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The Unbearable Intellectual Lightness of the Postliberal Being
Its case that liberalism must turn into its opposite is based on feelings, not theory or real world evidence
 • Andrew Koppelman
The Trump Administration Is Developing a Multi-Pronged Strategy to Surveil its Critics, Especially Those Protesting its Brutal Immigration…
Our mid-February selection of the president's latest and greatest assaults on the rule of law
 • Executive Watch
Worry, Don't Panic, Over Trump's Efforts to Subvert the Elections
America's system is quite foolproof but he can still try to delegitimize it
 • Andy Craig
Czechoslovakia’s Lesson for America: Lawyers are Key to Peacefully Defeating Authoritarianism—Help Them
Romania had to kill its tyrant and his supporters to make room for democracy because it had no legal route to oust him
 • Irina D. Manta
Robust State Constitutionalism Can Protect Rights and Resist Authoritarianism
We need a movement to fully unlock the potential for resistance by states
 • Kathrina Szymborski Wolfkot

Recent posts

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Trump's Vile Obama Video Follows the White House's Official White Nationalist Line
DHS and other agencies have been spewing racist goals as government policy
 • Berny Belvedere
Plato Understood Why Masking Would Turn ICE Agents Into Devils
The Republic explained that social scrutiny was necessary for human virtue
 • Paul Rosenzweig
Can AI Heal the Divides That Social Media Created?
It has generated very promising results in Taiwan and elsewhere to help build consensus on deeply polarizing issues
Minneapolis Demonstrates How to Resist Brutality Without Losing Your Soul
It intuitively implemented the best teachings of liberal and religious traditions
 • Emily Chamlee-Wright and Jason S. Canon
44:45
Will the Trump Administration's MAGA-Driven Foreign Policy Be America's Downfall? A Conversation with Anne Applebaum
The strong constituency for authoritarian politics in the US means that the world won't trust it even after this president departs from the scene
 • Shikha Dalmia
Iran’s Protesters Are Trapped Between Tehran’s Brutality and Trump’s Empty Promises
Outside players with their own agenda are undermining the cause of regime change in the country
 • Eric Lob
The Fashionable Notion of 'Free Speech Culture' Is Justifying State Censorship, Ironically
It'll convince people that free speech is a sham
 • Ken White
The Trump Administration Is Bulldozing the Bill of Rights to Crack Down on Americans Resisting its Violent Deportation Drive
Our early-February selection of the president's latest and greatest assaults on the rule of law
 • Executive Watch
Americans Need Legal Remedies Restored Now to Protect Themselves Against Reckless ICE Agents
Congress, state legislatures, and courts can take steps to reopen avenues for litigation unduly closed off
 • Anya A. Bidwell and Marie Miller
Has the Trump Administration Crossed the Rubicon When Lawlessness Makes Lawful Transition Impossible?
It may have reached a point when its only option for avoiding accountability would be keeping Democrats out of power
 • Birch Smith
From Athens to Sparta: How Trumpism Is Driving America’s Decline
Civilizations commit suicide when they build walls against the outside world
 • Johan Norberg
A Song for Alex Pretti and Renee Good
Don't Resist, Just Obey
 • Kyle Varner, MD
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The latest from
Andy Craig
Worry, Don't Panic, Over Trump's Efforts to Subvert the Elections
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Berny Belvedere
Trump's Vile Obama Video Follows the White House's Official White Nationalist Line
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Shikha Dalmia
Will the Trump Administration's MAGA-Driven Foreign Policy Be America's Downfall? A Conversation with Anne Applebaum
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Birch Smith
Has the Trump Administration Crossed the Rubicon When Lawlessness Makes Lawful Transition Impossible?
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Landry Ayres
Trump's Tyranny Is No Laughing Matter: A Video Roundup
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The UnPopulist Presents:

The UnPopulist
The UnPopulist
Defending liberal democracy against authoritarianism in the U.S. and around the world.

Reconstruction Agenda

View all
Robust State Constitutionalism Can Protect Rights and Resist Authoritarianism
We need a movement to fully unlock the potential for resistance by states
 • Kathrina Szymborski Wolfkot
Americans Need Legal Remedies Restored Now to Protect Themselves Against Reckless ICE Agents
Congress, state legislatures, and courts can take steps to reopen avenues for litigation unduly closed off
 • Anya A. Bidwell and Marie Miller
All-Party Primaries Can Release Us From Our Partisan Doom-Loop Trap
Our republic is being destroyed by an electoral system that ignores the vast majority of the voting public
 • Danielle Allen
Trump’s Bogus Rationale for Invading Venezuela Is an Impeachable Offense
The Framers would have regarded this president as an out-of-control lunatic in desperate need of reining in by Congress
 • Andy Craig
50:39
What Tools Does Congress Still Retain to Control a Recalcitrant Executive? A Conversation with Josh Chafetz
Eventually, though, Congress needs to fix itself to effectively rein in the president
 • Andy Craig
If Soldiers Become Cops, Americans Will Have Even Less Legal Redress Against Abusive Law Enforcement
This is yet another reason why President Trump should not be allowed to call in the military for fighting crime
 • Anthony Sanders
Founders Would Be Horrified by Congress's Surrender of its Power of the Purse to POTUS
The shutdown is testimony to how a subservient legislature makes governance dysfunctional
 • Molly Reynolds
1:04:52
The Founders Never Meant to Give the President Unchecked Removal Powers: A Conversation with Noah Rosenblum
It would be a constitutional mistake for the Roberts Court to overturn Humphrey's Executor and embrace an extreme version of the Unitary Executive…
 • Andy Craig

