The Politics of Petulance

How did we get into this mess? Every morning, many Americans ask this as, with a cringe, they pick up their phones and look to see what terrible thing President Trump has just said or done. Regardless of what hes complaining about or whom hes attacking, a second question comes hard on the heels of the first: How on earth do we get out of this? Alan Wolfe has an answer. In The Politics of Petulance he argues that the core of our problem isnt Trump himselfits that we are mired in an age of political immaturity. That immaturity is not grounded in any one ideology, nor is it a function of age or education. Its in an abdication of valuing the character of would-be leaders; its in a failure to acknowledge, even welcome the complexity of government and society; and its in a loss of the ability to be skeptical without being suspicious. In 2016, many Americans were offered tantalizingly simple answers to complicated problems, and, like children being offered a lunch of Pop Rocks and Coke, they reflexivelyand mindlesslyaccepted. The good news, such as it is, is that weve been here before. Wolfe reminds us that we know how to grow up and face down Trump and other demagogues. Wolfe reinvigorates the tradition of public engagement exemplified by midcentury intellectuals such as Richard Hofstadter, Reinhold Niebuhr, and Lionel Trillingand he draws lessons from their battles with McCarthyism and conspiratorial paranoia. Wolfe mounts a powerful case that we can learn from them to forge a new path for political intervention today. Wolfe has been thinking and writing about American life and politics for decades. He sees this moment as one of real risk. But hes not throwing up his hands; hes bracing us. Weve faced demagogues before. We can find the intellectual maturity to fight back. Yes we can.