
Lily Geismer
Historian and Professor of History at Claremont McKenna College, author of Don't Blame Us (2015) and Left Behind (2022), focused on 20th-century liberalism and the Democratic Party.
1
APPEARANCES
1
PODCASTS
012
DEC 30
JAN 6
JAN 13
JAN 20
JAN 27
FEB 3
FEB 10
FEB 17
FEB 24
MAR 3
MAR 10
MAR 17
MAR 24
MAR 31
APR 7
APR 14
APR 21
APR 28
MAY 5
MAY 12
MAY 19
MAY 26
JUN 2
JUN 9
JUN 16
JUN 23
JUN 30
JUL 7
JUL 14
JUL 21
JUL 28
AUG 4
AUG 11
AUG 18
AUG 25
SEP 1
SEP 8
SEP 15
SEP 22
SEP 29
OCT 6
OCT 13
OCT 20
OCT 27
NOV 3
NOV 10
NOV 17
NOV 24
DEC 1
DEC 8
DEC 15
DEC 22
DEC 29
JAN 5
JAN 12
JAN 19
JAN 26
FEB 2
FEB 9
FEB 16
FEB 23
MAR 2
MAR 9
MAR 16
MAR 23
MAR 30
APR 6
APR 13
APR 20
APR 27
MAY 4
MAY 11
MAY 18
MAY 25
JUN 1
JUN 8
JUN 15
JUN 22
JUN 29
JUL 6
JUL 13
JUL 20
JUL 27
AUG 3
AUG 10
AUG 17
AUG 24
AUG 31
SEP 7
SEP 14
SEP 21
SEP 28
OCT 5
Sep 16, 2026
Lily Geismer on the Democratic Party in the 1990s
31:02
31:10
31:14
31:19
32:05

Lily GeismerGUEST
I think I grew up in that environment that like, this is like, that's the mecca, like, that's the kind of solutions you turn to is like, the law is right, this is there.

Lily GeismerGUEST
So like a traditional liberal idea, then to things like unions, and like, I didn't know.

Lily GeismerGUEST
I mean, so and this is also, you know, I'm positioning myself in my like, class environment.

Lily GeismerGUEST
standing um i knew of unions as a historical relic probably um and my mom has talked about this like she worked in she's in um she was a uh she's a tv producer for public television and she was like encountering a lot of things with unions i would often talk about like some of the frustrations like we were like my i think my understanding was like my mom had to work late because of like union break like it was basically like what i understood of like unions as like a small child um so it was not part of my worldview that they were like i don't and i wasn't from a family that was like telling me that unions were like the solution to all problems or anything like that they didn't grow up in that i mean it wasn't what they knew so i think they were ideologically like you know, sympathetic to unions, but not to the same way.

Lily GeismerGUEST
And I always say this, like, I think the suburban liberals I studied were, like, oblivious to unions.
21 MINS LATER
