Trumpian Pessimism's Illiberalism vs. Reagan-Era Optimism

Key Quotes

"I find myself saying I didn't leave the Republican Party the Republican Party left me and that I think very much conjures up Ronald Reagan for me and what we've been doing with this podcast series is trying to talk about the stories that America tells itself and I would argue that the most successful political storyteller of the second half of the 20th century in the United States was Ronald Reagan he told this story about freedom about capitalism about American confidence and American exceptionalism that was highly influential and I think it's fair to consider the United States as living in the Reagan era from the 1980s through the early 2010s I also think the Reagan era has ended."

Bret Stephens explains that he no longer identifies with the Republican Party, stating it has moved away from its Reagan-era principles. Stephens argues that Ronald Reagan was a highly influential political storyteller who shaped American identity around freedom, capitalism, and exceptionalism, defining an era that has now concluded.

"what you have today among conservatives and certainly with the president is essentially a pervasive pessimism about the future of liberal democracy the idea that ultimately free citizens sorting out their problems through experiment and collaboration the contestation of ideas is going to yield good results the conservatism that Trump expresses I think is better classified as illiberalism that's to say a set of ideas often based in kind of ethnicity or race or place that may have something in common with kind of the conservative traditions of Europe but have much less in common with the conservative traditions of of the United States at its heart there's a kind of a dark vision of the future of the future of the free world a real a real pessimism or doubt about whether liberal societies can succeed and I've never shared that that pessimism."

Stephens contrasts contemporary conservative thought, particularly associated with Donald Trump, with the optimism of liberal democracy. He categorizes Trump's conservatism as "illiberalism," which he believes is rooted in ethnicity or race and diverges from traditional American conservative values. Stephens asserts his personal disagreement with this pessimistic outlook on liberal societies.

"I think that Trump understood better than I did a couple of very serious complaints that parts of America which I don't inhabit had about the way things were running in America I think one of them maybe most importantly he understood intuitively that migration was an important issue affecting ordinary Americans and he also understood the failure of elite institutions to deliver on their promises and whether the elite institutions were at universities or the public health administration of this country or you know mainstream media trump was onto something in a way that I was simply blind to because I think I was encased in a cultural bubble."

Stephens acknowledges that Donald Trump tapped into significant grievances held by segments of the American population that Stephens himself did not directly experience. He highlights Trump's intuitive understanding of the impact of migration on ordinary Americans and the perceived failures of elite institutions, admitting his own prior blindness due to being in a "cultural bubble."

"I would love to see genuine immigration reform that combines really strict controls over the border with a very generous legal immigration and asylum policy I think it would settle a lot of the cultural distempers in the country particularly over the last 10 or or 15 years."

Stephens advocates for a comprehensive immigration reform strategy. He proposes a policy that balances strict border controls with a generous approach to legal immigration and asylum. Stephens believes such reform is crucial for resolving the cultural tensions that have emerged in the United States over the past decade and a half.

"The paradox of open societies is that in a democracy you focus obsessively on everything that's going wrong and you spend precious little time thinking about what's going right and that's normal the nature of democracy is that we are problem obsessed but it also means that we are trying to address those problems however imperfectly we're trying to deal with them paradoxically if you look at an authoritarian system like China's they hide their problems and advertise their strengths but it means that as problems grow they often fail to comprehend their magnitude and fail to address them in a timely and rational way so authoritarian systems even though they appear strong are actually extraordinarily brittle."

Stephens explains the inherent tendency of democracies to focus on problems, which he calls a "paradox." He argues that this problem-solving focus, while normal for democracies, contrasts with authoritarian systems like China's, which hide their issues. Stephens posits that this concealment makes authoritarian systems brittle, as they may fail to recognize and address growing problems effectively.

"we've been this pessimistic before and we've been wrong before and we have we've experienced a lot of terrible presidents a great deal of illegality and bigotry coming from the highest reaches of government and we've somehow made it through you know one of my favorite lines from a presidential inaugural address is from bill clinton's first inaugural he said something to the effect he said there's nothing wrong with america that can't be cured by what's right in america I think it's a beautiful phrase and I think it has the virtue of being true."

Stephens offers a source of optimism by referencing historical periods of American pessimism, citing challenges like the Vietnam War and economic instability. He believes that despite past difficulties, including problematic presidencies and governmental misconduct, the nation has persevered. Stephens concludes by quoting Bill Clinton, suggesting that America's strengths can overcome its weaknesses.