4 Apr

How Did We Get Here?

0 Politics History

JL;DR SUMMARY The podcast unpacks a newsletter by Abe Greenwald that discusses the several seismic shifts in American society over the past few decades and how they paved the way for Donald Trump's controversial actions, particularly the implementation of tariffs challenging free trade. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski.

At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself.
This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude.
Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from.
But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me.
And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Places mentioned

Washington, Washington DC, United States

"And it also accounts for his swinging for every fence immediately, all at once. If you're someone who wants to reshape the world, this is the time to act. Reality has never been more malleable. We don't know what type of earthquakes will hit before the end of the day, but whatever they are, they're not likely to blow anyone's mind. We're kind of numb. In fact, like daredevils who don't feel alive without risking death, we're kind of numb. We're kind of numb. There are several constituencies in America now trying to summon ever more outlandish and totalizing experiences, just, I think, to no shock again."

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

"As Eli Lake shows in his podcast, Breaking History attempts to retell incidents or moments of the last, say, three generations to remind people of the craziness that has overtaken America at certain periods."

Miami, Florida, United States

"If you examine the list at the top of this letter and consider the new tariff regime, these have unpredictable consequences for all of us and we're unable to do much, if anything, about them."

Dallas, Texas, United States

"In the order delivered to the administration and received and who decided to ignore the order number one and number two what were the what are the genuine constitutional grounds for using the alien enemies act of 1798 to override more common understandings of of of due process and from what I can tell and I know I'm reading liberal accounts of this or something like that he basically cut the guy's head off."

California, United States

"And I would submit that those two events, you couldn't have Donald Trump without Bill Clinton saying, I did not have sex with that woman. So even though that was almost 20 years earlier than Donald Trump's election."

Washington DC, United States

"We're going to begin today with a treat. The treat is, I've been telling you for several months now that you needed to sign up at commentary.org to become a daily subscriber to Abe Greenwald's newsletter produced in the afternoons. And yesterday, Abe wrote, I think, his best, or one of his best, that sets the extraordinarily dramatic events of yesterday."

Massachusetts, United States

"There are several constituencies in America now trying to summon ever more outlandish and totalizing experiences, just, I think, to no shock again. They want fresh conspiracies on an endless loop. They want UFOs to land. They want their ayahuasca visions."

Moscow, Russian Federation

"that global events had unleashed the forces of chaos because the world had gone insane."

Cairo Item ID	48394
Cairo Source ID	60
Retrieved	2025-04-05 05:30:49 UTC
Curated	2025-04-05 06:08:20 UTC

How Did We Get Here?

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Places mentioned