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The Mistake That Doomed Democrats—And Paved the Way for Trump

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The Mistake That Doomed Democrats—And Paved the Way for Trump TRUMP’S BIG AGENDA FEMINISM’S FAIL THE RETURN OF THE KLAN MARCH 2017 THE MISTAKE THAT DOOMED DEMOCRATS—AND PAVED THE WAY FOR TRUMP JOHN LEWIS HOW TO TAKE ON TRUMP JEDEDIAH PURDY FORGING A NEW OPPOSITION EXCLUSIVE INSIDE THE FAILED RECOUNT BATTLE *Terms Conditions Apply Offer Ends FORGET EVERYTHING YOU KNOW ABOUT BUYING A MATTRESS YOU DON’T NEED TO PAY YOU CAN BUY IT YOU DON’T NEED TO CHOOSE TOP DOLLAR FOR QUALITY WITHOUT TRYING IT BASED ON HOW YOU SLEEP If sold in a showroom, the award-winning Instead of seconds in a showroom, Our engineers found that nearly everyone Casper mattress would cost thousands. we give you nights to sleep on prefers the same level of firmness. So they But since we’ve eliminated inefficiencies, the Casper to decide if it’s right for you. spent two years formulating a perfect 212.732.2722 10038 • Tel York eet 26th Fl. • New we can offer it at a fraction of the price. No springs attached. mattress with just the right sink and bounce. Digital Evolution • 123 William Str OFF A MATTRESS WITH CODE: REPUBLIC* CASPER.COM document name: 26191-CAS_2017_1_2_new_republic_march_2017.indd client: casper image name: Mattress_CMYK.tif publication: The New Republic Magazine prepared by: chevy cross issue date: march, 2017 date: January 2, 2017 1:13 PM bleed: 8.25x 10.75 job#: 26191 trim: 8 x 10.5 safety: 7.5 x 10 Digital Evolution • 123 William Street 26th Fl. • New York 10038 • Tel 212.732.2722 contents MARCH 2017 UP FRONT 6 Trump’s Big Agenda 26 Conservatives are poised to privatize everything in sight. BY KIM PHILLIPS-FEIN 8 The Populist Ploy Decades ago, Irving Kristol predicted Trump’s rise. BY WIN MCCORMACK 10 Trump’s Think Tank How the Heritage Foundation is shaping his playbook. BY ALEX SHEPHARD 12 The Art of the Con What Trump shares with America’s best swindlers. BY CLANCY MARTIN COLUMNS 14 All the President’s Phantoms Trump isn’t the first conspiracy theorist in chief. BY JESSE WALKER 16 Feminist Fail It wasn’t America’s rampant misogyny The New Opposition that doomed Clinton. BY JESSA CRISPIN From Occupy to Black Lives Matter, the left has been REVIEW reborn. Can it harness the discontent fanned by Trump? 54 A View to a Kill BY JEDEDIAH PURDY How nature documentaries obscure more than they reveal. BY COLIN DICKEY 60 Look Back in Anger The origins of today’s global upheavals lie in Western history. BY SAMUEL MOYN 18 32 63 The Eye of the Beholder Obama’s Lost Army The Fight Ahead Rorschach’s inkblots turned personality testing into an art. BY MERVE EMRE The untold story of his biggest John Lewis, plus nine leading activists mistake—and how it paved the and scholars, on the best ways to take 66 The Big Short way for Trump. BY MICAH L. SIFRY on Trump, from Congress to the streets. Why are ambitious writers turning to the power of aphorism? BY RACHEL SYME 68 Only Human Silicon Valley’s high-tech obsession with living forever. BY ANNA WIENER 38 46 72 Backstory Hate in the Inside the PHOTOGRAPH BY JOHNNY MILLER Age of Trump Recount Across America, Klan and neo-Nazi Jill Stein and a ragtag team of computer POETRY groups are not only flourishing—they’re experts decided to take America’s 59 Love Poems in the Time of joining forces. TEXT BY VAN JONES elections to court. Here’s how it all Climate Change PHOTOGRAPHS BY JOHNNY MILANO went wrong. BY STEVE FRIESS BY CRAIG SANTOS PEREZ COVER PHOTO BY ANDY OMEL MARIO TAMA/GETTY MARIO MARCH 2017 | 1 contributors Jessa Crispin is the founder of Bookslut and the author of Why I Am Not Editor in Chief a Feminist: A Feminist Manifesto. She admires radical feminist saints like St. Win McCormack Teresa and St. Hildegard for confronting society’s love of money and Editor power: “The #resistance is not going to be about directly fighting Trump. It Eric Bates has to be about transforming our culture.” FEMINIST FAIL, P. 16 Executive Editor Culture Editor Merve Emre is assistant professor of English at McGill University. Her Ryan Kearney Michelle Legro first book,Paraliterary: The Making of Bad Readers in Postwar America, will Politics Editor Features Directors be published this fall by the University of Chicago Press. Her second book, a Bob Moser Sasha Belenky Theodore Ross cultural history of personality testing, is forthcoming from Doubleday. Deputy Editor Ryu Spaeth Senior Editors THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER, P. 63 Brian Beutler Story Editor Jeet Heer Laura Marsh Steve Friess is a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in The News Editor Managing Editor New York Times, The Washington Post, and Time. In 2000, as a staffer at the Alex Shephard Laura Reston South Florida Sun Sentinel, he broke the story of the chaos ensuing from