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/169/ Authoritarian Liberalism and Its Discontents ft. Amber A'Lee Frost & Daniel Bessner
🕑 Added 2021-01-12 08:01:04 +0000 UTCOn the Biden administration and Trumpist reaction.
We discuss the riot at the US Capitol and why it was not a (failed) coup attempt. How serious was the event, and what next for Trumpist reaction - will it lead to a split in the Republican Party?
Our guests - journalist Amber Frost and political science academic Daniel Bessner - help us preview what the Biden administration has in store for the US. With Democratic control of both houses, it should be able to pass legislation - but does it have any substantial plans to do so? In foreign policy, we can expect more foreign adventurism and at home, an ominous anti-domestic terrorism bill. Does the alliance of the Democrats with an increasingly domineering Silicon Valley signal the coming-out moment of authoritarian liberalism?
Readings:
- Riot on the Hill, Mike Davis, NLR Sidecar blog
- Render unto Ourselves, What is Ours—or Caesar Will Seize It, Alex Hochuli, Damage
- What Experts on Extremism Want From the Biden Administration, James D Walsh, NYMag
- Morbid Symptoms Can Persist for a Long Time, Barry Eidlin, Jacobin
- Violence in the Capitol, Dangers in the Aftermath, Glenn Greenwald, Substack
- The revenge of the blob, Alex Ward, Vox
Comments
Joel
After the UK election you guys had a good bit about how the anti-austerity left was at a loss to respond to the Johnson government's abandonment of austerity. A similar critique should apply at least as much to the U.S. left, who, after spending months convincing themselves that the Biden administration would be pro-austerity or not do any significant domestic policy, will now have to make sense of Biden's willingness to dole out trillions in welfarist economic relief.
Daniel L
Excellent analysis!
