This episode of The Dig is brought to you by our supporters on Patreon and by Verso Books, which has

loads of great left-wing titles, perfect for dig listeners like you. One that you might like is

Age of Folly. America Abandoned Its Democracy by Louis H. Lapham. This book, which, as a quick aside, has the Trump-Saudy

glowing orb photo on its cover, makes the case that while the president is undoubtedly a menace,

he isn't a surprise. He embodies the spirit of an age of folly, abandoned to conspicuous consumption,

of vanity and greed.

A self-glorifying photo op, Trump is made to the measure of an infotainment media

in which presidential candidates are game show contestants brought to judgment on election

day before the throne of cameras by whom and for whom they are produced.

To regard Trump as an amazement beyond belief is to give him credit where none is due to mistake a symptom for the cause. Trump's

presence in the White House follows from an American regime change over the last 25 years,

during which a weakened but still operational democracy gave way to a stupefied

and dysfunctional plutocracy. The history of that change is a hedge against the despair of the

present, making possible the revolt against what G.K. Chesterson called the small and arrogant

oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about.

Age of Folly, America Abandones its Democracy by Louis H. Lapham. Out now from Verso Books.

Welcome to The Dig, a podcast from Jacobin Magazine.

My name is Daniel Denver, and I'm broadcasting from Providence, Rhode Island.

Last week was a bad week for Republicans, and a good week for Democrats and for Democratic Socialists.

Democrats won governorships in New Jersey and Virginia and won a large number of legislative seats in the latter. It's now pretty clear that the Republican Party will pay a price for the fact that huge numbers of

Americans detest our dotard-in-chief, Donald Trump. But the lessons to be learned from last Tuesday

are kind of complicated. For one, Republican gerrymandering will make it extraordinarily difficult for Democrats to win back the House next year, even if they win a solid majority of the popular vote.

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