Hub Podcasts Oren Cass on Trump and the ideological realignment reshaping America
Feb 25, 2026
Oren Cass, founder and chief economist at American Compass, who shapes conservative economic thinking. He discusses why the U.S. is abandoning benevolent global leadership, how tariffs and balanced trade fit a new vision, the divergence between the New Right and New Left, and what this realignment means for labour, industrial policy, and Canada.
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U.S. Rejecting Benevolent Hegemony
- The U.S. is moving away from being a benevolent global hegemon toward realist, interest-first diplomacy and trade.
- Oren Cass argues this reflects frustration that the old order cost the U.S. more than it delivered, so alliances and trade must be based on reciprocal benefits.
Cheap Imports Shrunk America's Resilience
- Globalization delivered cheap consumption but also unsustainable deficits, hollowed-out industries, and declining economic opportunity for many Americans.
- Cass links economic hollowing to loss of national resilience and argues you can't sustain military dominance if you 'can't even make anything anymore.'
Cross‑Party Agreement On Globalization's Problems
- There is growing convergence across left and right on the diagnosis of globalization's harms, but disagreement on priorities and internationalism remains.
- 'America First' rejects privileging global outcomes over U.S. interests and demands explicit explanation of benefits to Americans.