To keep the gravy train going for mostly white 1-percenters and prop up the plutocracy, political leaders are using toxic populism with a racially infused culture-war strategy to stay in power—a strategy led by Trump and playing out daily in his tweet storms, according to political scientists and authors of Let Them Eat Tweets Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson.
Join Hacker and Pierson for a discussion about their book, followed by a panel of EPI experts on what can be done to derail this distorted political influence by the rich and derail rising inequality. EPI President Thea Lee will moderate, and EPI’s Larry Mishel, distinguished fellow, and Jaimie Worker, senior state policy coordinator for the Economic Analysis and Research Network (EARN) at EPI, will also be panelists.
“The historical record reveals a clear pattern. Whenever economic elites have grossly disproportionate power and come to see their economic interest as opposed to those of ordinary citizens, they are likely to promote social division,” Hacker and Pierson write.
Who:
Jacob S. Hacker, Stanley B. Resor Professor of Political Science and Director of the Institution for Social and Policy Studies, Yale University
Paul Pierson, John Gross Endowed Chair and Professor of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley
Larry Mishel, Distinguished Fellow, Economic Policy Institute
Jaimie Worker, Senior State Policy Coordinator, Economic Policy Institute
Moderated by Thea Lee, President, Economic Policy Institute
What: A book discussion, followed by a panel on derailing distorted political influence and rising inequality.
When: Thursday, August 6
3:30 p.m.—5:00 p.m. ET / 12:30 p.m.—2:00 p.m. PT
EPI will be live-streaming this event on YouTube on August 6 starting at 3:30 p.m. ET / 12:30 p.m PT. Just click on the video below at that time.