/481/ Everything is Plausible: Oligarchy – or Worse ft. Corey Robin
On Trump's government, his motives and his modus operandi.
Political theorist Corey Robin talks to Alex H and contributing editors Lee Jones and Alex Gourevitch about Trump II from a domestic perspective. We look at the three main things he's done so far: cutting the civil service, imposing economic sanctions domestically, and his immigration terror politics.
Is Trump a strong president? Does the reliance on executive orders indicate weakness?
What happened to the #Resistance?
Why has the tariff issue, instead of uniting Republicans as in the 19th century, divided them?
Is the bond market the main force limiting Trump's agenda?
Has Bernie Sanders' prediction come true – this is now an oligarchy?
Does Trump just represent patrimonialism and even gangsterism? A degradation of democracy?
What does reaction looks like when there’s very little left to react against?
Links:
/129/ The Right Is Weak ft. Corey Robin | Bungacast
Notifications, Corey Robin, Sidecar (on Trump & tariffs)
Corey Robin's facebook posts
The Hollow Parties: The Many Pasts and Disordered Present of American Party Politics, Daniel Schlozman and Sam Rosenfeld, Princeton UP
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1:28:26
/480/ Reading Club: 21st Century Internationalism
On Perry Anderson's "Internationalism: A Breviary".
[For the full episode subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast]
We kick off the second block/theme of the 2024/25 Reading Club on Nations & Internationalism in the 21st Century by looking at a 2002 essay which charts nationalism against internationalism from the Atlantic revolutions through to the age of globalisation. It is particularly apposite to revisit this text in light of an acceleration in de-globalisation brought on by the second Trump presidency.
What are the cultural aspects of "internationalism"?
While nationalism can be good or bad, internationalism is usually seen as positive. Is this still the case?
How has internationalism accompanied, seperated from or stood against nationalism throughout the latter's history?
How is internationalism different from cosmopolitanism today, if at all?
How could we update Anderson's charting of internationalism along 5 coordinates: capital, geography, philosophy, nation-definition, and class relations?
Internationalism: A Breviary, Perry Anderson, New Left Review
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18:01
/479/ El Tarifazo: Trump's Tariff Thwack ft. Lee Jones
On Trump's 'liberation day' tariffs and the end of globalisation.
[For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast]
Contributing editor Lee Jones talks to Alex about the tariffs, as they try to reconstruct the Trump admin's thinking, and consider avenues and consequences.
Why is this a retro-80s moment, and how much does China take the role that Japan used to in Trump's thinking?
How much strategy is there to this? Is it possible to disentangle the competing logics?
Is this a return to the 19th century: small state, no income tax, high tariff walls?
How credible an attempt at reindustrialising the US is this?
Is Trump trying to weaken the dollar? What store to put in the Mar-a-Lago accord?
Do Europeans kick the can down the road and hope for the best?
Is this a global restructuring or just a reset in terms more favourable to the US? The end of neoliberalism or a new iteration on it?
Links:
Will anybody buy a ‘Mar-a-Lago accord’?, FT
A User’s Guide to Restructuring the Global Trading System, Stephen Miran, Hudson Bay Capital
Is Trump 2 the End of ‘Neoliberal Order Breakdown Syndrome’?, Lee Jones, TNS
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Breaks Down Trump's Tariff Plan and Its Impact on the Middle Class, Tucker Carlson, YouTube
Back to the ’80s?, Andrew Liu, n+1
MAGA and the Fragmentation of Europe, Tim Pendry, Substack
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39:22
/478/ Should You Listen to Satan? ft. Orlando Reade
On revolution, epic poetry, John Milton, and freedom.
George and contributing editor Alex Gourevitch talk to Orlando Reade, who teaches English at Northeastern University London. We discuss Orlando’s new book What In Me Is Dark: The Revolutionary Life of Paradise Lost and the history of readings of John Milton’s great epic poem.
Is Paradise Lost a poem about darkness?
What does a poem written in the seventeenth century have to tell us about the age of Trump and the contemporary Right?
What can we learn about freedom today from the rebellious Satan in the poem? Or the disobedient Eve?
What did Malcolm X get from the poem and why is Jordan Peterson so hot on epic poetry?
Links:
What In Me Is Dark: The Revolutionary Life of Paradise Lost, Orlando Reade, Penguin
John Milton’s Paradise Lost Mourned a Revolution Betrayed, Orlando Reade, Jacobin
Why Is the Right Obsessed With Epic Poetry?, Orlando Reade, The Nation
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54:56
/477/ Talking Turkey in the Group Chat ft. Djene Bajalan
On Erdogan's World and the revolt against it.
[For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast]
Historian Djene Bajalan joins George and Alex to review the past month – ceasefires in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, winning and losing US patronage, Trump's inconsistent strategy and leaks, and the gold rush. We then turn to a country exemplary of the contradictions of the end of the End of History: Türkiye. And finish by answering your questions and comments on internationalism, free speech, Die Linke, anti-immigration, and domination.
What's driving the protests and how do they compare to past revolts against Erdogan?
What is the meaning of charges – corruption & terrorism – against Istanbul mayor and potential opposition leader İmamoğlu?
Who is the opposition?
What has sustained Erdogan's rule – repression, conservatism, modernisation, growth?
Why is Erdogan one of the winners of the past 20 years, and how is he a world-historic figure?
Links:
Erdoğan's new world order, Lily Lynch, UnHerd
/339/ Erdogone? People vs Nation in Turkey ft. Alp Kayserilioglu
Kultur Kampf TR, Selim Koru, Substack
The global politics podcast at the end of the End of History. Politics is back but it’s stranger than ever: join us as we chart a course beyond the age of ’bunga bunga’. Interviews, long-form discussions, docu-series.
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