Rachel Kleinfeld on Why America Isn’t About to Have a Civil War

The Good Fight

Yascha Mounk

News

4.6 • 907 Ratings

🗓️ 18 February 2023

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Rachel Kleinfeld is a senior fellow in the Democracy, Conflict and Governance Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Kleinfeld’s latest book is A Savage Order: How the World's Deadliest Countries Can Forge a Path to Security. In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Rachel Kleinfeld discuss effective strategies for heading off extremism and shoring up American democracy; what it takes to contain political violence; and why, though she remains concerned about America’s deep polarization, she mistrusts predictions of “civil war”. This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity. Please do listen and spread the word about The Good Fight. If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone. Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.persuasion.community Podcast production by John Taylor Williams, and Brendan Ruberry Connect with us! Spotify | Apple | Google Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk & @joinpersuasion Youtube: Yascha Mounk LinkedIn: Persuasion Community Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:24.0	Shop the new explicit lipstick now at Nas Cosmetics. UK. And now the good fight with Yasha Monk.
0:47.0	Hi, my name is Matt Johnson. I'm an independent writer and my recent article,
0:57.3	what Christopher Hitchins knew was published in Persuasion at the end of January.
1:01.6	The article is based on my upcoming book,
1:04.4	How Hitchins Can Save the Left, rediscovering fearless liberalism in an age of
1:09.0	counter-invitment. Hitchins was, for many years, considered one of the most ferocious and eloquent left-wing
1:16.4	polemicists in the world. But on much of the days left, he's remembered as a de facto
1:22.1	and a warmongerer and even an imperialist.
1:25.0	This is because he supported the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, but as I argue in the
1:31.7	article and the book, this narrative gets Hitchins exactly wrong,
1:35.9	because he supported those wars for liberal reasons. He was an internationalist. He believed that the United States had the power to defend
1:46.0	universal human rights abroad. And Hitchins had a few other principles that I think bear
1:52.4	reexamination today. He was a First Amendment absolutist. He believed in free expression for everybody in just about every conceivable circumstance.
2:03.2	He was opposed to identity politics and other forms of tribalism
2:07.4	that seek to divide people on the basis of race or nation
2:11.6	or religion. And he expressed these principles more articulately than just about anyone alive today or alive then.
2:22.2	So if you would like to take a look at my article about
	...

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