Erick Erickson Show: S15 EP68: Hour 3 – The Post-Liberal Consensus Collapses

In this episode of The Erick Erickson Show, Erickson dissects the collapse of the so-called 'post-liberal consensus'—a movement on the right that sought to align with populist leaders like Viktor Orban and J.D. Vance, believing they could control or shape Donald Trump’s agenda. He argues that this consensus was never a true coalition, as it was built on false assumptions about Trump’s malleability and Orban’s ideological purity. The recent defeat of Orban in Hungary, followed by a victory for the anti-corruption, anti-immigration, and free-market conservative Peter Magyar, exposes the fragility of this post-liberal project. Erickson critiques both the right’s romanticization of Orban and the left’s mischaracterization of Magyar as a progressive, highlighting how media narratives ignore key issues like immigration and corruption. He also turns to broader themes: the economic implications of oil tankers rerouting to the U.S. due to Middle East instability, the growing backlash against AI due to fearmongering by its own CEOs, and the real but overstated environmental concerns around AI data centers. He draws a historical parallel to the French workers sabotaging machines in the 19th century, warning that AI’s existential threats are amplified by the very leaders who should be calming fears. Finally, he condemns the politicization of the Artemis II mission, criticizing the left for attributing the success of astronauts Victor Glover and Christina Koch to DEI rather than merit, calling it a demeaning reduction of their achievements.