Philosopher Michael Sandel on What Trump’s Win Says About American Society | Amanpour and Company

To make sense of the election, we must first understand the discontent that gave Donald Trump the victory. This is the theory of Harvard professor and political philosopher Michael Sandel. He joins the show to discuss the polarization that fueled Trump's campaign, and the failure of the Democrats to present themselves as the party of change.

Originally aired on November 15, 2024

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[ljoc]

Americans have decided that success equals money. The success of a nation however should not be determined by how many billionaires a country has, but rather by how few poor they have.

[Jesse-vh]

The people who make $700 an hour have convinced the people who make $25 an hour that the problem is the people who make $7.50 an hour.

[bryinthe]

"The forest was shrinking, but the trees kept voting for the axe, for the axe was clever and convinced the trees that because his handle was made of wood, he was one of them." - Turkish proverb

[MarshaLanigan-spvr]

The message "you don't work hard enough and that is why you don't get ahead" is and has been the message of the right for at least 2 decades. Did I miss something?

[heronimousbrapson]

Society may be broken, but you don't fix anything by electing leaders who will break it even more.

[davidrink]

I’m 78 years old, a working man who never got a college degree, and a lifelong democrat. Because of my parents, who were educated, and some really good teachers in the public school system I grew up with a love of learning, both by reading and experience and eventually learned a trade that required me to work with both my hands and my mind . Because of a love of knowledge instilled in me at an early age I learned many trades and became sucessfull. One thing. i never quite understood about what I heard from so many of the men I worked with was the attitude of “I don’t need no book leaning”. To blame this on liberals is too simplistic and the roots of his attitude go way back and run deep.

[lpquagmire]

"They say that patriotism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel clings. Steal a little and they throw you in jail. Steal a lot and they make you king." -- Bob Dylan

[wanderlustworldschooling]

It sounds like this guy didn’t hear a thing that Harris said during her campaign or pay attention to anything that Biden did during his administration. 🤷🏻‍♀️
I agree with everything he said- but that’s precisely why I aligned with the Biden/Harris administration. I didn’t vote for him in 2020. But I sure grew to respect him and appreciate him throughout the past 4 years because he was the first president in my lifetime to actually care about the issues this guy said were important.
I’ve never heard a politician talk about the dignity of work or hard work is good work.
I’ve never seen a president support labor unions like Biden did. I’ve never seen a president actually deliver something that personally benefited ME!
The fact that I agree with every ailment he mentioned, but that I also realized that Biden paid attention to those gripes and DELIVERED, tells me that the problem isn’t the focus or attention to these matters- it’s that no one knew that he had done so.
Biden should have been hailed like Sully landing the plane in the Hudson after what he accomplished.

[kathleentrinity]

As a retired teacher, I have always felt that public schools are at the core of shared community,
democracy, the rule of law, and respect for humanity. It saddens me that the trend toward more private schools and some magnet schools often leaves neighborhood schools with fewer and fewer students and fewer resources.

[terrymckenzie]

I am a daughter of the rust belt working class. For 45 years the Republican Party has stoked resentment between economic classes and directed it toward the people at the bottom of the ladder, and told them all REPEATEDLY that the "Deomocrats" (and I am not one) hated and looked down on them. The entire economy has been re-made in favor of those at the top of the pyramid. I lived through the deindustrialization of Detroit/Pontiac/Flint, MI. There were definitely people there who could have benefited from and would have loved MEANINGFUL job re-training programs but instead had to take whatever piecemeal, low paid employment to keep their families housed and fed. And the focus on "the working class" as a primarily White, male, industrial class has not been true for DECADES. The "working class" is increasingly made up of low wage workers, people of color, and women. Jobs that USED to be middle class have become "gig" jobs. Or, newer employees in the same jobs as older employees are paid at lower pay scales. Private equity has purchased entire industries all across the country, making services unaffodable. Plumbing businesses, veterinary and human group medical practices, hospitals--even cemeteries -- are now owned by PE firms who have made every aspect of life beyond the reach of normal human beings. In Chicago, the two and three family homes that gave families a leg up are being purchased as tear downs so developers can build shoddily slapped together "Luxury" condos which sell for double and triple what an entire two or three flat did in the 2010s. Yes, people are furious. Trump and his lunatics are blaming immigrants for what people like those who funded his run like the venture capitalist fever dream investment it is--the Thiels and Andreassons, and Sachs of the crypto bro, billionaire fascists think is their due, was certainly not the answer, but if we are all going down, a lot of people are ready to burn it down. THAT'S what this election was about. Think Jesse Ventura as MN Governor in the late 90s. A joke. Because most people who voted for him lack the framework or the imagination to imagine the craven contempt with which our most basic govt functions are being approached, just one week in.

