“There is a toxic to do list on the Trump agenda, and it will rear its head at the first large-scale crisis,” says Klein.
A decade following the release of her international bestseller, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, Naomi Klein discusses her new book, No Is Not Enough: Resisting Trump’s Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need, with INET President Rob Johnson. “There is a toxic to do list on the Trump agenda, and it will rear its head at the first large-scale crisis,” says Klein.
She discusses the “panic” fueling Trump’s actions, and the dangers inherent in his dominance-based worldview and authoritarian brand. Trump is trying to advance a “radical economic agenda” that will make the lives of working and middle class people worse. Trump will be unable to deliver on his campaign promises to do just the opposite: bring back jobs and restore America to a mythic past, says Klein. With nothing more to offer, she says, he will need to make good on the implicit promise of the “cheap thrills” of asserting dominance over people of color and women.
To resist effectively, Klein says, there has to be a “counter plan.” With preparation—and armed with a sound sense of history and how we got here—diverse social movements need to coalesce around a compelling alternative narrative and vision. Neoliberal economic policies are fueling the rise of fascist tendencies and movements in countries around the world, she says, but “left wing economic populism fights fascism.”
Another key to resisting shock politics, according to Klein: Economics should be part of political science, and “we need economists who understand politics.”