This Conservative Thinks America’s Institutions ‘Earned’ Their Distrust

You can’t understand the modern Republican Party without understanding the complete collapse of trust in mainstream institutions that has taken place among its voters over the last half-century.In 1964, 73 percent of Republicans said they trusted the federal government to do the right thing always or most of the time. Today, that number is down to 9 percent. And it’s not just government. Pew found that only 35 percent of Republicans trust national news and 61 percent of Republicans polled think public schools are having a negative effect on the country. And according to Gallup, just 19 percent of Republicans had a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in higher education. The thread connecting so many of the issues animating the modern right — from fights over school curriculums and learning loss to media bias and Covid vaccines — is this core distrust.Mary Katharine Ham is a journalist and conservative commentator who has appeared on CNN, Fox News and ABC News. Across her writings, she has leveled scathing critiques of numerous mainstream institutions, from the media to the C.D.C. and universities, arguing that these institutions have consistently failed to serve ordinary Americans.So this is a conversation about the distrust at the heart of the G.O.P. and how it could matter for the party’s future. It explores why the 2016 election was a turning point for many conservatives’ trust in the mainstream media, the strange appeal of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the long history of conservative distrust in the Department of Education, why conservatives are so skeptical of the mainstream media, how school closures became such an animating issue for Republican voters, whether Donald Trump will win the 2024 Republican presidential nomination and more.Mentioned:“Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Coalition of the Distrustful” by Michelle GoldbergEnd of Discussion by Mary Katharine Ham and Guy BensonBook Recommendations:Wise Blood by Flannery O’ConnorRules of Civility by Amor TowlesThe Right by Matthew ContinettiThoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/articl....e/ezra-klein-show-bo episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Kristin Lin. Fact checking by Michelle Harris,