Bi-Weekly Discussion - Does America Need Bipartisan Populism?
Details
This is going to be an online meetup using Zoom. If you've never used Zoom before, don't worry — it's easy to use and free to join.
Click on the link below at the scheduled date/time to log in:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81067063921?pwd=TjTkPrZQmdJOYsHhbcQBdpqbr5rZdM.1
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DOES AMERICA NEED BIPARTISAN POPULISM?
CAN SOCIALISTS & TRUMPERS SOMEHOW TEAM UP & SAVE AMERICA
FROM THE NEOLIBERAL/NEOCON ELITES - OR DO WE NEED THE LATTER TO SAVE US FROM THE FORMER?
INTRODUCTION:
As some of our members will remember, we had a discussion last month entitled "Improving Your Media Diet" (https://tinyurl.com/td3njzva) where we talked about some of the better sources for critical analysis of politics from liberal, conservative & libertarian perspectives. We specifically talked about trying to assess which sources could (1) critique their own side and (2) were open to dialogue with & learning from the other side. However, one political orientation we didn't mention is "populism" - specifically a form of anti-elitism that mixes socially conservative & economically progressive views. Recently, this sort of "populism" has been conflated with the views of "working-class voters", although (as we'll see) they're not identical. Over the last 8 years or so, there's been growing dialogue between left-wing & right-wing populists. The left populists have been alienated by the way identity politics has sidelined class politics on the left and have mostly given up on the Democratic Party after Bernie's losses in the 2016 & 2020 primaries. Meanwhile, a growing number of right populists who were initially excited by Trump's victory in 2016 due to his promises to take on illegal immigration, outsourcing & bad trade deals, but they became disappointed by the end of his term due to the level of influence neocon hawks & traditional low-tax business conservatives had in his administration. We'll explore the emerging dialogue between these left-wing & right-wing factions of 21st-century populism in this discussion...
For critical insight on trends within the emerging bipartisan populist sphere, we can refer to several notable sources:
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members of the new think tank 'American Compass' (e.g. Oren Cass, Chris Griswold, Abigail Ball);
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writers at Julius Krein's journal 'American Affairs' (e.g. Michael Lind, David P. Goldman, Joel Kotkin);
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the strange bedfellows at Sohrab Amari's magazine 'Compact' (e.g. Edwin Aponte, Patrick Deneen, Matthew Schmitz, Geoff Shullenberger, Alex Gutentag, Adam Lehrer, Michael Tracey, Ben Burgis, Slavoj Zizkek);
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so-called "reactionary feminists" like Mary Harrington, Louise Perry, Mary Eberstadt & Nina Power;
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several "post-left" writers formerly affiliated with the "Dirtbag Left" (e.g. Amber A'Lee Frost, Angela Nagle, Aimee Terese, Oliver Bateman, Malcolm Kyeyune);
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Glenn Greenwald's work after leaving 'The Intercept' in 2020 (e.g. his 'System Update' podcast & appearances on Tucker Carlson's show);
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the 'Breaking Points' online news show headed by Krystal Ball & Saagar Enjeti, formerly of The Hill's 'Rising' program & co-authors of the book 'The Populist's Guide to 2020'
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some of the anti-woke journalists (e.g. Jennifer Pan, Dustin Guastella, Paul Prescod) at the socialist magazine 'Jacobin'.
This loosely defined intellectual space is still evolving from conversations between anti-woke "class-first socialists" and "post-liberal [i.e. post-libertarian] conservatives" and is less ideologically coherent right now, although it has similarities to earlier Third Way ideologues like "producerism" and "communitarianism". In some cases, figures in this movement have taken positions at odds with the core tenets of classical liberalism, but the left-right dialogue seems to be moderating some of their stances.
NOTE: The comedians-turned-pundits Jimmy Dore & Russell Brand might fit into this space, as would Tucker Carlson, but I've excluded them from serious consideration as they've all promoted conspiracy theories so - like some of the former IDW members who went off the deep end in 2020 - they don't help us toward a rational view of politics. There's a similar problem with Anna Khachiyan & Dasha Nekrasova's 'Red Scare' podcast - they're occasionally insightful on intra-left social dynamics but often uninformed on policy & prone to knee-jerk contrarianism for shock value. The "MAGA Communism" guys (i.e. Jason Hinkle & Adam Tahir) have a similar problem but worse. However, we shouldn't discount the influence some of these people may have on their audiences' political views.
