Institutions of bigotry, racism, and social control were supposed to be decades into retreat. Instead they have come roaring back from the top-down. In this special joint release of The Liberalism.org Show and The UnPopulist's Zooming In, recorded live at the Institute for the Study of Modern Authoritarianism's "Liberalism for the 21st Century" conference, host Aaron Ross Powell sits down with New York Times columnists Jamelle Bouie and David French and Harvard political theorist Danielle Allen. They discuss the apparent return of open bigotry and illiberalism to American politics, debate whether it is a Trump-specific phenomenon or a durable coalition that will outlast him, and consider why so much of it is driven from the top rather than by the public.

Further Reading

• Justice by Means of Democracy — Danielle Allen, University of Chicago Press

• David French's New York Times opinion column

• Jamelle Bouie's New York Times opinion column

• Zooming In at The UnPopulist

More from Liberalism.org

• Conservative Values, Trust, and the Prospects for Democratic Renewal — Emily Chamlee-Wright