Dr. Morris Berman joins us once again. He is a cultural historian and has penned numerous books.

These include his classics, coming to our senses, the trilogy on the decline of the American Empire, and his latest

work, which includes neurotic beauty and an outsider looks at Japan, and the novel, The Man

Without Qualities. A lot of this material is also available in Spanish, but our university

course here deals with North America, and we'll be fielding student questions on the topic of

American declineism. Thanks for joining the class once again, Dr. Berman.

Thanks for the invitation. Before we begin, fielding student questions, could you just tell us

where your head is at and what's on your mind these days, especially concerning the U.S.

and or Mexico?

Well, you know, the students should really be aware that I represent a very strange position in the

American political spectrum. You won't find, I mean, you talked about De declanism, and excuse me, that is my position.

That is to say I'm a declinist.

I don't really believe the United States has much of a future anymore.

And I also believe that civilizations rise and fall, and this is the time for American civilization to fall,

which I think it's doing.

And to me, the Trump election was certainly a very large vindication of my position.

So, you know, I'm in the, I'm in a strange position because if you're a Declanist, you look at things

and say something along the lines of bad is good.

In other words, for me, the Trump victory was a good thing. Whether it will be a good thing

for Mexico, actually, that's something we want to discuss, because I don't think that's, you know,

an open and shut case. But what I'm saying is that comparison with the late Roman Empire

is very interesting because towards the end of the Roman Empire,

...