Margulies discusses the choices. Dr Margulies' analysis is the latest commentary on the US presidential election and result from the University of Warwick.

“Trump has appointed Reince Priebus (chairman of the Republican National Committee RNC), because he has ties to institutional Washington, and some skill managing large offices of political appointees (which is what the chief of staff does).

“If you’re inclined to be pessimistic, then Priebus will be an office manager to Stephen Bannon, from the Breitbart News Network as policy man – that is, Trump will hire officials from the old regime to run nuts and bolts, but take his policy advice from the 'alt-right'. If you’re inclined to be optimistic, then Trump is tacking to centre with Priebus and side-lining Bannon.

“The immigration announcement is interesting – focusing on 'criminals' is what the Obama Administration’s immigration authorities do. And he deports more than 300,000 people each year.

“Trump has also said that same-sex marriage is settled law, but abortion is not. That’s probably savvy politics – same-sex marriage has become steadily more accepted in the last several years. However, from a historical standpoint, it’s complete nonsense. Roe v. Wade (establishing a constitutional right to abortion) was handed down in 1973; Obergefell v. Hodges (establishing a constitutional right to equal marriage) was handed down in 2015.”

Dr Ben Margulies, Department of Politics and International Studies

To date University of Warwick academics have particapted in more than 40 global and national broadcasts about the US election, including the following:

Al Jazeera English News - Dr Trevor McCrisken

TRT World News - Dr Trevor McCrisken

Dr Ben Margulies on Al Jazeera TV

In additon on Wednesday 9 November a panel of experts from the University of Warwick, along with Diane James, Deputy Chairman of UKIP debated and discussed the results of the US election.

For further details please contact Nicola Jones, Media Relations Manager, University of Warwick 07920531221 or N.Jones.1@warwick.ac.uk