RELEVANT MATERIAL FROM PAST MEETUPS:
Back in May, the Dissident Dialogues hosted a debate entitled "Can Liberalism be Saved?" with Sohrab Amari & Mary Harrington critiquing both social liberalism & neoliberal economics while Nick Gillespie & Freddie Sayers defended it - https://tinyurl.com/uztvph5n
Back in May, the Commonwealth Club hosted Newsweek editor Batya Ungar-Sargon to discuss here new book, Second Class: How the Elites Betrayed America's Working Men and Women https://tinyurl.com/avvuetrs
Back in January, the Commonwealth Club hosted the political scientist John Judis to discuss his new book, Where Have All the Democrats Gone? The Soul of the Party in the Age of Extremes https://tinyurl.com/mdjdcb4c
In Nov. 2023, the National Constitution Center hosted political scientists Frances Lee, Steven Levitsky and Kurt Weyland for talk entitled "Democracy, Populism, and the Tyranny of the Minority" https://tinyurl.com/y8y8p2vz
In Nov. 2023, Braver Angels hosted a workshop with several labor union representatives and Chris Griswold from American Compass entitled "Does America Need A New Labor Movement?" https://tinyurl.com/2jxba5vf
In Nov. 2023, philosopher Peter Boghossian hosted Louis Perry to discuss her book 'The Case Against the Sexual Revolution' https://tinyurl.com/ypp9tn86
In Nov. 2022, we had a meetup entitled "Understanding the Great Realignment" where discussed whether or not the GOP may become a multiracial working-class party - https://tinyurl.com/ypp9tn86
In Sept. 2022, Perry World House hosted Financial Times journalist Rana Foroohar to discuss her book on the upsides of post-COVID deglobalization entitled "Homecoming: The Path to Prosperity in a Post-Global World" https://tinyurl.com/3mpr36ja
In July 2022, we had a meetup entitled "Is Social Liberalism Dying?" In the 3rd section, we looked at the rise of Millennial socialism during the Occupy & Bernie eras which now appears to be in decline, leading some former "Bernie bros" to defect to what's been called the "Dirtbag left" (or "post-left"), a quasi-Marxist blogosphere community that's highly critical of the Democratic establishment.
In June 2022, we had a meetup entitled "Is 'Constitutional Conservatism' Dying?" In the 4th section, we looked at the debate between "post-liberal conservatives" like Sohrab Amari & Patrick Deneen and "constitutional conservatives" like David French & Jonah Goldberg over whether the latter's "live & let live" approach is undermining social conservatism.
In May 2022, we had a discussion entitled "Is the Managerial Class Hurting America?" where we discussed how some pundits like Joel Kotkin & Michael Lind had recently revived James Burnham's concept of the "managerial revolution" and Christopher Lasch's "revolt of the elites" and reworked them into a populist critique of the "professional managerial class" (PMC) that runs many of our major corporations, nonprofits & NGOs https://tinyurl.com/2k5thzm9
DIRECTIONS ON HOW TO PREPARE FOR OUR DISCUSSION:
The videos & articles you see linked below are intended to give you a basic overview of the emerging phenomenon of "bipartisan populism". As usual, I certainly don't expect you to read all the articles prior to attending our discussion. The easiest way to prepare for our discussion is to just watch the numbered videos linked under each section - the videos come to about 62 minutes total. The articles marked with asterisks are just there to supply additional details. You can browse and look at whichever ones you want, but don't worry - we'll cover the stuff you missed in our discussion.
In terms of the discussion format, my general idea is that we'll address the topics in the order presented here. I've listed some questions under each section to stimulate discussion. We'll do our best to address most of them, as well as whatever other questions our members raise. I figure we'll spend about 30 minutes on each section.
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I. WHAT IS "POPULISM" & DOES IT HAVE A BIPARTISAN CONSTITUENCY IN AMERICA?
