meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
The Socialist Program with Brian Becker

Is It Trump Or Is It The System? w/ Prof. Wolff

The Socialist Program with Brian Becker

The Socialist Program

Politics, News

4.7587 Ratings

🗓️ 15 April 2026

⏱️ 26 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

As highlighted by a New York Times report this week, the debate about Trump’s mental health has been revived. Trump posting memes of himself and Jesus and starting a regional war with Iran are certainly indicative that something is wrong. But polling across issues shows that U.S. residents are unhappy with this system as a whole. Professor Richard Wolff and producer Nicole Roussell discuss. 

Professor Richard Wolff is an author & co-founder of the organization Democracy at Work. You can find his work at rdwolff.com.

Join the The Socialist Program community at http://www.patreon.com/thesocialistprogram to get exclusive content and help keep this show on the air.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Is Trump insane or is the capitalist system that drives war insane?

0:05.0

We need a new system. We need a new society.

0:10.0

We need to demand that which may have sounded impossible even a few weeks ago,

0:14.0

but is not only realizable, but an imperative necessity. We are very excited to have Professor Richard Wolfe join us for a regular weekly segment where we discuss the biggest stories relating to the economy, the state of the working class, and the crimes of big business.

0:51.3

I'm Nicole Roussel, sitting in for your host, Brian Becker. The Socialist

0:55.2

Program brings you content several days a week thanks to the support of our patrons at patreon.com

0:59.6

slash the Socialist Program. We appreciate all of your support and encourage you to become a patron

1:05.1

today if you enjoy listening to this show. Richard Wolfe is the co-founder of the organization,

1:10.7

Democracy at Work,

1:11.5

and the author of many books, including Understanding Capitalism, which is available at

1:15.8

democracy at work. info. So Richard, there's this New York Times article that I sent you last

1:21.8

night that's been making the rounds called Trump's erratic behavior and extreme comments

1:25.9

revive mental health debate. And, you know, I think

1:28.9

we've all seen the reality. Trump is contradicting himself within the negotiations with Iran.

1:34.1

He had the president of Venezuela actually kidnapped and is still in detention. And he posted a meme

1:40.1

of himself as Jesus. Then he said he thought it was a doctor, not Jesus. So, like, it does seem clear that he's not thinking well. But I think it's important to zoom out, too. Like, what does that say about the U.S. form of democracy if he can just operate like this without anyone stopping him? Isn't this a systemic problem? Yes, well, I'm very glad you've posed it in the way that you've chosen to do. I'm very suspicious of the New

2:03.6

York Times. It is an organ of the status quo in this country, if ever we wanted to see one.

2:12.6

And I don't expect it to have a serious, let alone a radical interpretation of anything.

2:20.3

Indeed, to be honest, I expect it to come up with quite a nice collection of ways of thinking

2:29.2

about our issues that don't bring up the question of capitalism, that don't tell the story of how our

2:37.8

economic system shapes and causes in major ways the problems we face. So I see the sanity

2:48.7

discussion of Mr. Trump. It's not irrelevant in the sense that the psychological

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Socialist Program, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Socialist Program and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.