All politics is history: America in the age of Trump, with Nick Bryant (Ramsay Murray Lecture 2024)

The Ramsay Murray lecture is Selwyn’s annual most prestigious lecture, which looks at issues of history and current events. Past speakers have ranged from Niall Ferguson and Bridget Kendall to Trevor Phillips, Amanda Vickery and Anand Menon. Read more about it here: www.sel.cam.ac...
This year's lecture was given by Dr Nick Bryant, author and former BBC correspondent.

[@progressiveGal73]

Bravo! I’m an amateur historian, in the past often delving in for my sanity as a natural born US citizen born in the recent shadow of the Civil Rights act..a biracial black/white woman-child. Now 50 yrs on and realizing I’m still an outlier when it comes to knowing and understanding our history, and watching the same dialogue and trauma playing out in each decade. The words change but the dialogue is always the same. It’s tiring honestly-no-one willing to take courage and move toward some sort of resolution-and to call it out invites accusations of treason and anti-patriotism. While your lecture won’t change anything in my country, your observations serve as a sort of balm for my mind, that I’m not losing it and my observations and the assessment I’ve long come to that we’re stuck in history, validated. Thank you. 🙏🏽

[@t.tenney3470]

I'm hoping Germany has some answers for us....

[@progressiveGal73]

@@t.tenney3470 if only we had eyes to see…it will take the boomers and most of the X’s dying off…these are not simply habits but deep cultural entraining, part and parcel to personality. It takes a lot of time to root out this programming, a willingness to experience the discomfort of cognitive dissonance, and the courage to sit in the temporary vacuum of “self” while the new neural pathways build~it’s taken most of my life. The good news is that I’ve raised two children who don’t carry the complete load of cultural trauma, but rather a strong sense of self, and a deep awareness of “the way things are…” it hasn’t always been easy for them due to the awareness ahead of their yrs..but they’re finding it’s paying off as they move into late adolescence/early adulthood. Sadly, us old folks will need to die off for the transformation of our culture to advance a bit. We’re stuck on skip rn, the 21st century with 20th century ways lol🤗

[@drloshead]

AMEN TO ALL OF THIS!!!!!!

[@angelaoliver7776]

I watched you on morning Joe, everything you said rang true with me, I am an Australian who lived in America for many years, I have been saying there is something that doesn't add up in the American system, I have been consumed and frustrated that the country I love America, is so messed up, being an Australian I could not understand but after watching your videos podcast and I have purchased your new book it all makes sense to me now. I have many American friends who will still be blocking their ears and their eyes glazing over because they don't want to know.

[@drloshead]

Saw you on Morning Joe and was ELATED with your dialogue!!!!!! As a black man living in AmeriKKKa I can tell you that we are unnecessarily arrogant because we are foolishly ignorant! I consider myself lucky to have been able to study society in AmeriKKKa. Most of my fellow country(wo)men have not. THANK YOU for this text and I look forward to reading it with my family!

[@akhalif68]

As a journalist and outside observer, Mr Bryant has the intellect to spot the weaknesses & fragility of America's social and political order...I have observed the "toxification" of US politics for many years as well as reading the insights of those journalists and authors who were sounding the alarm bells decades ago...Indeed Mr Trump is as American as any other past president.

[@titanman8302]

Excellence analysis.

[@BirthingBetterSkills]

wonderful and so very necessary!

[@deanmorelli783]

Very insightful.