Fareed Zakaria, CNN host and political commentator, and David Rubenstein, Trinity ‘70, former chairman of the Board of Trustees and co-founder and co-chairman of the Carlyle Group, spoke at a Tuesday event in Page Auditorium about the rise of populism and how colleges can counter these national trends.
Sponsored by the Duke Program in American Grand Strategy, the Duke Centennial and the political science department, the talk was a part of the AGS Ambassador Dave & Kay Phillips Family International Lecture Series. Peter Feaver, AGS director and professor of political science, moderated the discussion.
The speakers began by discussing Zakaria’s new book, “Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present,” which Zakaria described as working to explain President Joseph Biden’s historically low approval ratings despite a U.S. economy that is doing well on paper.
He explained that people’s sentiments about the economy have historically been the most powerful predictor of a president’s approval ratings. Now, he claims the strongest predictors of how a person will vote are the “three G’s: gays, God and guns.”
“We are going through a period of great backlash against … 30 or 40 years of extraordinary fast-moving progress: globalization, technological innovation, [the] information revolution,” Zakaria said. “... What is making people uneasy and making them feel like that we’re in a world out of control is the sense of cultural drift, change, revolution.”
Rubenstein attributed the rise of populism in the United States to feelings of disenfranchisement among white Americans, who feel less in control of the country as minority groups grow in population.
Zakaria added that in 1974, the U.S. was approximately 4% foreign-born. Today, that number has grown to close to 15%. He believes these growing minority groups, as well as the emancipation of women — which he called “the biggest social change we have experienced in our lifetimes” — pushed many to feel that their lives were being upended.
“There’s been a recognition, I think, by Donald Trump and others that there’s a lot of people out there who feel [they’ve] been left behind,” Rubenstein said.
Zakaria believes Trump has taken advantage of many Americans’ desire to return to a time when things made sense with his slogan “Make America Great Again,” emphasizing that the word “again” promises to take Americans back to a time before these social changes occurred.
Highlighting the danger of Trump’s populist appeal, Zakaria called the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol attack a “watershed event” marking “the first time an American president tried to block the peaceful transfer of power.” He said that a part of the Republican Party has devolved into a platform-less group that follows what Trump says.
Zakaria and Rubenstein then discussed why "better" candidates do not seem to run for president. Rubenstein lamented that the U.S. does not have more exceptional candidates running for president, especially scholars or people who are not career politicians.
Zakaria mentioned that voters tend to vote for extreme candidates on either side of the political spectrum.
“These are the people who have the most extreme [and] passionate [views]," he said. "And now with social media, much of the agenda and debate is dominated by Twitter."
He also mentioned the importance of campaign money in contributing to the lack of high-quality candidates, calling the U.S. "the only country in the world that believes that money is speech."
“If you believe that, if you believe that there's no difference between somebody giving a billion dollars to super PACs and somebody writing an op-ed, first of all, it seems to me you need your head examined," Zakaria said.
Discourse on college campuses
Rubenstein and Zakaria also discussed how college campuses can shift toward a discourse that counters populist national trends.
Zakaria emphasized the importance of free speech on college campuses, referencing the congressional hearing that led to the resignation of former Harvard President Claudine Gay. He agreed with Gay's argument that universities ought to protect free speech, no matter how offensive.
However, he believes that the university made the mistake of classifying certain types of speech, like anti-Black speech, as hate speech but classifying anti-Jewish or anti-Zionist speech as free speech.
“You can't have it both ways,” Zakaria said. “If you believe in liberalism, you have to be fair, you have to have the same standards.”
Rubenstein said that he believes the most important skills a college can teach students are a love of reading, strong writing skills, oral communication skills and how to lead by example. He emphasized that learning these four skills, rather than any particular subject, is key to ensuring that college graduates are informed and critically thinking as they move on to the next phase of life.
For Rubenstein, the key to keeping the country headed in a positive direction is prioritizing the education system and universities, which he called the “crown jewel” of American society.
“Almost anybody can get a college education if they really want one and get a very good one if they really work hard,” Rubenstein said. “I think that's one of the reasons why our education system, while it's criticized, is still the envy of the world.”
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Zoe Spicer is a Trinity senior and an enterprise editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.