Paul Pierson is the UC Berkeley John Gross Endowed Chair of Political Science. He was our guest in 2022 to comment on the midterm election and in 2020 when his book, co-authored with Jacob Hacker, LET THEM EAT TWEETS: HOW THE RIGHT RULES IN AN AGE OF EXTREME INEQUALITY, was published. They also collaborated on the books, WINNER TAKE ALL POLITICS; and AMERICAN AMNESIA: HOW THE WAR ON GOVERNMENT LED US TO FORGET WHAT MADE AMERICA PROSPER.

We were curious to learn what he was thinking of the first 90 days of the second Trump administration. We spoke with him first via Skype on April 21st, and when Skype refused to function half way through, he graciously agreed to another interview via FaceTime on April 22nd.

Articles pertinent to this interview:

The rise of end times fascism https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/apr/13/end-times-fascism-far-right-trump-musk

Trump Power Flex Over Universities, Judge Rules on Trump Admin. Contempt, Prof. David Cay Johnston https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8N09BEuLMi8

Playing Chicken With the Constitution | Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAzzhPSE8i4

Heather Cox Richardson Speech – 250 Year Lantern Anniversary – Old North Church https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bv5lfpOMUiE

Trump’s War on Measurement Means Losing Data on Drug Use, Maternal Mortality, Climate Change and More https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-doge-data-collection-hhs-epa-cdc-maternal-mortality

Time for a Civic Uprising https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/17/opinion/trump-harvard-law-firms.html

Trump administration shutters US office countering foreign disinformation http://Trump administration shutters US office countering foreign disinformation

The Trump-Harvard showdown is the latest front in a long conservative war against academia https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/20/harvard-trump-conservative-history-academia

Blackfeet tribal members sue feds over Canada tariffs https://montanafreepress.org/2025/04/07/blackfeet-tribal-members-sue-feds-over-canada-tariffs/

‘An Enormous Usurpation’: Inside the Case Against Trump’s Tariffs https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/04/21/trump-tariffs-supreme-court-legal-arguments-00299467

Six Men Are Charged After Woman Was Dragged From Idaho Town Hall https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/21/us/idaho-coeur-dalene-town-hall-charges.html

Don’t believe the doubters: protest still has power https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/apr/22/protest-trump-resistance-power

The Next Terrorist Attack https://snyder.substack.com/p/the-next-terrorist-attack

Meet the new American refugees fleeing across state lines for safety https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/apr/24/american-refugees-escape