Fareed Zakaria Thinks Steve Bannon Got One Thing Right

What It Covers

Fareed Zakaria discusses his book Age of Revolutions with Ezra Klein, examining how far-right populism emerged from technological disruption, cultural backlash, and the collapse of traditional gatekeepers rather than purely economic grievances across Western democracies.

Key Questions Answered

• •Political realignment mechanics: Voters shifted from economic to cultural voting patterns over forty years. Previously, income predicted votes reliably—blue collar workers voted left, white collar right. Now voters earning above median income favor Democrats while those below favor Republicans, driven by immigration and cultural issues rather than economic policy preferences.
• •Immigration system breakdown: The asylum process designed for thousands of political dissidents now serves as the primary gateway for millions of economic migrants. People crossing borders run toward police to claim credible fear of persecution, gaming a loophole that cartels exploit. Shutting this down is essential before reforming legal immigration categories and skill-based versus family reunification ratios.
• •Technology's hierarchical impact: Radio in the nineteen twenties created one-to-many broadcast systems that reinforced authoritarian hierarchy and enabled fascism. Today's distributed network systems where every node holds equal power produce the opposite—collapsing hierarchy, empowering extreme voices, and enabling anyone who creates viral content to rise, fundamentally disadvantaging traditional center-left politicians who rely on institutional authority.
• •Meritocracy's empathy problem: The shift from old boys networks to merit-based elites improved diversity and competence but created smugness. When people believe they earned everything through skill, they also believe those at the bottom deserve their status, forgetting that luck, timing, and random opportunities determine most success, leading to less empathy for the poor.
• •Housing as political litmus test: Affordability in blue cities depends entirely on dramatically increasing supply through market mechanisms, not review committees or incremental reforms. The left's 10-step review processes contrast with the right's ability to simply execute, revealing a fundamental implementation gap that undermines progressive governance credibility on the issue voters care about most in urban areas.