The Bulwark

The Bulwark

Home
Shows
Newsletters
Special Projects
Events
Founders
Store
Archive
About

Share this post

The Bulwark
The Bulwark
Why Deneenism Fails
User's avatar
Discover more from The Bulwark
The Bulwark is home to Sarah Longwell, Tim Miller, Bill Kristol, JVL, Sam Stein, and more. We are the largest pro-democracy bundle on Substack for news and analysis on politics and culture—supported by a community built on good-faith.
Over 835,000 subscribers
Already have an account? Sign in
Overtime

Why Deneenism Fails

Plus: Is the Law Coming for Erik Prince at Last?

Jim Swift's avatar
Jim Swift
Jun 12, 2023
51

Share this post

The Bulwark
The Bulwark
Why Deneenism Fails
Share

Recently in The Bulwark:

  • CHARLIE SYKES: A Nation On The Brink

  • JVL: Why Do Republicans Have a Selective Ability to Understand the Law? šŸ”

  • BGTHšŸŽ§: Just Don't Call it 'Reality' TV

You can support The Bulwark by subscribing to Bulwark+ or just by sharing this newsletter with someone you think would value it.


GABRIEL SCHOENFELD: Why Deneenism Fails.

IN 2007, WHEN I FIRST ENCOUNTERED the work of Patrick Deneen, a political theorist then at Georgetown and now at Notre Dame, he was propounding the thesis that the world was running out of oil and the entire liberal-democratic edifice, constructed on a foundation of continuous economic growth, was heading for catastrophic collapse.

But later, in his widely discussed 2018 book, Why Liberalism Failed, Deneen silently dropped the ā€œpeak oilā€ thesis. World oil production that year reached an all-time high, perhaps leading to a change of mind. Whatever the case, he was now concerning himself with an entirely different kind of calamity, namely that the United States had become a form of tyranny that he called ā€œliberalocratic despotism,ā€ a tyranny that was rapidly approaching its terminus. He concluded this book with a call for ā€œepicā€ theorizing that would call forth ā€œa new departure in political thinking,ā€ a search for some sort of intellectual structure that could occupy the place of the dying liberalism.

Now Deneen is back with just such a stab at a new departure, a book with the arresting title of Regime Change.

READ THE REST.


šŸŽ„ PODCASTS AND VIDEOS šŸŽ§

Bulwark+ members can listen to an ad-free version of these podcasts on the player of their choice. Learn more at Bulwark+ Podcast FAQ.


ANN MARLOWE: Is the Law Coming for Erik Prince at Last?

ERIK PRINCE—THE COFOUNDER of the controversial private military contractor Blackwater—is one of several right-wing figures recently subpoenaed by federal prosecutors investigating a scheme to spy on progressive groups in Wyoming before the 2020 election. Meanwhile, in an unrelated development largely unnoted in the American press, Prince was indicted with four other individuals in Austria on April 20 for exporting war materials without a license back in 2014 and 2015.

Let’s turn to the Austrian news first. The indictment accuses Prince of using an aircraft-customizing company in which he then held a controlling interest, the Wiener Neustadt-based Airborne Technologies, to retrofit two American cropdusters that were then to be shipped illegally overseas.

READ THE REST.


🚨OVERTIME🚨

Happy Monday! Hope you had a good weekend, unless you planned to travel on I-95 in Philly. This is going to impact a lot of summer trips!

Will Donald Trump be the 2024 GOP nominee? JVL shares his thoughts with the NY Times.

Good Times… at Sinatrapalooza. Matt Labash communes with "fat bastards," french-fry murderers, and guys who wear enough jewelry to open a Zales.

Why Trump was charged… But others were not. A helpful Post explainer in case anyone in your life has a selective ability to understand the law.

Bathrooms have locks! Speaker McCarthy defends Trump’s fake SCIF / shitter.

"I wish I was smarterā€¦ā€ The guy who tased Michael Fanone says in court. The feds are seeking 14 years. I hope he gets every second.

Their civil war is imaginary… but there really are men with guns.

ā€œIt’s possible that Dyer’s style says less about him than it does about where the conservative movement is headed….ā€ Indeed, that was also the conclusion I came to after reading this New Yorker profile of Nick Dyer, an insufferable flack who works for Marjorie Taylor Greene. And looking at the crop of young ā€œconservativesā€ being raised by TPUSA, I’m not optimistic about the future.

Speaking of my pessimism… Here’s a dispatch from Charlie Kirk’s female-oriented TPUSA conference.

Silo is creating something new… Ben Dreyfuss on the hit Apple+ show (that I like very much and highly recommend.)

Italian pasta… Originally from Yuma, Arizona? (Similarly, Tabasco ships its seeds to South America to meet demand.)

Why Was Trump So Intent on Keeping ā€˜My Boxes’? ā€œConservatives assume he would never do anything dangerous or bad with military secretsā€ writes Jonathan Chait.

Our embarrassing senators… Joe Perticone is asking Republican Senators if they’ve read Trump’s indictment. Their answers will not surprise you. (More tomorrow in Press Pass!)

Silvio Berlusconi, dead at 86… This line sticks out: "He had a genius for victimization, which he would fall back on in response to criticism of his policies or of his personal behavior or to investigations into accusations that swirled around him.ā€

ā€œThe Ron DeSantis I knowā€¦ā€ Former Michigan Rep. Justin Amash pens out his thoughts after reviewing his notes about his former colleague.

Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom… Boris Johnson appointed a 29 year old to the House of Lords on his way out.

Meanwhile, in Georgia… Meet the Georgia GOP’s new first vice chair Bryan Pritchard: ā€œHe claims the 2020 election was ā€˜stolen’ from Trump— while he is currently under criminal investigation for voting illegally 9 times while serving a felony sentence.ā€

—30—

Tech support questions? Email members@thebulwark.com. Questions for me? Respond to this message.

Editorial photos provided by Getty Images. For full credits, please consult the article.

Meg Sumner's avatar
Ann Homan's avatar
Richard Cooley's avatar
Barbara King's avatar
Jim Swift's avatar
51 Likes
51

Share this post

The Bulwark
The Bulwark
Why Deneenism Fails
Share
The American Age Is Over
Emergency Triad: The United States commits imperial suicide.
Apr 3 ā€¢ 
Jonathan V. Last
5,379

Share this post

The Bulwark
The Bulwark
The American Age Is Over
1,482
How to Think (and Act) Like a Dissident Movement
AOC, solidarity, and people power.
Mar 24 ā€¢ 
Jonathan V. Last
4,138

Share this post

The Bulwark
The Bulwark
How to Think (and Act) Like a Dissident Movement
1,164
Chaos, Cowards, and Alligator Alcatraz
The gang goes live on this edition of The Next Level.
Jul 2 ā€¢ 
Tim Miller
, 
Jonathan V. Last
, and 
Sarah Longwell
2,487

Share this post

The Bulwark
The Bulwark
Chaos, Cowards, and Alligator Alcatraz
698
1:06:42

Ready for more?

Ā© 2025 Bulwark Media
Privacy āˆ™ Terms āˆ™ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture

Share