The New Authoritarianism (Tom Richey Podcast #12)

I recently had the pleasure of chatting with Prof. Salvatore Babones of the University of Sydney, who has recently published The New Authoritarianism: Trump, Populism, and the Tyranny of Experts. While some scholars have raised red flags and compared the rise of Donald Trump to the rise of authoritarian dictators in the twentieth century, Babones contends that the election of Trump was a populist response to a "tyranny of experts" that has dominated American politics in recent decades.

Coming from a perspective that is at once conservative, progressive, and liberal, Babones explains in his book how populism can act as a "purgative" that can restore democratic control when the government has become unresponsive to the concerns of large segments of the body politic. His view of the future is optimistic and he sees the current state of American politics as healthy because Americans are more engaged in the political process than they have been in decades.

Music Credit: TJ's Bar Fight courtesy of John Fulford Music