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We’ve been told many times that Trump won the 2016 election because his populist appeal won the white working class. Populism is the problem, in this view — populism mobilized the irrationality, bigotry, & authoritarianism of the white working class. Tom Frank say that’s all wrong — he wrote the classic “What’s the Matter with Kansas?,” and now he has a new book out: “The People, NO: A Brief History of anti-Populism.”
And Ella Taylor reviews “A Thousand Cuts,” a documentary about fascism in the Phillipines – where the regime of President Rodriguez Duterte has killed 30,000 people, claiming they were drug dealers – and drug users. It’s on PBS Frontline.
Also: Mike Davis talks about LA in the Sixties –the huge nonviolent direct action campaign for integrated housing that came before Watts. The defeat of that campaign, in a statewide referendum, was one of the things that made the Watts rebellion, 55 years go this month, inevitable. 8-6-2020
Living in the USA
Talking about politics, thinking about the Left.
The podcast “Living in the USA” is the online version of “Living in the USA” at KPFK radio, hosted by Jon Wiener and broadcast live Fridays at 4pm at 90.7FM in LA, also streaming live at www.kpfk.org
New episodes posted every Friday afternoon, at livingintheusapod.com and Apple Podcasts.