The Current Fareed Zakaria on MAGA, Trump and backlash politics
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Nov 14, 2025 
Fareed Zakaria, a renowned journalist and author of Age of Revolutions, delves into the dynamics of the MAGA movement, suggesting its emergence was a natural response to rapid societal changes. He discusses the distinction between economic and social status loss, linking community erosion to rising nostalgia and anger. Zakaria emphasizes the historical patterns of backlash, compares Trump’s actions to Mao's Cultural Revolution, and expresses concerns over democratic decay. He also advocates for asylum reform to maintain immigration support amid global anti-elite sentiments.
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Tea Party Showed New Political Fault Line
- The Tea Party revealed a new politics: bottom-up revolt against party establishments, driven by cultural anxieties rather than pure economic policy.
- This signaled a shift from left-right economic battles to a new open-versus-closed political spectrum.
MAGA As Backlash To Openness
- MAGA is primarily a backlash against decades of openness to trade, immigration, diversity, and rapid technological change.
- It combines cultural closure with anti-elitism rooted in distrust from crises like the financial crash and Iraq war.
Livelihoods Remain But Lives Disappear
- Economic data show many countries prospered, but social status and community ties eroded, creating deep identity loss.
- People blame visible targets like immigrants or elites because economic metrics don't capture vanished communal life.
