Trump Is Building the Blue Scare

This is McCarthyism 2.0. Since Charlie Kirk’s assassination, the Trump administration has been speed-running an attack on the “radical left.” And the tactics it has been using are darkly reminiscent of the Red Scare of the 1940s and ’50s. So what can that period teach us about the current moment and what the Trump administration might do next? How far could this go? Corey Robin is a political theorist at Brooklyn College. He’s an expert on McCarthyism and the author of the book “The Reactionary Mind,” one of the most insightful books you can read on the Trumpist right. In this conversation, he walks through what happened in the first and second Red Scares and what made him start worrying about the Trump administration. This episode contains strong language. Mentioned: Red Scare by Clay Risen “ How Democrats Drove Silicon Valley Into Trump’s Arms ” by Ross Douthat The Furies by Arno J. Mayer Book Recommendations: On the Slaughter by Hayim Nahman Bialik Naming Names by Victor S. Navasky Citizen Marx by Bruno Leipold Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com. You can find the transcript and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podca…