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Hello and welcome to Behind the News. My name is Doug Henry. The usual two for today.

We'll hear from the political scientist Jody Dean on the general political situation in this country in light of last week's elections.

And then from Tobias Chibinette, a Swedish researcher on the politics of race in the paradigmatic social democracy.

Last week's elections were a very mixed bag. Some of the most appalling features of American politics took a hit.

The Niers were mostly defeated and some of Trump's favorite lunatics lost, some barely, some decisively.

At the same time, there was little inspiring about the results either. Some version of business is usual,

it's preferable to business worse than usual, but the status quo is also fertile breeding ground for that worse.

And what the right so well organized, we can be sure that the work of fertilization is going on undisturbed.

Here to parse the situation is a frequent guest in behind the news, Jody Dean.

The professor of political science at Hobart and William Smith colleges in Geneva, New York.

Her books include The Communist Horizon and Comrade. She's the editor, along with Sherry's burden Steley,

of a new collection published by Verso, organized fight, win, black communist women's political writing.

Jody Dean.

So Jody, we have, I have, I can't speak for you, mixed feelings about the election results the other day.

I was very glad that the crazy election deniers lost the crypto-fascist really didn't do very well or not so crypto anymore.

I guess that's a loaded word now. And some, you know, half decent Democrats won, but Democrats are not going to save us.

So how do you come off last week's election feeling?

I feel like in a weird sort of void to be really honest, like a kind of strange limbo of nothing really changed.

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