Political Science Professor on what to expect this Inauguration

Towson University Political Science Professor Martha Joynt Kumar talks with Yahoo Finance Live about the upcoming inauguration of Joe Biden and why this year is so different than previous inaugurations.

Video transcript

ADAM SHAPIRO: Martha Joynt Kumar is a presidential transition expert and a professor at Towson University in Maryland. And Professor Kumar, wanted to ask you, many of us as reporters have covered the transition, the peaceful transition to a new administration. How is history going to rate the Biden transition compared to what we've all witnessed in the past?

MARTHA JOYNT KUMAR: I think that when you look at this transition, that Biden has done a very good job in setting up what he's going to do, starting with his campaign. He's always been a person who enjoyed governing as opposed to, I think, campaigning. And he had a good idea when he was campaigning that he would settle on a few important issues and tackle them right off.

And so the pandemic was his first priority, then the economy, and then racial justice, and climate change came in too. So the people know what it was that he was promising he would do, how he would deal with the virus, that he would provide federal leadership on it.

And I was looking at a Gallup poll that came out today on rating Biden and how he has done in his transition. And it was a 68% approval rating. And even though it has been a very contentious transition, I think if you focus on what he was doing and how he set up his administration, both in terms of his appointments and his legislation and his initiatives, that you will see that he has done a good job.

For example, if you look at the appointments, he already has almost 50 people that require Senate confirmation that he has had an attempt to nominate them. And in his White House staff, it's around 200 people who have already been named, so that when they go in, they will be absolutely ready to govern.

SEANA SMITH: Professor Kumar, do you think, because I know you've been covering transitions now for quite some time, did you ever think that we would see a president of the United States treat his successor this way, the way President Trump has tweeted, President-elect-- or has treated President-elect Joe Biden?

MARTHA JOYNT KUMAR: No, I never thought that that would happen because one of the important aspects of the presidency is a tacit understanding between those in the government, the president, the incumbent president and the President-elect, that they want the transition to work well because of the importance of the institution of the presidency. The continuity of the presidency is important.

So when you've had presidents run for reelection and lose, as in the case of Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush, in both of their cases, they conceded that they had lost and then set about making a smooth transition. George H.W. Bush, for example, the day after the election, he brought his senior staff together and said, I want this to be a smooth transition. And I want no timebombs left behind.

And I think that's characteristic of what usually happens. As sad as he was over losing, the principle of the health of the institution of the presidency was more important.

- And Martha, we did want to ask about the impeachment trial that is getting ready to get started. How much is that going to hurt President-elect Biden's efforts to get his agenda going in the first few days? Will that hurt? Or how does he navigate that situation?

MARTHA JOYNT KUMAR: Well, I guess we're going to see. We're going to see how the-- when the impeachment comes over to the Senate, how they're organizing it. We really don't know that yet. Who's going to be in charge? Will it be Justice Roberts in the chair?

And it's hard to imagine how you can do both things, have all of the conformations, can start considering legislation, as well as having an impeachment trial. But a lot depends on how it's all organized.

ADAM SHAPIRO: All right, we want to say thank you to Towson University professor Martha Joynt Kumar and Jessica Smith.

MARTHA JOYNT KUMAR: Thank you.