Trump, Nihilism, and the Crisis of Virtue (w/ Dr. Cornel West)

🦩 This episode originally aired on March 5, 2025. Get new episodes early at patreon.com/CurrentAffairs!

Dr. Cornel West is one of the most electric and morally serious voices in American public life. A philosopher, theologian, activist, and jazzman of the intellect, West fuses the prophetic traditions of Black Christianity with a ferocious critique of capitalism, empire, and nihilism. His books—from Race Matters to Democracy Matters to The Ethical Dimensions of Marxist Thought—confront the spiritual decay of our age with love, courage, and uncompromising honesty. Dr. West joins Current Affairs to reflect on the collapse of civic virtue in the American empire, the nihilistic impulse at the core of Trumpism, and the moral cowardice of our ruling elites. He challenges us to resist both neofascism and neoliberalism not with smugness or cynicism, but with a blues-soaked spirituality rooted in historical memory and genuine care for the most vulnerable.

“The blues is about wrestling with catastrophe but never allowing catastrophe to have the last word, because we have a love and a courage and a joy inside of us that can never be taken away.” —Dr. Cornel West