What Congo’s Mobutu Sese Seko Teaches Us About Trumpism
Mobutu and Trump both rule by normalizing corruption, not just to enrich themselves but also to cement their own power.
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The Red State Religious Narrative
Southern democracy, like every other aspect of Southern society, was shaped by the political and economic needs of the slaveholding planter class and is maintained by the MAGA movement via shame and projection.
The Present Crisis and the End of the Long '90s
The constitutional settlement that governed America from the end of the Volcker Shock in 1982 to the re-election of Donald Trump in 2024 encompassed three profound domains: politics, economics, and culture.
halftheanswer
Half the Answer #9: Language, Identity, and Anti-Woke Academic Slander
Trent and Caitlin talk with Dr. Aris Clemons, an Assistant Professor in Linguistics, about the various slanders and misapprehensions that plague her field of study. We discuss language ideologies, the illusion of objectivity, the futility of being “apolitical” in a political institution, ethnography and lived experience, “other ways of knowing,
Trump Can't Both Deport Millions and Increase the Population
No serious person believes it’s possible to both decrease and increase the US population at the same time.
Trump ‘Alarmists’ Were Right. We Should Say So.
Commentators who got it wrong wouldn’t listen, won’t learn, and can’t lead.
The Potemkin Feminism of "Sex-Based Rights"
"Sex-based rights" are a Potemkin feminism that commit us to a theory of objective sex where there is something special about your very biology that entitles you to special treatment not deserved by others.
Inheritance of Equals: A Case for Liberal Socialism
Things literally cannot go on as they have before the present democratic crisis—things have been broken and will have to be put back together somehow. Ideas that were unthinkable even a decade ago may see their chance in the sun. It is time for liberal socialism.
neonliberalism
Neon Liberalism #23: The Porn Brain of the New Right
Content warning: rape, pedophilia, and historical atrocities. Join Samantha and guest Alan Elrod as they talk about the role of rape in conservative ideology, biopolitics as the Rosetta Stone of authoritarian reaction, and the pornographic fantasies that pervade the new right. Alan is the president and CEO of the Pulaski
Just Make Your Case and Leave Campaign Strategy to Politicians
Politicians will try to win elections whether you self-censor your principled position or not.
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Half the Answer #8: What Is Personalism?
Trent and Caitlin talk with Adam Gurri, founder and editor-in-chief of Liberal Currents, about his take that the most accurate way to view the Trump presidency is as an example of “personalism.” What is personalism? What are other examples of personalist systems? What can a nation do once a personalist
Working Homeless in America
Brian Goldstone doesn’t use the abstract language of structural violence, but his story is full of landlords, bureaucrats, and politicians insulated from the pain they inflict by distance, resources, and power.