Podcasts

View all
44:45
Will the Trump Administration's MAGA-Driven Foreign Policy Be America's Downfall? A Conversation with Anne Applebaum
The strong constituency for authoritarian politics in the US means that the world won't trust it even after this president departs from the scene
 • Shikha Dalmia
1:00:32
Does America Need a Deeper State to Save It? A Conversation with Tyler Cowen and Francis Fukuyama
Two of the foremost thinkers of our time debate whether America has enough 'state capacity' for effective governance
 • Shikha Dalmia
59:06
ICE Is Only Getting Started, the Worst Is Yet to Come: A Conversation with David J. Bier
Massive new funding for an agency that respects neither laws nor human life will turbocharge its abuses
 • Shikha Dalmia
50:39
What Tools Does Congress Still Retain to Control a Recalcitrant Executive? A Conversation with Josh Chafetz
Eventually, though, Congress needs to fix itself to effectively rein in the president
 • Andy Craig
46:47
A Persecution Complex Links the Pilgrims and Christian Nationalism: A Conversation With Tyler Huckabee
Evangelicals are espousing a faith based on their political project, not a sincere interpretation of the Bible
 • Berny Belvedere
56:15
America Will Need a Reconstruction Project After Trump: A Conversation with Shikha Dalmia and Andy Craig
Liberals will have to rebuild the institutions of governance and accountability that Trump is destroying and The UnPopulist plans to lead the way
 • Aaron Ross Powell
Podcasts
Logo for Zooming In at The UnPopulist
Zooming In at The UnPopulist
Will the Trump Administration's MAGA-Driven Foreign Policy Be America's Downfall? A Conversation with Anne Applebaum
Logo for Reconstruction Agenda
Reconstruction Agenda
Robust State Constitutionalism Can Protect Rights and Resist Authoritarianism
Recommendations
View all 22
Slow Boring
Slow Boring
Matthew Yglesias
To the Contrary
To the Contrary
Charlie Sykes
The Renovator
The Renovator
Danielle Allen
The Next Move
The Next Move
Garry Kasparov
Executive Functions
Executive Functions
Jack Goldsmith
Top posts

Book Reviews

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Let’s Not Grant the Postliberal Critique of Market Liberalism
Discontents with liberal modernity are perennial and a spiritual awakening won't cure them
 • Jonathan Rauch
Bernie Sanders Wants to Counter MAGA's Gains With the Working Class by Challenging the Oligarchy
He wants his party to offer a bold social democratic alternative to the neoliberal consensus just as Trump has done on the right
 • Matt McManus
The Neo Right's Multi-Front Revolt Against America
A political theorist traces the intellectual history of the various strains of a movement gone rogue
 • William Galston
Why Is the American Experiment in Trouble? Simple: A Demagogue Has Ignited the ‘Dark Passions’ of the People
Liberalism’s real failure is that it assumes far too sunny a view of human nature, three recent books suggest
 • Jonathan Rauch
Is the Lack of ‘Friction’ in Our Virtual World Leading to Liberalism’s Decline?
Our rapid-fire communication technologies may be overwhelming our capacity to deliberate and empathize, two new books suggest
 • J. L. Wall
'Abundance’ Offers a Sounder Way Forward for the Left than Degrowth or Redistributive Progressivism
But the authors of this important book might have been more effective had they chosen a less confrontational strategy with their own side
 • Samantha Hancox-Li

World

View all
Czechoslovakia’s Lesson for America: Lawyers are Key to Peacefully Defeating Authoritarianism—Help Them
Romania had to kill its tyrant and his supporters to make room for democracy because it had no legal route to oust him
 • Irina D. Manta
44:45
Will the Trump Administration's MAGA-Driven Foreign Policy Be America's Downfall? A Conversation with Anne Applebaum
The strong constituency for authoritarian politics in the US means that the world won't trust it even after this president departs from the scene
 • Shikha Dalmia
Iran’s Protesters Are Trapped Between Tehran’s Brutality and Trump’s Empty Promises
Outside players with their own agenda are undermining the cause of regime change in the country
 • Eric Lob
Trump’s Attempted Greenland Grab Has Turned America Into a Predatory Power
His bid might have been thwarted for now, but America will be regarded as a global threat going forward
 • Berny Belvedere
The Iranian Regime Is Nothing but an Occupying Force Now: An Interview with Roya Hakakian
Its very illegitimacy might make it more brutal if it hangs on
 • Berny Belvedere
Trump Is Ensuring That His Venezuela Attack Has No Upside for Anyone
Venezuelan democracy, America, and the world are all going to lose
 • Nicholas Grossman
Trump’s Betrayal of Venezuela’s Democracy Movement Is Hard to Overstate
If he continues to snub María Corina Machado, the heroine of the opposition, America will bear responsiblity for the country’s next tragic chapter
 • Larry Diamond
Trump’s Bogus Rationale for Invading Venezuela Is an Impeachable Offense
The Framers would have regarded this president as an out-of-control lunatic in desperate need of reining in by Congress
 • Andy Craig
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