LIVE FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE: A Wink and a Nod at Authoritarianism

Full on populism in 2024?

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Tune in to this live recording from our Dispatch event in New Hampshire. Sarah, Steve, Jonah, Mike and Andrew Kline of the Josiah Center for Public Policy discuss the relevancy of Tuesday’s upcoming primary after Iowa, changes to the Republican Party and governing by Twitter feed.

What is The Skiff? This is the combined podcast feed of all of the members-only bonus content that The Dispatch produces. Here you’ll find every Dispatch Live episode, the Dispatch Book Club, AMAs with Jonah (and others), the account of Sarah and Steve’s nail-biting wager in High Steaks, and many, many more exclusive, uncut and ad-free surprises: all available in one superfeed to make sure you don’t miss a single episode.

Show Notes:

-Jonah’s G-file

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Comments (11)
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  1. Karl C

    A point was made by a couple of speakers (maybe Mike and Andrew?) that the decline in number of local papers led to lowering of state borrowing rates and increase in tax rates. This is the daily reminder that correlation does not mean causation.

    I believe a connection _could_ be made but more steps need to be laid out. Regarding the decline and borrowing rates, a stronger case can be made that the decline of U.S. interest rates is the primary driver, which coincides with a period of the decline in the number of local papers. Regarding the spread over Treasuries, I’d find it hard to believe lenders/investors no longer got the local papers, shrugged, and decided to be more favorable with their lending.

    That being said, I wholeheartedly agree that the lack of local coverage has basically eliminated the main watchdog over local governments.

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  2. Kungfurocketman

    The point about the judiciary being unlikely to go along with authoritarianism in a second Trump presidency is likely correct but might also be irrelevant. If Trump replaces all of the important executive agency staff with loyal yes-men, as he has said he will do, then what happens when the courts rule against him and he ignores their decision, ala Andrew Jackson?

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    Addicus

    Member from the audience: "I used to be called a civil servant. Now I'm a bureaucrat. We're not all bad."

    Yes! Thank-you! All the hard working folks that keep the planes in the air, the power flowing through the dams, the checks in the mail and a thousand other things are not the bad guys.

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  4. Bigdonmck

    Just wondering...$20 to attend this event, I believe. Previous events were free? This crowd was smaller than previous crowds. At least that is my impression and that surprised me. I'd pay $20 to listen to this crew.

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      Wade Paulsen

      The $20 fee wasn't the issue driving the smaller turnout; it was the location in Concord, NH and the external temperature (16 degrees F at the end of the event). I drove up from Middlesex County, Massachusetts, the suburban Boston county (including Cambridge) that is on the border of New Hampshire, and it took me almost two hours to get there (but only about 30 minutes of that was due to heavy rush-hour traffic). Concord itself is tiny for a state capital, although at least it is larger than Montpelier, VT -- so the turnout was actually about what I expected. (And, as Jonah mentioned, in New Hampshire, you NEVER mention being there from Massachusetts.)

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      1. Bigdonmck

        Thanks for the info. Being from the South Side of Chicago where we just spent almost 2 straight days below zero i should have known. Have a good one.

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  5. HR⚕️

    I appreciated Jonah's point about the incremental nature of turnover for the judiciary. Implications maybe should be preserving trust and deference toward our justices and judicial institutions. I don't see people (at least people like me) having any meaningful faith in the ability of our legislative institutions to carry our country forward in a positive way.

    And, Sarah, hold the phone! David French once considered running for President?! I'd love some background on how that came about and how it finally fizzled...might be good fodder on a slow news day on the Dispatch's flagship podcast some day?

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  6. Sarah

    Thank you so much for recording the event. I always appreciate at least be able to see/hear afterwards what I wish I could have attended in person.

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    Pastorfbt

    With all due respect we needed to hear more from the panel and a tad less from the moderator. This isn't the McLaughlin Group.

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      Wade Paulsen

      As an attendee, I appreciated that Sarah was trying to set up the questions to get more of a response from the panel.

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  8. Ajperkowski

    Sarah brought up that state governments seem to be doing more these days (minute 54 or 55-ish) and Steve, referencing Yuval Levin, pointed out that state governments appear to be doing what they are doing better than much of our federal government. Steve also made the point that journalistic and press scrutiny of state governments is at a low level currently. Apropos Levin, and much other discussion here at The Dispatch, could these phenomena be partly related: the less of a platform (in the Levinian sense) that participating in state government gives you, the more it disincentives performative personalities from participating and the more space it makes for individuals actually interested in governance to be involved. Ironically, could it then also mean that if/when journalistic scrutiny of state governments does eventually increase, we’ll see a similar decay in the capability of the particular state governments so covered to maintain a high level of competence and effectiveness as perches for performative personalities are created? Food for thought, at least.

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