Robert Stark and Alex von Goldstein talk to Keith Preston about his essay Donald Trump and the Return of Liberalism
Topics include:
The three waves of Liberalism, classical liberalism, reform liberalism, and neoliberalism
Neoliberalism, which is essentially a hybrid of capitalism and social democracy under the managerial state, starting under Jimmy Carter, and accelerating under Ronald Reagan, George Bush Sr., and Bill Clinton
Noam Chomsky: Richard Nixon Was ‘Last Liberal President’
How the election of Donald Trump represents a mass repudiation of Neoliberalism
Hillary Clinton as the candidate who epitomizes Neoliberalism, and neglected the working class base of the Democratic Party
How many people on the left such as Slavoj Zizek supported Trump over Clinton
Why Keith believes Bernie Sanders could of defeated Trump
How a recent article in The Atlantic, a liberal publication, admitted mainstream American liberalism has transformed into a kind of left-wing capitalism
How many mainstream conservatives and Republicans, simultaneously warned that Trump was a dangerous racist, sexist, xenophobe, and Fascist, and not authentic conservative enough
Keith compares Trump to a Nelson Rockefeller, who ran as George Wallace in the GOP primaries before reinventing himself as Ross Perot in the general election campaign
How Wallace was a symbol of right-wing populism, but also a New Deal Democrat and Perot was one of the most outspoken critics of neoliberalism in the in the last 30 years
How the New Deal (reform liberalism) under FDR involved an alliance of Southern segregationists (like Wallace) and Northern liberals who were advocates of civil rights
The decline of social conservatism, how Trump won that vot, despite his moderate social views, and how social conservatives are moving to the left economically
Trump’s Surprising Transportation Priorities
Trump’s climate change denial and interest in expanding the use of fossil fuels
The new political realignment, and Trump’s appeal to working class white swing voters with issues of trade, immigration, and preserving social safety nets
Trump’s economic policies include, labor protectionism, preserving the working to middle class social safety net, reforming rather than abolishing Obamacare, new benefits to working women with children, and one of the most liberal reforms of student loan debt policy
However Trump’s tax plan is based on supply side economists
Trump Could Place Media In Antitrust Crosshairs
How Trump’s civil liberty stances turned off libertarian leaning voters, and his environmental stances well educated ones, and whether a hypothetical candidate to the left of Trump on those issues could build a successful new political coalition
The demise of Conservatism INC., and whether the future of the GOP is a “Centrist Nationalism,” similar to Marine Le Pen’s National Front in France
While not a Trump support, Keith is sympathetic to his anti-neocon views on US-Russia relations, his opposition to toppling Assad, and his criticism of the US alliance with the Gulf States
How Rudy Giuliani the Front-Runner for Secretary of State has a Neoconservative background, but is primarily a career opportunist, and has recently adopted Trump’s foreign policy outlook
Keith’s main disagreement with Trump is his support for the surveillance state and the militarization of the police
Why Keith thinks the Alt-Right might be disappointed with Trump, and that Trump may make compromises on immigration
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