Just Asking Questions

Batya Ungar-Sargon: The Case for MAGA Leftism

Listen Later

Do people want President Donald Trump's deportation crackdown? And is the MAGA agenda actually a leftist one? Just asking questions.

Batya Ungar-Sargon, a columnist at The Free Press, joins the show today to address these questions and spar with us on immigration, tariffs, and wealth inequality. She's a self-described MAGA leftist and the author most recently of Second Class: How the Elites Betrayed America's Working Men and Women.

Sources Referenced:
  • The White House's Ghibli-style deportation cartoon

    • https://t.co/PVdINmsHXs pic.twitter.com/Bw5YUCI2xL

    — The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 27, 2025

    • Nayib Bukele on X

      • Oopsie…

      Too late ???? pic.twitter.com/nDHL6deLJq

      — Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) March 16, 2025

      The U.S. is facing a judicial coup.

      — Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) March 19, 2025

      Today, the first 238 members of the Venezuelan criminal organization, Tren de Aragua, arrived in our country. They were immediately transferred to CECOT, the Terrorism Confinement Center, for a period of one year (renewable).

      The United States will pay a very low fee for them,… pic.twitter.com/tfsi8cgpD6

      — Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) March 16, 2025

      • Text of the Alien Enemies Act
      • Pew Research: "How Americans View the Situation at the U.S.-Mexico Border, Its Causes and Consequences"
      • U.S. government 20th century revenue history with charts
      • Pew Research: "For most U.S. workers, real wages have barely budged in decades"
      • American Enterprise Institute: Prices changes in U.S. consumer goods and services, January 2000 to June 2022
      • Batya Ungar-Sargon on Bill Maher's show
      • Video of Rumeysa Ozturk being arrested
      • Marco Rubio's comments on the Ozturk arrest
      • J.D. Vance discussing deportations in August
        • Chapters:
        • 00:00:00 Coming up…
        • 00:00:30 Introducing Batya Ungar-Sargon
        • 00:03:50 Are campus protesters being unfairly targeted for deportation?
        • 00:10:01 The legal vs. moral case for deporting pro-Palestine students.
        • 00:17:19 Immigration, assimilation, and the limits of free speech
        • 00:24:00 J.D. Vance's deportation agenda vs. Trump's actual policy.
        • 00:30:33 Are asylum seekers being unjustly deported?
        • 00:35:23 How immigration policy affects the working class
        • 00:41:10 Do Americans really need multiple jobs to survive?
        • 00:44:18 Expanding state power and due process concerns
        • 00:48:32 Trump, Nayib Bukele, and deportation to El Salvador's prisons
        • 00:54:08 Should Trump defy judges? Constitutional limits and Supreme Court battles
        • 01:00:19 What is the MAGA left's economic agenda?
        • 01:06:22 Are tariffs and immigration really to blame for middle-class decline?
        • 01:14:01 Is the American dream still achievable?
        • 01:16:46 What question should more people be asking?
          • Producer: John Osterhoudt

          The post Batya Ungar-Sargon: The Case for MAGA Leftism appeared first on Reason.com.

          ...more
          View all episodesView all episodes
          Download on the App Store
          Just Asking QuestionsBy Reason
          • 4
          • 4
          • 4
          • 4
          • 4

          4

          115 ratings

          More shows like Just Asking Questions

          View all
          Cato Podcast by Cato Institute

          Cato Podcast

          973 Listeners

          EconTalk by Russ Roberts

          EconTalk

          4,264 Listeners

          The Glenn Show by Glenn Loury

          The Glenn Show

          2,272 Listeners

          The Reason Roundtable by The Reason Roundtable

          The Reason Roundtable

          1,511 Listeners

          The Fifth Column by Kmele Foster, Michael Moynihan, and Matt Welch

          The Fifth Column

          2,881 Listeners

          The Political Orphanage by Andrew Heaton

          The Political Orphanage

          976 Listeners

          Quillette Podcast by Quillette

          Quillette Podcast

          799 Listeners

          The Comedy Cellar: Live from the Table by Comedy Cellar Network

          The Comedy Cellar: Live from the Table

          372 Listeners

          The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie by The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie

          The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie

          740 Listeners

          The Soho Forum Debates by The Soho Forum Debates

          The Soho Forum Debates

          195 Listeners

          Conversations With Coleman by The Free Press

          Conversations With Coleman

          572 Listeners

          Blocked and Reported by Katie Herzog and Jesse Singal

          Blocked and Reported

          3,825 Listeners

          Honestly with Bari Weiss by The Free Press

          Honestly with Bari Weiss

          8,697 Listeners

          The Reason Rundown With Peter Suderman by The Reason Rundown With Peter Suderman

          The Reason Rundown With Peter Suderman

          59 Listeners

          Why We Can't Have Nice Things by Why We Can't Have Nice Things

          Why We Can't Have Nice Things

          132 Listeners

          The Best of Reason Magazine by The Best of Reason Magazine

          The Best of Reason Magazine

          17 Listeners

          Breaking History by The Free Press

          Breaking History

          1,075 Listeners

          The Moynihan Report by 2WAY

          The Moynihan Report

          221 Listeners