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1a) Jen Pan (Jacobin), "Economically Left but Socially Moderate/Conservative?" (video - 17:22 min, listen to 7:43)
1b) The Hill w/ Matt Karp, "Working-Class Voters Reject Highbrow Wokeism, Embrace Progressive & Populist Messages" (video - 14:00 min, listen to 8:21) https://youtu.be/FlqQEhCDL0A
Matt Karp, et al., "Commonsense Solidarity: How a Working-Class Coalition Can Be Built, and Maintained" https://jacobin.com/2021/11/common-sense-solidarity-working-class-voting-report
Pew Research Center, "Political Typology [for 2017] Reveals Deep Fissures on the Right and Left"
Paul Starr, "It’s the Working Class, Stupid: John Judis and Ruy Teixeira want Democrats to focus on working-class interests and back off cultural radicalism."
https://prospect.org/culture/books/2024-02-15-its-working-class-stupid-judis-teixeira-review/
Sohrab Ahmari, "I Was Wrong: The GOP Will Never Be the Party of the Working Class" https://www.newsweek.com/i-was-wrong-gop-will-never-party-working-class-opinion-1819644
II. THE TENTATIVE ECONOMIC PLATFORM OF BIPARTISAN POPULISM:
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2a) The Hill Rising w/ Oren Cass, "Why we need economic populism" (video - 9:54 min)
2b) Tucker Carlson w/ Angela Nagle, "The left case against open borders" (video - 3:57 min)
Ezra Klein w/ Oren Cass, "The Economic Theory Behind J.D. Vance’s Populism: Oren Cass discusses the ideological battle within the Republican Party — and just how powerful the populist faction is" http://web.archive.org/web/20240723235150/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/17/podcasts/transcript-ezra-klein-interviews-oren-cass.html
Sarah Jones, "The GOP Is Still the Party of the Boss"
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/rnc-2024-j-d-vance-donald-trump-populist-workers.html
Atossa Abrahamian, "[Contra Angela Nagle,] There Is No Left Case for Nationalism"
https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/open-borders-nationalism-angela-nagle/
Jonathan Chait, "Why Glenn Greenwald Says Tucker Carlson is a True Socialist" https://web.archive.org/web/20210306074420/https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/03/why-glenn-greenwald-says-tucker-carlson-is-a-true-socialist.html
III. THE TENTATIVE SOCIAL PLATFORM OF BIPARTISAN POPULISM:
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3a) Sohrab Amari, "Opening Statement in Munk Debate on Liberalism" (video - 6:15 min)
3b) Quillette w/ Malcolm Kyeyune, "Understanding Wokeness as a Make-Work Strategy for the Privileged Class" (video - 29:25 min, listen to 7:03) https://youtu.be/MJdFjVsvnyU
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John Ehrett, "Empty Sky Conservatism" (response to Oren Cass's lecture “Constructing Conservatism in the Secular Age”) - https://americanreformer.org/2024/03/empty-sky-conservatism/
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Dustin Guastella, "Christianity, Morality, and Socialism"
https://jacobin.com/2024/03/christianity-morality-socialism-liberalism-macintyre
- Matt McManus, "Social Democracy and Social Conservatism Aren’t Compatible"
- Helen Lewis, "The Feminists Insisting That Women Are Built Differently" https://web.archive.org/web/20230619101044/https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/06/reactionary-feminism-differences-between-sexes/674447/
IV. THE TENTATIVE FOREIGN POLICY PLATFORM OF BIPARTISAN POPULISM:
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4a) CSIS, "Populism, Foreign Policy, and the 2016 Election" (video - 4:12 min)
4b) Freddie Sayers w/ Sohrab Ahmari, "How Israel divided the Right [and the Left]" (video - 42:12 min, listen from 3:13 to 18:00)
https://youtu.be/re0wP1bEBFU&t=3m13s
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Peter Hitchens, "How NATO Lost Its Way" https://www.compactmag.com/article/how-nato-lost-its-way/
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Elbridge A. Colby, "Only One Priority Makes Sense for American Foreign Policy: Our attention cannot be everywhere, it must be on China." - https://americancompass.org/only-one-priority-makes-sense-for-american-foreign-policy/
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Peter Beinart, "How Bigotry Made a Dove Out of Tucker Carlson: In newly unearthed recordings, the Fox News host portrays Iraqis and Afghans as too barbaric to subjugate." http://web.archive.org/web/20240709134452/https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/03/racism-made-dove-out-tucker-carlson/584746/
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Robal Radosh, "Point of Compact" https://quillette.com/2022/04/12/point-of-compact/
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Bi-Weekly Discussion - Does America Need Bipartisan Populism?