The Future of Trumpism

The New Yorker Radio Hour

WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

Politics, Arts, News, Wnyc, Books, David, Storytelling, Society & Culture, Yorker, New, Remnick

4.2 • 6.2K Ratings

🗓️ 23 October 2020

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Nicholas Lemann’s “The Republican Identity Crisis After Trump” explores what will happen to the movement Donald Trump created among Republicans. In his 2016 campaign, he ran as a populist insurgent against Wall Street, “élites,” and the Republican Party itself—mobilizing voters against their traditional leadership. But, in office, he has governed largely according to the Party’s priorities. If Trump loses next month’s election, what will become of the movement he created? Lemann spoke with David Remnick about three possible scenarios for Republicans. Plus, the New Yorker music critic Carrie Battan describes how the sound of Korean pop is becoming part of the American mainstream.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is The New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker.
0:11.3	Welcome to The New Yorker Radio Hour. I'm David Remnick.
0:15.0	Nicholas Lemon has been reporting on and studying American politics for a long time as a staff writer for the New Yorker.
0:22.1	And now as this strange and very unnerving election season draws to a close,
0:27.4	with the polls forecasting real trouble for Donald Trump,
0:30.7	Nick has been considering a question that could be crucial to the American future.
0:35.1	Will Trumpism outlast Donald Trump?
0:38.5	Nick, let's begin with a very basic question.
0:41.8	What is Trumpism?
0:43.8	Well, it's a little hard to answer because President Trump is such an erratic person,
0:50.7	but it would have been easier to answer during the Republican primary season in 2016.
0:59.1	So then you had the spectacle of Trump, in addition to being a super flamboyant and flamboyantly
1:07.3	offensive former reality TV star, it wasn't clear that he even was a Republican
1:14.0	and he was running for president. And he quickly carved out a sort of zone for himself,
1:22.5	not just a personality zone, but a set of political stances that were really different from what you
1:28.9	expected in a Republican.
1:31.0	You know, pro-labor, pro-social security, no anti-government, I'm getting government out of your
1:38.3	life, I'm limiting government, none of that kind of rhetoric, nativist, nationalist, racist, and somewhat anti-business.
1:48.7	A lot of anti-elite, but a lot of Wall Street bashing.
1:52.5	So he was, you know, pitching himself to a certain kind of voter that wasn't in the Republican playbook.
2:02.1	You say that Carl Rove told you, the Republican strategist, who was so closely associated
2:08.4	with George W. Bush, said, by the time you got to 2016, people just wanted to throw a brick
	...

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