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Seeing Red in Trump’s America
So! It happened. Hillary Clinton failed. Donald J. Trump will become the 45th of the United States. His election marks an earthquake in American politics – one that the seismic monitors of Big Media political pundits, data heads and op-ed waxers all failed to predict.
(AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)
On January 20th, 2017, Trump will take the helm over “the broken system” and lead a scarred and divided nation—fractured along lines of race, gender, and education.
Feelings of disenfranchisement and neglect were the ruling sentiments for a majority of Americans on election day. 72 of the voting electorate reported in exit polls that “the economy is rigged to the advantage of the rich and powerful.” And 68 percent said that “traditional parties and politicians don’t care about people like me.”
Our guests this week provide us with a prismatic view of America standing at a precipice.
Noted Roman historian Mary Beard reminds us that democracy has always been “more than putting a piece of paper in a box.” That it’s a process, a way of thinking. “Democracy can’t function if people don’t have information.” Later, civil war historian Eric Foner locates the seeds of the economic and cultural discontent Trump has parlayed into his victory. He argues that the cultural resentment stems from the social changes in the 1960’s, the progressive movements of feminism, civil rights and immigration reform. Also joining us in the studio: Ron Suskind, Randall L. Kennedy, Kathy Cramer, and Nathan J. Robinson.
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