Listen "Hannah Arendt and Trump 2.0"
Episode Synopsis
Keep the narrative flow going! Subscribe now for ad-free listening, bonus content, and access to the entire catalog of 500 episodes. After Donald Trump was first elected in 2016, Hannah Arendt's The Origins of Totalitarianism became a surprise bestseller. Arendt, who died in 1975, became a sort of prophet for the liberal "Resistance" based on her insights into lying and politics and the origins of fascism. Today, as President Trump acts with increasing authoritarianism and corruption, Arendt is still frequently quoted, but she's not the star she once was on the American left. Why? Yale historian and law professor Samuel Moyn discusses the uses and abuses of Hannah Arendt, one of the twentieth century's towering philosophers. Further reading: You Have Misunderstood the Relevance of Hannah Arendt by Samuel Moyn, Prospect (2020) Men in Dark Times by Rebecca Panovka, Harper's (2021) Lying in Politics: Hannah Arendt on Deception, Self-Deception, and the Psychology of Defactualization by Maria Popova, The Marginalian Big Racket Man by Martin Jay for Verso Books (2023)
More episodes of the podcast History As It Happens
Presidents vs. the Press
14/11/2025
Playing With Dynamite
11/11/2025
Dick Cheney's Ruinous Legacy
07/11/2025
'Glory' and the Real Robert Gould Shaw
04/11/2025
Noriega and New World Order
31/10/2025
Bonus Ep! Who Was Carl Schmitt?
29/10/2025
Rumors of a King
28/10/2025
When Socialists Ran American Cities
21/10/2025
Bonus Ep! What Happened to Journalism?
19/10/2025
Germany and the End of History
17/10/2025
ZARZA We are Zarza, the prestigious firm behind major projects in information technology.