The New Republic with D. D. Guttenplan

On the show this week, Chris Hedges talks to D. D. Guttenplan, the editor of the Nation, about the history of populism in America, its current rise and the problem of democracy. His new book, ‘The Next Republic: The Rise of a New Radical Majority’, focuses on nine progressive activists emerging during the Trump administration. Among them, new labor activist Jane McAlevey, racial justice campaigner and Mayor of Jackson, Mississippi Chokwe Antar Lumumba, and environmental activist Jane Kleep, all working to restore America’s democratic, political, and economic systems against the rise of proto-fascist forces and demagogues seeking power.

[rt.com]

As Chris puts it. Todays version of populism, they really have managed to put the heel of their boots on our necks.

You get a giggle out of the success they are talking about with Rules for Radicals when they mention Obama and Clinton, as Guttenplan comments, it depends on what you mean by success. In other words, the book helped these 2 to define what they could do to combat the radicals. This is a problem with many activism groups today as they tend to target the democratic party as their projected ally to help their causes. Their agenda eventually gets watered down, sometimes to the point the group actually becomes the ally of the party over the initial agenda. Often falling into prey status as they become dependent on funds from groups or corporations that they initially opposed. Some of the people in these groups even manage to become politicians themselves who fall into the cracks and become the very type they use to speak against. Guttenplan goes on to explain how that works. What he explains might lead one back to how the tea party began and what it eventually became. I would argue Black Lives Matter has also fallen into this trap. Along with a couple top environment groups also, which I went into some time back when certain types of donors to them were exposed through tax reports.