New book ‘The Rebels’ explores how populists have transformed the Democratic Party

Geoff Bennett:

Between the House GOP's government funding fight and former President Donald Trump's hold on the Republican Party, much has been made of the far right's strong sway over the GOP and its agenda.

But what doesn't get nearly as much attention is the far left's influence in the Democratic Party.

I sat down last week with Joshua Green to discuss just that. It's the focus of his latest book called "The Rebels: Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and the Struggle For a New American Politics."

Joshua Green, welcome to the "NewsHour."

Joshua Green, Author, "The Rebels: Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and the Struggle For a New American Politics": Good to be with you. Thanks.

Geoff Bennett:

In the book, you trace the rise of the modern-day progressive movement to the 2008 financial crisis.

How was that a clarifying moment and a catalyst for progressive politics and progressive politicians?

Joshua Green:

I mean, to me, the 2008 crash in its aftermath was the defining event in recent U.S. political history.

And then it gave rise to this furious populist backlash on the right, which eventually gave rise to Donald Trump, but also on the left, which gave rise to my characters, first Elizabeth Warren, then Bernie Sanders, who nearly succeeded in winning the Democratic nomination in 2016, and then ultimately to this new generation of younger progressives, such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the cohort around her in Congress.

Geoff Bennett:

You mentioned Elizabeth Warren.

And in the book, you explore how she ultimately emerged at the center of the government's response to the financial crisis. And, at the time, she was an unlikely voice in that regard. Walk us through her evolution, based on your reporting.

Joshua Green:

Yes, Warren is a fascinating figure. I got to know her just after the crisis. She was still a Harvard law professor, but she had just been appointed one of the overseers of the government's bailout of Wall Street after the crash.

And she used that fairly obscure position as a platform to really go after the Obama administration, the banks, and articulate this version of left-wing populism that really hadn't had a voice in recent American political history. It wound up catching fire, really starting a movement. And within a few years, even before she ran for Senate in 2012, people in Washington would talk about the Elizabeth Warren wing of the Democratic Party.

So it helped give rise to this new brand of progressivism that we saw rise up in the wake of the crisis.

Geoff Bennett:

And fast-forward to the current moment. How do you view the progressive influence on President Biden's agenda? Because you could argue that he has governed like an economic populist and in many ways far less than the centrist Democrat that he was expected to be, given his long track record.

Joshua Green:

Which is really a remarkable evolution.

I mean, when I first came to Washington as a reporter in 2000, Biden was a senator from Delaware, was known as a great friend of business, was sometimes jokingly referred to as the senator from corporate America. I think Biden's evolution in particular has been an interesting one, because he was in the White House with Barack Obama as his vice president when that first crash hit, and then, when he was elected president, inherited another great economic crash that followed the COVID pandemic.

And the response to those two crashes, I think, illustrates what an effect these populists have had. After COVID, Biden put in place multiple rounds of stimulus, unemployment benefits, student loan freezes, small business loans, but all of it focused on the middle class in a way that hadn't necessarily been true of the response to the '08 crisis.

And so, when you hear Biden speak today about the economy, he talks about building it from the middle out. He shows up on union picket lines. He does things that would have been fairly unimaginable for a centrist Democrat to do 10, 15 or 20 years ago.

Geoff Bennett:

What is it about the Democratic brand of populism that's different from the kind of populism that Trump supporters prefer?

Joshua Green:

Well, the populism that I write about with Warren, Bernie and Ocasio-Cortez is really focused on economic populism.

And I think my last book, "Devil's Bargain," was about the rise of Steve Bannon and Donald Trump in right-wing populism. And mostly, I think that's focused on a kind of cultural populism, a lot of anger toward immigration, America first nationalism. Certainly, there are some economic components. Trump is very hawkish toward trade. He's put in place — he put in place steel tariffs the Biden administration has kept in place.

There are areas of overlap. But, to me, it's the cultural element that distinguishes the right-wing populism from the left-wing populism that I write about in this book.

Geoff Bennett:

What about the politicians themselves? Is there a ceiling of support for progressive candidates?

Democrats who might support progressive policies, there hasn't been enough support from the Democratic base to propel one of the progressive politicians into the White House.

Joshua Green:

You know, it's an interesting question, because, if you go back to 2019, I was embedded with Warren and with Sanders for a time during the Democratic primaries, when they were both running for president.

It seemed like in the moment that progressive politics was really taking off, and yet neither one of them emerged as the Democratic nominee, partly because there were two of them running and they split the progressive vote.

But, really, I think there is a ceiling on candidates who are explicitly described — defined as left-wing progressives in Democratic primaries. It's really only in deep blue places like Ocasio-Cortez's district in New York and a few other places where these true left-wing progressives, democratic socialists, have been able to get themselves elected.

But we have seen in a lot of races since then, in Democratic primaries and general elections, that they try and they fail. So, one of the arguments I make in the book is, the future of this brand of progressivism may not be through these particular politicians, but through politicians like Joe Biden, who kind of code as more moderate, as more centrist, but who still take up and put into place a lot of the politics that my characters gave rise to.

Geoff Bennett:

The book is "The Rebels: Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and the Struggle For a New American Politics."

Joshua Green, thanks for coming in. Good to talk to you.

Joshua Green:

Thanks so much, Geoff. Appreciate it.