Know Your Enemy

Bomb Power (w/ Erik Baker)

32 snips
Dec 19, 2023
Erik Baker, Harvard University lecturer, and editor at The Drift magazine joins the podcast to discuss Garry Wills' book 'Bomb Power' which explores how the development of nuclear weapons transformed US democracy, empowering the presidency and enabling secrecy, deception, and clandestine war. They cover topics such as presidential power, secrecy, the unconstitutionality of bomb power, and the president as commander in chief. They also touch on figures like Snowden and Ellsberg, and the book's profound Catholic perspective.
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INSIGHT

Bomb Power's Impact

  • Gary Wills argues that the atomic bomb fundamentally changed American democracy.
  • It empowered the presidency and created a permanent war footing.
INSIGHT

Perpetual Warfare

  • The atomic bomb created a state of perpetual warfare.
  • The threat of total annihilation leads to permanent war.
INSIGHT

Structural Focus

  • Wills emphasizes the structural impacts of the bomb.
  • These structures create a logic that unfolds beyond individual control.
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