An audience of some 90 Lower Sixth and Year 10s were fascinated to hear the views of prominent American academic Steven L Isenberg on the race for the White House on Friday after school. Steven – in a career that has spanned law, journalism and public policy – has taught at universities including Berkeley, Texas and Yale, and been Executive Vice President of the Los Angeles Times and Publisher of New York Newsday. He drew fascinating historic parallels with the 1960s which highlighted the danger, as he sees it, that lack of enthusiasm for Hillary Clinton (whom he knew at Yale Law School) and the Bernie Sanders effect could let Trump become president. However, he was confident that Trump would eventually be too divisive to win – though he admitted he had been wrong about him thus far! The students really enjoyed getting the perspective of an long-term close observer of American politics and the discussion continued into the evening.
