248 - Richard Wolff: Trump, Hitler, and the End of the American Empire
Robinson's Podcast13 Huhti 2025

248 - Richard Wolff: Trump, Hitler, and the End of the American Empire

Richard Wolff is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a visiting professor at The New School, where he works on economics in the Marxist tradition. This is Richard’s eighth appearance on Robinson’s Podcast. In his last appearance, episode #243, he and Robinson discussed 2025 and the first weeks of Trump’s presidency, as well as what’s to come. More particularly, they discuss the irrelevance of Donald Trump, his domestic and global policies, China, narratives on the right and left, and the future of the United States. In this episode, they continue the discussion by diving deeper into recent events, Doge, Elon Musk, the relationship between Trump and Hitler, and important historical Marxists. Richard’s latest book is Understanding Capitalism (Democracy at Work, 2024).


Understanding Capitalism (Book): https://www.democracyatwork.info/understanding_capitalism


Richard’s Website: https://www.rdwolff.com


Economic Update: https://www.democracyatwork.info/economicupdate


OUTLINE

00:00:00 Introduction

00:01:27 What Do Trump and Hitler Have in Common?

00:09:42 Is This the Democratic Party’s Worst Crisis?

00:14:58 Is Trump’s Economic Policy a Hail Mary?

00:26:29 The Mexican Deportation Crisis

00:30:19 Global Retaliation Against American Tariffs

00:33:29 America’s Big Mistake with Russian Sanctions

00:40:50 Trump’s Big TikTok Mistake

00:47:05 How Adolf Hitler Came to Power in Germany

01:08:40 Does Elon Musk Symbolize the End of America?

01:16:07 How Bosses Lie When They Fire You

01:23:08 On Elon Musk’s Chainsaw Public Relations Disaster

01:28:52 On the Drowning American Empire

01:34:36 On Elon Musk and the Self-Destruction of Tesla

01:39:27 Feudalism, Communism, and the Death of Capitalism

01:46:22 Does China Represent a New Breed of Capitalism?

01:55:16 What Can the United States Do to Beat China?

02:03:46 What Makes Mao an Important Marxist?

02:17:56 Richard Wolff’s Mediocre Ivy League Education

02:23:59 How Mao Made the China of Today

02:40:39 The Myth of European Global Dominance

02:52:08 On Antonio Gramsci and Mussolini

02:57:03 Why Is Gramsci One of the Great Marxists?


Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com


Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.

Jaksot(276)

20 - Philip Guison: Ice Cream Novelties

20 - Philip Guison: Ice Cream Novelties

Philip studied neuroscience at the University of Michigan and is one of Robinson’s oldest friends. In this episode, Robinson forced Philip to eat ice cream novelties with him and talk about those nove...

29 Syys 20221h 35min

19 - Nick Huggett: Paradoxes of Motion, Quantum Gravity, & String Theory

19 - Nick Huggett: Paradoxes of Motion, Quantum Gravity, & String Theory

Nick Huggett is a philosopher of physics and science at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Before that, he studied physics and philosophy at Oxford and received his PhD at Rutgers. Despite not hav...

26 Syys 20221h 15min

18 - Demitrios Haldes: Ice Cream

18 - Demitrios Haldes: Ice Cream

Contrary to popular belief, Demitrios Haldes (@infinitemonkeybusiness) is neither the last scion of Herakles nor the superintendent of a crayon factory, but a comic illustrator and writer. He and Robi...

22 Syys 20221h 23min

17 - Richard Kimberly Heck: Monstrous Female Sexuality, Porn Villains, Anal Sex, & the Ethics of Fantasies

17 - Richard Kimberly Heck: Monstrous Female Sexuality, Porn Villains, Anal Sex, & the Ethics of Fantasies

Richard Kimberly Heck has been a professor of philosophy at Brown University since 2005, at which time they left their post at Harvard, where they had taught for over a decade. On the way to receiving...

19 Syys 20221h 49min

16 - Ezekiel Quittner-Strom: Instant Noodles & Internal Medicine

16 - Ezekiel Quittner-Strom: Instant Noodles & Internal Medicine

Ezekiel Quittner-Strom is a physician doing his residency in internal medicine at the University of Iowa. In this episode Robinson and Ezekiel eat instant noodles and talk about them while they eat th...

15 Syys 20221h 10min

15 - Caroline Hudson: Snack Cakes, Facelifts, Botox, & Wrinkle Prevention

15 - Caroline Hudson: Snack Cakes, Facelifts, Botox, & Wrinkle Prevention

Caroline Hudson is a facial plastic surgeon completing her fellowship in Palo Alto, California. She and Robinson discuss *almost* all things facial, ranging from wrinkles and filler to sewing teeny ti...

12 Syys 20221h 12min

14 - Michael Harris: Number Theory, Creativity in Mathematics, & Beauty

14 - Michael Harris: Number Theory, Creativity in Mathematics, & Beauty

Michael Harris is a mathematician at Columbia University, where he primarily works on number theory. He did his undergraduate studies at Princeton and received his PhD from Harvard. Professor Harris a...

8 Syys 20221h 14min

13 - Ethan Hoppe: Violin, Classical Music, & Stage Fright

13 - Ethan Hoppe: Violin, Classical Music, & Stage Fright

Ethan Hoppe is a violinist and technical sergeant in the United States Air Force. He studied violin at Northwestern and Yale before the pandemic changed the trajectory of his career. Robinson and Etha...

5 Syys 20221h 13min

Suosittua kategoriassa Tiede

rss-mita-tulisi-tietaa
tiedekulma-podcast
rss-duodecim-lehti
docemilia
mielipaivakirja
rss-ranskaa-raakana
rss-tervetta-skeptisyytta
utelias-mieli
hippokrateen-vastaanotolla
rss-bios-podcast
rss-poliisin-mieli
rss-duokkari-ekstra
rss-tiedetta-vai-tarinaa
rss-kasvikutsut