In this episode of The Moynihan Report, host Michael Moynihan sits down with Thomas Chatterton Williams, author of The Summer of Our Discontent, to analyze the period from 2020 to the present. They discuss how the "crazy" cultural "excesses" and "exaggerated claims of oppression" stemming from 2020 created an inevitable and "harsh" backlash that helped Donald Trump return to power. Williams shares his personal evolution on racial identity, explaining how living in France and having a white-passing daughter led him to reject the "American skin game" and advocate for "abolishing" race as a "fiction" , a stance that put him in direct conflict with Ibram X. Kendi. Williams, a co-writer of the 2020 Harper's Letter , also gives an insider's perspective on the letter's simple premise defending open debate and the intense, misguided backlash from signatories like Jennifer Finney Boylan. Finally, Williams defends his recent controversial article comparing the political weaponization of George Floyd as a "secular saint" by the left and Charlie Kirk as a "martyr" by the right to enforce ideological consensus , concluding that while the current moment is dangerous, he remains an optimist.
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