Staff Writers the badly designed “butterfly ballot” in Palm Beach County. Design Director Graham Vyse Josephine Livingstone INSIDE THE RECOUNT, P. 46 Siung Tjia Poetry Editor Photo Director Cathy Park Hong Van Jones is the former green jobs adviser to President Barack Obama Stephanie Heimann and founder of the Dream Corps, a social justice accelerator. He is a CNN Production Manager Social Media Editor political commentator and author of The Green Collar Economy and Rebuild Steph Tan Sarah Jones the Dream. HATE IN THE AGE OF TRUMP, P. 38 Contributing Editors Reporter-Researchers James Burnett, Alexander Chee, Clio Chang Johnny Milano is a New York–based photographer whose work has Ben Crair, Michelle Dean, Lovia Gyarkye appeared in The New York Times, CNN, and The Wall Street Journal. He Siddhartha Deb, Michael Sukjong Hong Eric Dyson, Paul Ford, Ted Juliet Kleber spent five years capturing the rise of white supremacy groups in the United Genoways, William Giraldi, Nicole Narea Dana Goldstein, Kathryn Joyce, States. HATE IN THE AGE OF TRUMP, P. 38 Suki Kim, Maria Konnikova, Interns Corby Kummer, Jen Percy, Kim Phillips-Fein teaches twentieth-century American political, Jamil Smith, Graeme Wood, Eric Armstrong Robert Wright Jasmine Bager business, and labor history at New York University and is the author of Demetria Lee Invisible Hands: The Businessmen’s Crusade Against the New Deal. Her Sagari Shetty history of New York in the 1970s, Fear City, is forthcoming from Metropolitan Books. TRUMP’S BIG AGENDA, P. 6 Director of Marketing Director of Sales and Revenue Jedediah Purdy is the Robinson O. Everett Professor of Law at Duke Suzanne Wilson Evelyn Frison University and the author, most recently, of After Nature: A Politics for the Associate Account Audience and Executive Anthropocene. He has written for The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New Partnership Manager Shawn Awan York Times, n+1, and Jacobin, and is on the editorial board of Dissent, where Eliza Fish Controller he is a frequent contributor. AMERICA’S NEW OPPOSITION, P. 26 Media Relations Manager David Myer Steph Leke Office Manager, NY Micah L. Sifry is co-founder and executive director of Civic Hall, a Associate Publisher Tori Campbell community center for civic tech and innovation. In 2004, energized by the Art Stupar potential of the internet to democratize politics, he co-founded the Publisher Personal Democracy Forum. A decade later, he wrote The Big Disconnect: Hamilton Fish Why the Internet Hasn’t Transformed Politics (Yet). OBAMA’S LOST ARMY, P. 18 Published by Lake Avenue Publishing Jesse Walker is books editor of Reason magazine and author, most 1 Union Square West, recently, of The United States of Paranoia, a history of American conspiracy New York, NY 10003 theories. The politician who most reminds him of Donald Trump is Pappy President O’Daniel, a bandleader and radio star whose fame and populist rhetoric got Win McCormack him elected governor of Texas. ALL THE PRESIDENT’S PHANTOMS, P. 14 Anna Wiener is a writer in San Francisco whose work focuses on life in For subscription inquiries or problems call (800) 827-1289 Silicon Valley. A frequent contributor to the new republic, her articles have For reprints and licensing visit www.TNRreprints.com also appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, n+1, and Pacific Standard. ONLY HUMAN, P. 68 2 | NEW REPUBLIC CMYK WE’RE BULLISH ON COMFORT The Un-Sneaker™ goes to work. With leather-lined interior, padded collar and custom soles — the world’s most comfortable shoe is now dressed for the offi ce. Free shipping and returns. Order online or call 844.482.4800. PUB : New Republic Magazine 308110ryl01_BullChes_NewRepub DM Live: 7.5” x 10” Trim: 8” x 10.5” Bleed: 8.25” x 10.75” from the stacks SINCE ANDREW JACKSON descended on Washington in 1829 and purged the federal government to make way for his cronies, incoming presidents have always remade the capital in their own image. In early 2001, as George W. Bush prepared to take office, new republic editor Andrew Sullivan observed that Washington was suddenly populated with “fat, white, straight guys in their fifties,” determined to return the city to the more dignified days before Whitewater and that blue dress from the Gap. The Bushies were boring, sure, and they made Washington boring, too, but they were a welcome change from the “ceaseless psychodrama” of the Clinton years. ✯ Today, as Donald Trump assumes office, Washington may forfeit the cultural renaissance it underwent during the Obama era. The first family ate at trendy restaurants and attended SoulCycle classes, while their young staffers helped spur urban revitalization. It’s hard to imagine Trump out on the town, enjoying hip eateries or visiting local bookstores. He favors charred steaks and tomato juice, wide ties and Florida winters.
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