Episode 2218: Timothy Shenk explains the fate of liberal politics in the illiberal age of Harris and Trump

In her quest for the White House, it seems as if Kamala Harris is doing everything in her power to disassociate herself with liberal ideas. So what, exactly, has happened to liberal politics in the United States today? That’s exactly the question which the excellent young George Washington historian, Timothy Shenk, asks in his new book, Left Adrift. And in tracing the fate of liberal politics in America today, Shenk goes back to the Democratic party’s two most influential political strategists of the Clinton era: Stan Greenberg and Doug Schoen. The story of these two Zeligs of the center-left, Shenk explains, helps us understand not only Kamala Harris’ innate conservatism, but also the challenges (and perhaps opportunities) for American liberalism to reinvent itself in today’s age of illiberal populism.

Timothy Shenk is an assistant professor of history at George Washington University. A senior editor at Dissent magazine, he has written for the New York Times, the Nation, the New Republic, and Jacobin, among other publications. He received his bachelor’s degree and PhD in history from Columbia University, has been a Mellon postdoctoral fellow at Washington University in St. Louis, and has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the New America Foundation. 

Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

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