Trent and Caitlin chat with James Palmer about China, the current state of America's relationship with China, and what it means for the U.S. to be constantly proposing wild tariff hikes, changing and pausing those hikes, and effectively withdrawing from international trade. Half the Answer can be
Strong labor unions are not at odds with a society that builds.
The future of the world order is more uncertain than it has been since the fall of the Soviet Union—which is to say, up for grabs. Join Samantha and guest Joe Stieb, assistant professor at UNC Chapel Hill and historian of American foreign policy, as they discuss how the
The Biden years were a missed opportunity, but, as Trump’s authoritarian spree shows, Democrats (and democracy) cannot afford another one.
There is no conflict between liberal institutions and liberal partisan politics.
Caitlin and Trent check in with Hagen Blix about the ways we talk about AI, the most prominent angle its critics take, and the angle that’s often missing. When AI is advertised as a tool for generating journalism or research, what is the social and political order that use
An approach for fighting Magafascism.
This month we discuss whether Trump administration actions are "distractions," the idea of a "reactionary centrist," the effect of bad government statistics, and more.
We must stop shadowboxing old enemies and focus on reactionaries holding the daggers to our throats today.
People find us hard to categorize: are we emphatic liberals? Radical leftists? Crypto-libertarian infiltrators? Join Samantha and Liberal Currents editor-in-chief Adam Gurri as they discuss what it means to be a home for mere liberalism, the foundational principles of the liberal project, and how to be a liberal who means
Trent and Caitlin talk with communications strategist Lexi Koren about the Democratic Party obsession with blaming wokeness and “the groups.” Should they be listened to? Why not? What should Democrats do instead? Half the Answer can be heard on Spotify, on Apple, on YouTube, on Amazon, and elsewhere via its
RFK Jr.'s anti-vaccine agenda is of a piece with Trump's nativist, Darwinian politics.
Darren Beattie, a speechwriter for Trump early during his first term, posted the following in October 2024, a month before Trump would win re-election: “Competent white men must be in charge if you want things to work. Unfortunately, our entire national ideology is predicated on coddling the feelings of women
From time to time we get asked for recommended reading. The topics vary, but given the nature of Liberal Currents there are certainly recurring themes. By the same token, there are a few books that a number of us have read and talked about together, and are relatively well known
Everyone who has ever approached international relations with a formula has always overreached and oversimplified.
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Trent and Caitlin talk to Greg Sargent, journalist and podcaster with The New Republic, about recent stories including the striking failure of the president to be cool about the newest round of Jeffrey Epstein news, the bizarre time dilation of being a conservative, and the childish insistence that every bad
Dessalines was a man of action more than ideas, but his actions helped bring revolutionary ideas into existence, along with a wide range of revolutionary thought around the world, inspired by Haiti’s example.
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A summary of July 2025 in the second Trump term.
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Join Samantha and guest Talia Lavin, author of Culture Warlords and Wild Faith, as they discuss Donald Trump's connections with Jeffrey Epstein, the broader problem of child sexual abuse among Republicans, and how this connects with their vision of a family and a nation dominated by authoritarian, unaccountable
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Caitlin and Trent chat with civil rights lawyer Joshua Erlich about the state of civil rights under Trump. What civil rights has this administration targeted? How are they achieving their goals? Is there anything that can be done to get in their way? Half the Answer can be heard on
The restraint movement's attachment to Trump has compromised its ability to offer a credible alternative to American foreign policy orthodoxy.
As is so often the case with insults hurled at liberals, the charge of zerosumness is one of rightwing projection.
Modern far right thinkers style themselves as an insurgent movement against power, combining a self-pitying victimhood with exaggerated fantasies of rediscovered manliness.
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In recent years, a number of prominent right-wingers have moved left dramatically. In particular, a surprising number of libertarians have abandoned their "fusionist" association with the Republican Party, and become more closely affiliated with the progressive movement. How did this happen? What was fusionism and why did it