Shellenberger: Trump Is The First President Of A New Nationalist Era, We're In The Fourth American Republic

Real Clear Politics ^ | October 25, 2025 | Ian Schwartz

[E. Pluribus Unum]

"Public News" founder Michael Shellenberger says America has moved beyond the post-war era of intensive globalization in an interview on "Jesse Watters Primetime." Shellenberger said he expects a huge civil war within the Democratic Party between liberals and democratic socialists.

"They have no core underlying vision or principle," Shellenberger said about Democrats. "They're really a lost party. I think, again, I just think they're in the midst of an existential crisis that they're -- it is really take a new candidate to get out of, and that candidate is probably going to fail before this party can really figure out who it is and what it wants."

JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS: Michael Shellenberger is the founder of Public News.

All right, Mike, what does the Democrat problem with the big, beautiful ballroom symbolize to you?

MICHAEL SHELLENBERGER, FOUNDER, "PUBLIC NEWS": Hey, Jesse, great to be with you.

I think it's really interesting. Look, on the one hand, it's just obvious the Democrats will just criticize anything that Trump is doing, including building a ballroom, which really is overdue. I mean, the head of the United States doesn't really have a way to host foreign governments, as you pointed out, but I think it's really more symbolic and significant than that.

This is Trump putting a really lasting mark on the presidency. Obviously, he's a builder. He's a developer. He has a big vision, but we're essentially in the Fourth American Republic. I mean, we're at the end of an 80-year period that began after World War Two, and that just so happens that the 1940s was the last time The White House had a significant renovation.

So I do think that there is something really that -- certainly, I think the Democrats are intuiting that there's something really symbolic about...

[stanne]

The cities are being taken over by foreigners

[No name given]

And people are just standing by and doing nothing about it!

[Steely Tom]

The Democrats will always do whatever gets them the most votes, as quickly and cheaply as possible.

If that means selling out their own party’s future stability, who cares? We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.

Only problem is, “crossing that bridge” traditionally involves standing large numbers of people up against the wall.

And we Americans are ready for that one, thanks to the foresight of our Founding Fathers.

[Iron Munro]

The Democrats will always do whatever gets them the most votes, as quickly and cheaply as possible.

[dennisw]

AI SAYS>>>>

You’re absolutely right to be skeptical — that quote is not from Sun Tzu or The Art of War.

The line —

“An evil man will burn his own nation to the ground to rule over the ashes”

— is a modern paraphrase or invention often attributed to Sun Tzu online, but there is no record of it in any translation or commentary on The Art of War or other classical Chinese texts.

It appears to have originated from internet memes and social media posts (especially around the 2010s), not from any historical source.

So yes — it’s BS as far as authenticity goes.

[Rlsau1]

The left’s goals are always the same: destroy what is, and remake what’s left into whatever leaves them in total control. The democrat party is now controlled by the extreme left which is solely focused on the internal destruction of what remains of the American Dream. Don’t listen to what they say, pay attention to what they support and do.

[griswold3]

“Democrats will always do whatever gets them the most votes, as quickly and cheaply as possible.“
It’s easy to do with the dumb masses who vote for the candidate that promises the most largess from the Treasury.

[rightwingcrazy]

“We’re In The Fourth American Republic”

My arithmetic must be off. There has only been one American republic, by my count.

[SunkenCiv]

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[Sirius Lee]

"He's literally HITLLLLERRRRR!"

[Toughluck_freeper]

“We’re In The Fourth American Republic”

He just wants to make us look like a ‘fourth reich’ so he can call us Nazi’s, when in fact it is the socialist Democrats that are closest to the Nazi’s (National Socialists) since they are socialists.

[Repealthe17thAmendment]

Socialism has worked (sort of) in Europe because the culture has a deep history of distinct classes that are difficult to move beyond. They have always had a royal or elite class that had an obligation to provide social services to the masses.

America, though, was established as a counter to that. There has never been royalty here, and it has always been the American Dream to start with nothing and achieve whatever your ambitions, hard work and luck will bring you.

One of the ironies of the No Kings protests is that from infancy, we used to be taught that each man is the King of his own castle. We want to be Kings. And in America, it's possible.

Recently, the Left has exploited the weak and turned successful people into enemies of the eyes of those who live in failure. The Democratic Party is now fueled by jealousy and hatred. As a public policy it is doomed to fail. That's not to say they might not win an election here and there- just look at New York City. But as of late, the Democrats have been horrible administrators when they have won office. Every major city is suffering; the blue states are havens of crime, inflation, poverty and debt.

There is no Democrat savior on the horizon, as their hatred prevents them from adopting reasonable policies that might lead to some success. But, they can still be dangerous. The number of disgruntled people is huge because of the failures of public education.