Derek Thompson

And so I think that Even at a layer above what Ezra was articulating with the policy differences between liberals and conservatives, there's almost like an archetypal difference between what they fear and value and tolerate.

Liberals fearing injustice, seeking change, tolerating sometimes a bit of what people might think of as overreach, while conservatives fear that overreach, value tradition, and often tolerate injustice.

Liberals fearing injustice, seeking change, tolerating sometimes a bit of what people might think of as overreach, while conservatives fear that overreach, value tradition, and often tolerate injustice.

Liberals fearing injustice, seeking change, tolerating sometimes a bit of what people might think of as overreach, while conservatives fear that overreach, value tradition, and often tolerate injustice.

Cutting is really hard. Government spends trillions of dollars. And if you cut billions of dollars, someone is going to feel that pain and they're going to scream. And so you look at defense spending under Reagan, you look at overall spending under Reagan. Reagan might be one of the most archetypally conservative presidents of the last 40, 50 years.

Cutting is really hard. Government spends trillions of dollars. And if you cut billions of dollars, someone is going to feel that pain and they're going to scream. And so you look at defense spending under Reagan, you look at overall spending under Reagan. Reagan might be one of the most archetypally conservative presidents of the last 40, 50 years.

Cutting is really hard. Government spends trillions of dollars. And if you cut billions of dollars, someone is going to feel that pain and they're going to scream. And so you look at defense spending under Reagan, you look at overall spending under Reagan. Reagan might be one of the most archetypally conservative presidents of the last 40, 50 years.

He utterly failed in his attempt to shrink government. Government grew under Reagan. Defense grew, all sorts of programs grew. So I think that one thing we're sort of scrambling around in our answers is that at a really high level, there are differences between liberalism and conservatism in American history. But often at the level of implementation, it can be a little bit messy.

He utterly failed in his attempt to shrink government. Government grew under Reagan. Defense grew, all sorts of programs grew. So I think that one thing we're sort of scrambling around in our answers is that at a really high level, there are differences between liberalism and conservatism in American history. But often at the level of implementation, it can be a little bit messy.

He utterly failed in his attempt to shrink government. Government grew under Reagan. Defense grew, all sorts of programs grew. So I think that one thing we're sort of scrambling around in our answers is that at a really high level, there are differences between liberalism and conservatism in American history. But often at the level of implementation, it can be a little bit messy.

Even Bush's foreign policy that Ezra was describing, sort of from a big sense of American history, is very like Wilsonian, right? This sense of like it's America's duty to go out and change the world. Or to use a current example, McKinleyan. Or McKinley and right. And a lot of people compare Donald Trump's foreign policy to Andrew Jackson. This sense of we need to pull back from the world.

Even Bush's foreign policy that Ezra was describing, sort of from a big sense of American history, is very like Wilsonian, right? This sense of like it's America's duty to go out and change the world. Or to use a current example, McKinleyan. Or McKinley and right. And a lot of people compare Donald Trump's foreign policy to Andrew Jackson. This sense of we need to pull back from the world.

Even Bush's foreign policy that Ezra was describing, sort of from a big sense of American history, is very like Wilsonian, right? This sense of like it's America's duty to go out and change the world. Or to use a current example, McKinleyan. Or McKinley and right. And a lot of people compare Donald Trump's foreign policy to Andrew Jackson. This sense of we need to pull back from the world.

America first. We need to care about what's inside of our borders and care much less about what's outside of our borders. Sometimes the differences between Republican and Democrat administrations don't fall cleanly into the lines of liberal versus conservative because those definitions can be mushy.

America first. We need to care about what's inside of our borders and care much less about what's outside of our borders. Sometimes the differences between Republican and Democrat administrations don't fall cleanly into the lines of liberal versus conservative because those definitions can be mushy.

America first. We need to care about what's inside of our borders and care much less about what's outside of our borders. Sometimes the differences between Republican and Democrat administrations don't fall cleanly into the lines of liberal versus conservative because those definitions can be mushy.

There's two really big questions on the table that I think click together in an interesting way. You asked, one, why did Trump win? And two, why do Democrats have this certain communication style that might make them less interested in coming on to an unstructured three-hour conversation with you? Let me try to tell a story that connects them. I think Trump's victory in 2024 was overdetermined.

There's two really big questions on the table that I think click together in an interesting way. You asked, one, why did Trump win? And two, why do Democrats have this certain communication style that might make them less interested in coming on to an unstructured three-hour conversation with you? Let me try to tell a story that connects them. I think Trump's victory in 2024 was overdetermined.

There's two really big questions on the table that I think click together in an interesting way. You asked, one, why did Trump win? And two, why do Democrats have this certain communication style that might make them less interested in coming on to an unstructured three-hour conversation with you? Let me try to tell a story that connects them. I think Trump's victory in 2024 was overdetermined.

There are a lot of factors here. Number one, if you look internationally, incumbents lost all over the world. They lost in the U.S., they lost in Europe, they lost in pretty much every developed country at rates that we really haven't seen in 50 years. And that's largely because the inflation crisis that came after COVID created an absolute disaster for incumbent establishment power.