our first speaker is roger kimball. he is the author of numerous fine works. he is also responsible for all of this and other great things being published by encounter and i would like to draw your attention to a broad number of things there publishing on numerous topics. roger, please start us out >> thank you everyone for coming. i don't suppose that any term has been more productive of confusion over the past couple years than populism. in many ways, it is a word in search of a definition. for many people, populism is like the term fascism according to george orwell. that is to say the rhetorical weapon is very lack of semantic precision is part of the attraction because anything or anyone you don't like can be the p and if you can deploy the f word and get it to stick. what does populism mean? i think it means little more than i don't really like this person or this policy. they will have noticed that the term racism has a similar all-purpose content free aura of malignancy but exploring that topic will take us further afield so we'll save that for another

we will be joined by michael anton but we will start the first speaker is roger kimball editor and publisher of new criterion and publisher of encounter books. it also responsible for all of this and other great things published by a counter and i for one like to draw your intention those that have been publishing for a while and numerous topics including molly hemingway -- hemingway with trump and the media. please start us out. >> thanks everyone for coming. i don't suppose any term is more confusion than populism. and in many ways for many people populism is the term. in those who are lack of precision because anything or anyone you don't like could be into and if you could deploy the word so what does populism mean? ninety-nine times out of 100 it means this policy. but not to be confused with the german philosopher to notice that the term racism had a similar all-purpose content free aura. so with populism the certain words accumulate with a positive association. and to be in a portfolio so for example two very different careers with democracy on one hand and populism on the other. that

publisher and editor roger kimball examines pro-plaps and cons of populism. former democratic national committee chair donna brazile offers her thoughts on the state of democratic party in the wake of russian hacking of the dnc. white house reporter april ryan leads another discussion on race in america. princeton university history professor stephen hopkins continues his multivolume biography of joseph stalin. ..

afterwards, we will be joined by michael antone but we will start in our first is our first speaker is roger kimball, editor and publisher of the new criterion, president and publisher of counter books. the author of numerous fine works, great things being published by encounter and i would like to draw your attention to sites that have been publishing for a while on numerous topics including one by molly hemingway on trump and the media. roger, please start us out. >> thanks, everyone, for coming. i don't suppose any term has been more productive of confusion over the last couple years than populism. in many ways, it is a word in search of a definition. for many it is like the term fascism according to george orwell. that is to say the handy negative epithet, rhetorical weapon whose lack of semantic precision, promotes attraction because anyone or anything you don't like can be impugned if you can deploy the f word or the word and get it to stick. but what does populism mean? 99 times out of 100 it means little more -- i don't like this person or this policy. connoisseurs not to be confused with th

now here is roger kimball on populism. [inaudible conversations] good evening heard happy new year.'m the

publisher and editor roger kimball examines pro-plaps and cons of populism. former democratic national committee chair donna brazile offers her thoughts on the state of democratic party in the wake of russian hacking of the dnc. white house reporter april ryan leads another discussion on race in america. princeton university history professor stephen hopkins continues his multivolume biography of joseph stalin. .. a happy first night of hanukkah to all. to all of our members and donors think you for your continued support. i can talk to you about our programs or membership. it has a lovely winter scene this month. while you're waiting in the doctor's office or whatever. check out our programs. if you are already we put some postcard on the table outside. it's part of our new science literacy program. the is for both science people and not science people. if you are curious more about that talk to me a couple other orders of business. you will notice we have c-span in the house. if your phone goes off it will be on tv tonight. let me tell you about tonight's g

here's our primetime lineup: at 6:45'm eastern, publisher and editor roger kimball exam thursday pros and cons of populism today. at 7:45, reactsan dunbar ortiz provides a critical history of the second amendment and argues people of color have been the victim's american's spin culture. then, on "after words" at 9 p.m., a regard report on the grassroots movement in the u.s., interviewed by matt lewis. at 10:00, a tour of publishing that includes interviews with people who are responsible for bringing their books to publication. and we wrap up our primetime programming at 11:20 on the november, lincoln in the bardo. happens tonight on booktv. 48 hours of nonfiction authors and books every weekend. television for serious readers. >> that turns off a lot of people about donald trump is that he does seem to have a certain outer vulgarity. is populism inevitably veil gar? well, today happens to be the anniversary of caesar's -- in 49bc. caesar was a populist, was he vulgar? no. i don't think it's linked to populism, although i think those people who wield the tomorrow "populist" as a weapo