George Packer: Identity Politics and the Decline of U.S. Institutions

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes New Yorker staff writer George Packer for a discussion of the US political landscape. Packer recounts the insights he derived in researching and writing The Unwinding, his 2013 book about the US in the wake of the 2008 economic collapse. In the conversation, he traces the rise of the white working class, the failure of the Democratic Party to address their interests, and the emergence of Trump as a representative of enraged voters in the 2016 election. He identifies the 4 narratives that define the divisions in the US today. Packer concludes with an analysis of leadership and ideas that might change America in the future.