A little more than eight months into the second Trump presidency, many Americans today find the United States increasingly unrecognizable: a volatile and inflationary economy, rising political violence, and brazen corruption at all levels of government don’t appear to be going away anytime soon.

So how did we get here? What lessons can we learn from the histories of other countries, especially ones that experienced radical destabilization and an authoritarian turn?

To answer these questions, on this episode we’re speaking with Hille Haker, a professor of Catholic Moral Theology at Loyola University Chicago. 

A native German, Haker points out how the current situation in the United States evinces disturbing parallels with the rise of Nazism in Germany. 

She also details the intellectual developments that have given rise to the new right wing anti-democratic comfort with authoritarianism—and how Catholic Social Teaching can counter it.

For further reading: 

• Eugene McCarraher on the perils of Christian post-liberalism
• A Commonweal symposium on the work of Patrick Deneen
• Philip Jeffery on leaving behind the new right