The Economic Theory Behind J.D. Vance's Populism
About this episode
Klein opens with Trump's selection of J.D. Vance as his running mate, calling Vance an 'ideological pick' who has given Trump's impulses a coherent governing philosophy, then interviews Oren Cass, founder of the conservative think tank American Compass and Mitt Romney's 2012 domestic policy director. Cass argues the emerging right-populist economics rejects GDP growth as the goal: the economy should serve people, not the reverse, prioritizing family formation, stable communities, and human flourishing. He defends broad tariffs as a structural fix for the roughly $1 trillion trade deficit — financed on credit through bond and equity sales — arguing comparative advantage is created, not discovered (citing foreign semiconductor subsidies), and points to Reagan's 1980s auto quotas as a success. Klein pushes back on tariff-driven price hikes and supply-chain complexity. They also spar over whether this populism is substantive or 'populist washing,' given Project 2025 and Agenda 47's anti-union bent.