Jacobin Radio Behind the News: The New US Imperialism w/ Nikhil Pal Singh and Greg Grandin
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May 11, 2026 
Nikhil Pal Singh, NYU historian who studies Black radicalism and prisons, and Greg Grandin, Yale historian of U.S. empire and hemispheric history, discuss ruptures in U.S. imperialism. They explore Trump's shift to overseas adventurism, settler‑colonial frontiers and militarism, the domestic fallout of economic restructuring, and possibilities for building international solidarity.
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Domination Without Hegemony In Trumpism
- Trumpism mixes continuity with rupture by reviving overseas adventurism while breaking past norms of hegemony and consent.
- Greg Grandin notes Trump projects domination without building hegemonic consent, evident in aggressive Latin America and Iran moves.
End Of American Universalism And The Return Of Settler Fantasies
- The postwar U.S. order relied on American universalism and rule-bound hegemony that is now unraveling.
- Nikhil Pal Singh argues collapse of that rule-based universalism enables open talk of annexation, settler imaginaries, and rollback of civil rights.
Domestic Progress Tied To External Expansion
- U.S. expansionism historically enabled domestic liberal advances by exporting contradictions overseas.
- Greg Grandin traces liberal reforms (suffrage, civil rights, New Deal) to trade-offs tied to dispossession and external expansion.