[stuvo]

I am a working person without a college degree. I voted for Kamala Harris. She was a better choice. Trump won't do a damn thing for working people.

[terri]

Ludicrous explanation. Just look at Obamacare as one example. The GOP voters do not want to be helped by any Dem policy. They are taught to shout "socialism!!" anytime the Dems try to help the poor people and working class.

[artmcteagle]

George Carlin summed it up best; "Ignorant people will elect ignorant leaders, it's that simple."

[barrymoore]

Trump is a candidate of change, all right, but change in all the wrong ways.

[stacysmith]

Bernie Sanders had the antidote, repeating on the campaign trail that “we’re all in this together, ” was hugely inspiring and popular, but the dems knee-capped him, and now here we are

[globalpeace]

I have been telling people along these lines for last 10 years. I am an Ivy League graduate, but I see the pain of the people because my eyes and heart are open, and it hurts me when I see a lot of people are going through so much pain. I try my best to help as many people as I can, but I am not the wealthiest person. So I try to help with my skills, mentorship, time and service. My wife is a teacher, who is smarter than me but I see the suffering of teachers. I am politically centrist. I have friends who supported Trump and who supported Democrats, but they both are suffering, except few people in high-tech industries. I will say to both parties - please wake up and listen to ordinary people, common people who make this great nation. Thank you!

[geraldosborn]

Republicans have consistently voted against public education & expanding health care. These are the very things this fellow says we need more of to benefit the most. (He even credited Western Europe for doing this to create a more egalitarian society than we now have here). Germany has opened its public Universities to the world, tuition-free. Education includes way more than "going to college." Germany has for a long time developed a wide range of pathways to a good living through skilled trade programs and partnerships with apprentice programs through manufacturers. The major issues of anger here have been stoked & nurtured by the toxic spread of mis- & even deliberate dis-information. Fox, Newsmax, OAN & Breitbart et. al. have been very successful at inciting anger & grievance as a business model & have been extraordinarily successful at this. This is continuing even after Fox was fined 3/4 of a billion dollars for broadcasting information they knew to be untrue and Smartmatic is not even done with them yet. Even the private Fox emails, made public during the investigation, indicated they ridicule & poke fun at the very audience they incite. Just an expense of doing business so full speed ahead. How about another conspiracy theory.

[matthewprice]

The Biden presidency was the most focused on the concerns of working people since LBJ if not FDR and was frequently blocked by Trump and the Republicans. This alone seriously undermines Mr Sandel's argument.

[EmilyTienne]

The poor and rural people chose Trump for their salvation. But this is like chickens looking to Colonel Sanders as their hero. That said, Democrats need to deliver real results to middle America. Jobs, safe communities, a sense of dignity.

[randallgregerson]

In watching interviews with many voters, especially MAGA voters, I generally was of TBE impression that so very few understood the policies and issues effecting them directly in their everyday lives. He s wrong in confusing progressive politics and the Democratic Party. Bernie Sanders is progressive. The Democrats, at best, are right of centre. The Democrats alienate people like Bernie, who was a popular candidate on both sides because he does address the issues this guy denies are being addressed. Progressives are not the problem. Big corporations and their influence in politics are the real problem, along with voters who aren't well informed. This is the most generous I can possibly be on this subject.