Sarah Jaffe is the preeminent social-movement chronicler of her generation. Her new book, Necessary Trouble: Americans in Revolt, paints a vivid portrait of 21st-century protest: Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, the Fight for $15, the struggle for climate justice, and more. Reading her book, much like talking to its author, leaves you eagerly anticipating whatever rebellion is going to shake things up next. —Astra Taylor
Astra Taylor: You open your book with the Tea Party. Is the left taking advantage of the populist moment we find ourselves in?
Sarah Jaffe: I think part of what we realize now with the Trump upsurge is that there’s a whole lot of people—many of whom are mad about some of the same things we’re mad about—whom we haven’t reached, and who are then reaching for solutions that we find just horrifying. Whether Trump loses or not, we have to deal with what they saw in [him] and whether we can offer them a better solution.
AT: The paradox is that Hillary Clinton’s policies, should she win, will likely continue to create the economic conditions that many Trump supporters are so angry about.
SJ: Who deregulated the banks? Who signed NAFTA? These were Democratic administrations. We’re looking at a moment of mass discontent, anger, and real pain caused by the policies of the last 40 years, many of which have been bipartisan. I think the elite’s failures are what create the energy for massive movements where people feel that leaders are the problem, not the solution.
