
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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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.
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.
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.










