05/17/24 - A galactic implosion of incompetence

Mark Blyth, political economist at Brown University's Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, and Carrie Nordlund, political scientist and Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Programs at Brown University, share their take on the news.
On this episode:
• 2024 election update: Biden struggles to get his message to Americans, while Trump’s hush-money trial might be playing into his strengths
• What to think of US presidential polling 6 months out from November’s election
• SCOTUS term wraps up
• The muddled political impact of campus protests over Israel’s invasion of Gaza
• Can the dollar be too strong?
• Tariffs, foreign competition, reviving national industry - is it the 1930s or 1800s?
• The TikTok "ban” in Congress - national security priority, or tech extortion play?
• Mark and Carrie are very nice to dogs
Learn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts (home.watson.brown.edu/news/po...)
Transcript coming soon to our website (mark-and-carrie.captivate.fm/)

[@landontesar3070]

Mark, great comments on free speech, dollar hegemony. Industrial malaise and success, disenfranchised worker class, university policy, and the costs of war. Thank you.

[@michaelsage7775]

Political fighting is as real as WWE. It entertains as a distraction from the most important problems. "As long as politics is the shadow cast on society by big business, the attenuation of the shadow will not change the substance" - Dewey

[@carycunningham9510]

I don't know guys, incompetence, or corruption?

[@mmmhorsesteaks]

"honey, new trump talking points podcast just dropped"

[@alfred-vz8ti]

is this a tolerable way to run a nation? is no one worried enough to say that change is needed?

[@margyrowland]

Exactly what is the crime???

[@jimbob-robob]

Apparently, Using money to pay off someone to keep quiet during an election campaign... and then falsifying the accounts involved in this "hush money" deal to ensure it stays all quiet. Highly illegal. However, he'll get off anyway. He should've been jailed indefinitely for Jan6 years ago... if they didn't get him for that, this is small fry...

[@mrfuzztone]

Does Mark have a suggestion for an action the Biden administration could do to reduce the price of groceries? That is an obvious big issue dominating the attention of likely voters. I am asking because I know Mark is a clever guy. He knows a lot about economics. We need clever possibilities to work with. Apparently the very rich are doing very well with their increasing wealth. I heard they got a nice tax break in 2017. Most Americans don't know about that.

[@jonrolfson1686]

Trump’s trade and reindustrialization policies, past and future, should be seen as of a piece with early nineteenth century American Whig Party fundamentals. Though the Whigs were split on slavery, they were the party that asserted the legitimacy of a slightly larger role for Washington in internal affairs throughout the Whig Party’s existence. High protective tariffs and support for internal improvements were the Whig’s defining constants. After the demise of the Whigs in the 1850s, Abraham Lincoln, though elected as a Republican, become the most successful Whig president. As Mark noted, both parties are now in a ‘hold my beer’ contest over who can most effectively reinstate the old Whig’s high protective tariffs and support for internal improvements regime.

[@macrosense]

The United States was the biggest promoter of free trade. Domestic de-industrialization was also heavily promoted through the whole mergers and acquisition leveraged buyout craze: it was heavily rewarded. Trump’s winning strategy is to convince Americans this is somebody else’s fault. There were no unfair trade deals, there were only bad or dumb trade policies.

[@jimbob-robob]

Please someone explain why we don't get video and only audio lately. It seems retrograde...

[@neilmoran9988]

Carries voice is soothing. Mark not so much. Thx for posting guys.

[@marybusch6182]

They are both clear and understandable.

[@mrjozo-pr6ih]

I knew I had a garage full of precious nuts and bolts, and Airbus is on the other side of town.

[@tarnopol]

Could Carrie be any more mealy-mouthed about the protests? At least Mark has the guts to call it properly.

[@stuckp1stuckp122]

Funny yet terrifying commentary on how democracy ends…

[@chrisbirmingham5132]

Oddly enough, a lot of Germans in the 1930s thought they were still in the 1800s politically. Sadly for them, it turned out that they were in the 1930s.

[@richardscathouse]

Wondering why anyone with two braincells can't be bothered to vote 😢

[@yam83]

Oh Mark, I feel ya on your national selection getting eliminated at the last minute when you can't even actually watch.

[@dumbfoundedagain]

BRICS will dominate

[@jimbob-robob]

5:10 Anecdote isn't data... but the urinal wall rarely ever lies... 😂

[@abstractalien12345]

Idk if he was just framing how GOP bill themselves, but conservative policies on immigration are a scourge to workers, not a boon. The idea that I am helped by having to compete against millions of domestic workers who have no labor rights is just not something I think is accurate

[@nonenone5387]

First

[@sean640]

Marks opinion aged pretty bad????

[@cev12]

How stupid of Carrie-- the trial (definitely theoretically) is not meant to "change [voters] minds," it's to hold someone accountable for his actions. I really wonder how she got employed by Brown.... I really do.

[@mrfuzztone]

A lot of people don't know what is going on. Because we are political, economic and news junkies, we do. Easy to forget that when considering the election. Still a lot of time to inform people and fight against disinformation. There is a lot left to do to defeat Trump.

[@jimbob-robob]

[@WGPower_Nonchalant_Cafe]

51/49 none of this would matter if we had candidates that weren't so much alike that it divides the country 50/50.. think about it when the results are 51/49 that means America can't tell the difference between these two candidates.

[@breft3416]

Many years ago, my man Noam Chomsky said voting for the president of the United States is like voting for the King and Queen of England. It's the same person supporting the same policies. I think it changed 45 years ago for the worse- all the same bankers, billionaires and wars supported by every president ever since. The wars have been the same since 1950- Russia, China, the Middle East.

[@ywtcc]

Most people don't vote in America, and the ones that do are highly skewed to the higher end of the income scale. From what I understand, policy choices are reflective of the top 20% or so, which I suspect isn't far off the wishes of consequential voters. (Especially when adjusted for community involvement, and propensity to contribute to campaign finances.) Trump is a consequence of the wishes of this group of people. These people are your radicalized partisans driving political division. Most people don't actually believe in either party. The public routine might be a better gauge of the ability of the general public to differentiate between the two.

[@alfred-vz8ti]

when you agree to be ruled by politicians, this is what you get. get democracy, and vote for/against proposed law and action through referendum and initiative. can't think why no one wants this...

[@ywtcc]

@@alfred-vz8ti You forgot the most important part! Typically an election in a democracy is a way of holding the incumbent accountable. You were looking in the wrong place when you asked the general public for expertise. That's what the experts are for. The voters are there primarily to remove the experts when they go off the rails. Democracy is a method of accountability, not a method of decision making. I'm not sure if you're mistaken about democracy, or if you're genuinely uncomfortable discussing methods of holding power to account.

[@alfred-vz8ti]

@@ywtcc you can vote someone out, if you don't like the way things are going. this is not democracy. it's just non-violent revolution.

[@cev12]

I'm beginning to think that Mark is a closet Trumpi-- am I right?

[@landontesar3070]

No, would not go more than a half-step in that direction.

[@cev12]

@@landontesar3070 …that’s what you think, haha. I am hearing it in most of his related comments lately. Either that or a strong self-protection against not (re-)underestimating the US far right in future.

[@landontesar3070]

Anticipating his election and supporting it are two different things

[@cev12]

@@landontesar3070 ...never said they weren't