In the midst of world events feeling significantly more historical than usual, we're joined by the host of the Dangerous History Podcast CJ Killmer--in our fifth overall collaboration!--to have a long, free-wheeling discussion of the notion of "realignment", a subject studied far and wide by political scientists of every stripe.
The question of whether or not this is a tradition baked into American political DNA is addressed, as is the role of populism and populist backlashes, both in history and in the present and how they manifested in elections. We also chart the rise of Progressivism as the dominant ideological framework from its early beginnings in the 1890s resulting from the populism of the 1870s-1880s, and look at how it maintained its control up until the early 21st century when its foundation was shaken by an impolitic (if entertaining) con man.
And from there, while diagnosing the present (yes there are more politics than usual), we look to the future and potentially make asses of ourselves by throwing out predictions and express our reservations (primarily with Progressivism managing to absorb the populist energy in some way, or with a rapid resurgence of theocratic social conservatism from the populist right).
It's a wild ride, almost as wild as American politics always seems to be.
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