How We're Losing Our Democracy (Making Sense Ep. 439)
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Sam Harris speaks with Damon Linker about the erosion of American democracy. They discuss the right-wing populist movement, the mechanisms by which Trump is consolidating authoritarian control, the Insurrection Act, the Right’s weaponization of wokeness, the potential for civil unrest, Trump’s punishment of Democrat-run cities, the new Christian Right, and other topics.
Damon Linker is a senior lecturer in political science at the University of Pennsylvania, and the author of the Substack newsletter Notes From the Middleground. He is the author of The Theocons and The Religious Test. His essays and reviews have appeared in numerous outlets, including The New York Times, The New Republic, The Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post. He is currently writing a book for Princeton University Press about the political philosopher Leo Strauss and his contested influence on the American Right.
Website: https://damonlinker.substack.com
X: https://x.com/damonlinker
00:00 Introduction & Damon’s Background
03:27 The State of American Democracy
10:15 Immigration, Law & Order, and the New Right