Neon Liberalism

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 fathers. As they say on the internet: pedocon theory is a theory like gravity is a theory.

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 break down? And, most importantly, what—if anything—can libertarians and progressives learn from each other? Join Samantha and guest Aaron Ross Powell, host of Reimagining Liberty and former Cato Institute scholar, as they discuss all this and more.

Join Samantha and author Robert Jackson Bennett as they discuss the power of fiction to shape politics, from 20th-century detective fiction to modern-day QAnon. Along the way they discuss the fiscal-military state, the meaning of liberal society, and why it matters that conservatives have fun engaging with conservative narratives.

Andrew Breitbart argued long ago that "politics is downstream of culture." Is that true? Is there such a thing as liberal culture? Has Trump II revealed its apparent dominance to be hollow? Or is the death of liberalism overwrought? Join Samantha and guest Alex Lefebvre, author of Liberalism As a Way of Life, as they discuss these issues and more.

According to Vice President Vance, America is not an idea: America is a nation. A people. And there are some here who don't belong. Join Samantha and guest Guillaume Attia as they discuss the contrast between America as a nation and America as an idea, the philosophical foundations of liberal politics, and the long—and messy—arc of American history.

You can also read Guillaume's essay on these subjects, "The Fixed Theme of American History": https://www.liberalcurrents.com/the-fixed-theme-of-american-history/

Since the end of the Cold War, it's been easy to see nuclear competition as a thing of the past. As the dust settles over Iran—as Russia rattles the nuclear saber in Ukraine—it's increasingly clear that the question of nuclear weapons has been re-opened. Join Samantha and guest Matthew Downhour as they talk the fundamentals of nuclear strategy, how "red lines" are not natural but socially constructed—and how Trump's reckless actions have degraded the social order that has kept the world from nuclear war since 1949.

The reactionary right is in ascendance in the Trump administration. It's easy to dismiss them as a cabal of incoherent fools scrambling for Trump's ear. But there is a deeper philosophy animating their political project: one based on a longing for an imagined aristocratic past, a craving for hierarchy and certainty, and simultaneously a deeply ambivalent relation to modernity. Samantha is joined by political theorist Professor Matt McManus for a discussion of his recent essay, "The Far Right Canon."

https://www.liberalcurrents.com/the-far-right-canon/#/portal/signup

Are Trump's tariffs a personal madness, or a response to deeper dysfunctions in the world trade system? Yes. Join Samantha and guest Steven Randy Waldman as we talk about why global trade has become so imbalanced, what kinds of dysfunctions that creates, and why a tax on the flow of capital rather than goods is a policy to work towards.

The takeaway: it's still John Maynard Keynes' world, we're just living in it.

As promised, the book whose name Samantha blanked on in the episode: Robert Allen's *Global Economic History* https://www.amazon.com/Global-Economic-History-Short-Introduction/dp/0199596654

Amidst escalating ICE raids, lawless deportations, and the horror of CECOT, immigration has moved to the center of American politics. Join Samantha and guest Adam Gurri, editor-in-chief of Liberal Currents, as we talk about the ground truth: policing immigrants requires restricting the freedoms of citizens. Authoritarianism for the out-group inevitably trends towards authoritarianism for the in-group. Chandran Kukathas was right all along.

Read Adam's essay on the subject here: https://www.liberalcurrents.com/the-totalitarian-logic-of-immigration-controls/

Join Samantha and guest Talia Bhatt as they discuss the state of feminism under Trump II, the enduring relevance of radical feminist ideas, and the uses and abuses of intersectionality in contemporary leftist thought.