An Appalled Republican Considers the Future of the G.O.P.
About this episode
Conservative thinker Yuval Levin reflects on the Republican Party's condition after the Trump presidency and the January 6 attack on the Capitol. Levin, who worked in the George W. Bush White House, argues the GOP's deeper problem is a decades-long turn against institutions, including Congress, parties, churches, and universities, which has left conservatives with grievance but no governing project. He traces the party from Reagan through the Tea Party to Marjorie Taylor Greene, contending that Trump exploited rather than created these dynamics. Klein presses him on whether a party organized around cultural resentment can recover, on the filibuster and HR1, and on what a constructive conservative agenda might look like. Levin calls for rebuilding institutions from the inside rather than tearing them down.