The Politics of Smart

Rick Perlstein talks to Chris Lehmann

Democrats were desperate to get Reagan (pictured here) to agree to debate Carter, whose smartness they assumed would win them the 1980 election. / Levan Ramishvili

Welcome to this Baffler podcast, EXPERTS BAFFLED.

In our first episode, Rick Perlstein talks to Baffler editor in chief Chris Lehmann about his salvo “Outsmarted” in the new issue of the magazine. They discuss the curious identity of smartness, American Psycho, the dark underbelly of meritocracy, and the long-term political origins of the “libtard” insult.

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