The Psychology of the New Right

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The Psychology of the New Right

April 8, 2026

56 min

Underneath a bombastic and bumbling Donald Trump sits a world of radical right-wing intellectuals, shaping the ways we experience the MAGA movement today. How did the American far right emerge? How have we misread the far right—and what does that mean for our democracy? Join us as we talk with Laura Field, scholar in residence at American University and author of the new book Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right, as she talks about the intellectuals and thinkers behind Trumpism today. What do they actually believe?

HOST
Shadi Hamid
Shadi Hamid is a columnist at The Washington Post and Senior Fellow at the Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.
HOST
Matthew Kaemingk
Matthew Kaemingk is Professor of Public Theology at Theological University Utrecht and Senior Fellow at the Center for Public Justice. He also co-directs the Templeton Pluralism Fellowship.
GUEST
Laura Field
Laura K. Field is a Scholar in Residence at American University, a Senior Advisor for the Illiberalism Studies Program at George Washington University, and a nonresident fellow with the Brookings Institution.

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The Psychology of the New Right

The Psychology of the New Right

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