Eswar Prasad

is extremely

So it doesn't just go from one side to another, it lurches from one extreme to the other.

But the self-correcting mechanisms have always worked, Scott.

And this is where I get really concerned about the doom loop dynamics, which is that many of the self-correcting mechanisms, including the democratic process, the system of checks and balances, the rule of law, all of which are very important for these, you know, shifting back to the middle and then over to the other side.

Those are all fraying before our eyes.

So I worry that these tensions could basically boil over in some way.

And one might argue that even the election of Trump was in a sense a boiling over because there was a sense that under an alternative scenario, nothing would change.

The well-off would still be getting more well-off.

The political process would not change.

So when Trump came along with this message that I'm an insider, I know how this works, I'm going to blow it up,

That's the only way to make things better.

I think many people, you know, accept that as a roll of the dice.

It's not worked out so well, but perhaps that's what they were hoping could affect some change.

That's true.

When things get pushed to the edge, there is a sense that people are going to rise up in the streets.

The question is, what point does that come at?

One thing that I point to in my book is that people seem to care about economic outcomes.

They also care about security, both security in terms of their day-to-day lives and also in terms of national security.

So

skilled politicians are very able to very effectively able to pull the latter trigger you know summoning up the politics of fear where they talk about you know the fears that people have and that enables them to overcome the politics of hope which is why I think we are where we are but you're absolutely right there is a risk that we could end up in a much more difficult spot and