Professor John Messmer’s reflection on a life of politics and today’s troubles
BY: ASHER VOGT
Staff Writer
With 2025 being the first year of President Donald Trump’s second, nonconsecutive term in office, not only has it been an incredibly polarizing year for politics, but also a lot of material for Political Science teachers to go over.
“Money should be allowed to buy you a lot of things. More political representation shouldn’t be one of them,” Meramec Professor John Messmer stated in allusion to the current presidential administration.
Professor Messmer has been teaching Political Science at the Meremac campus for 20 years, and what makes this current administration appalling to him is not just tied to his educational background, but also to the world he has experienced since he was in kindergarten.
“I remember the tail end of Richard Nixon, because Richard Nixon’s presidency ended in scandal,” he said, “And even as a 6 year old, you couldn’t avoid running into [the scandal].”
Around that time in 1974, Professor Messmer was one of millions of Americans stunned by the release of tapes confirming President Nixon’s involvement with the Watergate scandal.
This event occurred during a difficult period of his life, helping him recall that time period well.
“Around the time Nixon [was] running and the problems and him eventually resigning, my dad was dying,” he commented, ”So needless to say, as a six year old, this was a traumatic period of my life.”
Fast forward to over 50 years later at this time during the Trump administration. While Professor Messmer sees some parallels between the current president and what he experienced as a child with Richard Nixon, he’s quick to point out the contrast in not just their presidential scandals, but also how they’ve been dealt with.
“We now have a president that has been given every free path to not only abuse the same kind of powers that Richard Nixon abused,” he said, “but powers that Richard Nixon couldn’t even dream of abusing.”
A recent example of the abuse of power Professor Messmer references is Donald Trump’s deployment of the National Guard during protests going on in certain states such as California, which San Francisco Judge Charles Breyer determined was in violation of federal law.
However, more cities across the country are seeing National Guard troops deployed as well, including some cities like Chicago that do not want them there.
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker said on his social media account last week that “We must now start calling this what it is: Trump’s Invasion. It started with federal agents, it will soon include deploying federalized members of the Illinois National Guard against our wishes, and it will now involve sending in another state’s military troops.”
Certain states are fighting the administration in court, like Oregon. That state successfully got the deployment of troops to the city of Portland blocked twice by a federal judge. The Trump Administration has appealed that decision.
“…at this point, there’s a lack of checks and balances when it comes to Donald Trump,” Messmer said. “There’s a lack of just all these processes that should be [happening]… We don’t have a Congress anymore for all intents and purposes… we have the courts, and really that is the only thing pushing back against an executive branch that has done everything it can to continually expand its power.”
Messmer spoke with The Montage earlier this year as Trump’s term began, warning of some of these issues appearing. He also claimed at that time that he did not believe that there was anything the Democratic Party could have done differently to prevent a second Trump term.
He predicted that at the end of Trump’s second term, the country will be weaker but hoped that lessons will be learned and translated into action. He, at the time, expressed a desire for “reformers” to enter government, with the hope that they will focus on healing and strengthening democratic institutions.
Now, months later, Messmer currently has a much bleaker outlook.
“Maybe, you know, looking back,” he said, “maybe it was naive to think there’s any hope.”
