Are we on the brink of a new and irreversible epoch; one that signals the end of democratic civilization as we have known it?   Hard right political groups like Germany’s AfD party, which has roots in Nazi ideology, have celebrated Trump’s second term along with other extreme European politicians like Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban who announced that he had “downed vodka” in celebration of Trump’s win. 

Cambridge Forum has invited three experts to consider the current political situation, from a US and global perspective. Richard Seymour, a writer and broadcaster from Northern Ireland, has been watching the disturbing political developments in Europe and elsewhere; his latest book, Disaster Nationalism, analyzes the roots, influencers and threats that this global shift poses. 

Sasha Abramsky, political journalist and writing lecturer at UC Davis, is a correspondent for The Nation magazine. Last week, he summarized the chaotic situation in Washington for The Nation; “Trump’s win is a boon to the far right in Europe and beyond. There are certain basic things that an administration is supposed to do in a constitutional democracy, first and foremost is abiding by the law, not physically endangering political opponents and funding government services.”

Michelle Lynn Kahn is an Associate Professor of Modern European History at the University of Richmond, specializing in the history of far-right extremism, racism, and migration. She is writing a book about the transatlantic history of neo-Nazis in Germany and the United States. Her recent book, Foreign in Two Homelands: Racism, Return Migration, and Turkish-German History, was published in 2024. She is the winner of the Fritz Stern Prize of the German Historical Institute and the Chester Penn Higby Prize of the American Historical Association.

This week, Elon Musk and his team, who are “unelected, unvetted and without federal government clearance” wreaked havoc in government offices in the Capitol, to obtain access to sensitive personal data of all U.S. citizens.  Is this assault on our democratic system the beginning of the end?

Speakers

Richard Seymour

Richard Seymour is a London-based author, from Northern Ireland. He is a founding editor of Salvage, and his latest book is Disaster Nationalism.  His writing appears in The Guardian, the New Statesman, and the NYT.

Michelle Lynn Kahn

Michelle Lynn Kahn is an associate professor in Modern European History at the University of Richmond.  Her research specializes in post-1945 Germany and Europe in a global and transnational frame, focusing on racism, far-right extremism, gender and migration.

Sasha Abramsky

Sasha Abramsky is a widely published freelance journalist. The author of ten books, he is currently the Western States correspondent for The Nation magazine; his work has appeared in the Atlantic, the NYT, Salon, Mother Jones, Rolling Stone, the Guardian, the New Statesman among  other publications. His latest book is Chaos Comes Calling: The Battle Against the Far-Right Takeover of Small-Town America.