The Glenn Show

TGS Live: Elon Musk's Identity Politics + Robert Wright and John Mearsheimer on the Future of the International Order

Feb 2, 2026
John Mearsheimer, a University of Chicago realist on great-power politics, and Robert Wright, author and commentator on religion, tech, and world affairs, discuss the unraveling rules-based international order. They debate US hypocrisy, Trump’s unilateralism, Gaza and international law, NATO’s future, Greenland and Venezuela, and how identity politics shapes global and domestic tensions.
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INSIGHT

Musk Amplifies Right‑Wing Identity Politics

  • Elon Musk's race‑war rhetoric grants permission to fringe identity politics on the right.
  • Glenn Loury warns this misframes immigration and governance issues as racial conflicts rather than policy problems.
INSIGHT

Identity Politics Eats Into Both Sides

  • Identity politics now shapes both left and right, producing symmetric mobilizing forces.
  • Loury argues this erosion of classical liberal individualism raises the risk of intractable communal conflict.
INSIGHT

Rules‑Based Order Was A Hegemonic Facade

  • The so‑called rules‑based international order often masked American hegemony and hypocrisy.
  • Robert Wright and others say candid acknowledgment of that hypocrisy matters but doesn't justify unilateral law‑breaking.
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