The Trump Assassination Attempt and the Violent Climate of Tribalism

Podcast audio:

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate, Ben Bayer and Elan Journo discuss the Trump assassination attempt and the violent climate of tribalism in our culture.

Among the topics covered:

• The evil of using physical force to settle political disagreements;
• Why it’s important to comment on this event;
• The increasing normalization of political violence in our culture;
• Why it is important to discuss Trump’s failure to discourage political violence;
• The philosophical root of today’s climate – tribalism;
• How tribalism is fueled by the mixed economy and attacks on reason;
• Manifestations of political tribalism in responses to the assassination attempt;
• How tribal thinking differs from the rational pursuit of truth;
• The role of emotions and conspiracies in tribal thinking;
• How to be objective in one’s thinking about political events;
• Why the cause of rising tribalism is philosophical, not political;
• The advantages of one-on-one conversations compared to group conversations.

Mentioned in the discussion are Ayn Rand’s essay “The Missing Link,” and her Ford Hall Forum lectures “Global Balkanization” and “A Nation’s Unity.”

This episode was recorded on July 17, 2024. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Watch previous episodes here.