A version of this post appeared at TruthOut.

In a speech over the weekend at New York City’s New School, Noam Chomsky weighed in on presidential politics. In addressing a question about Donald Trump, Chomsky assessed our current political landscape: “Today’s Democrats are what used to be called moderate Republicans. The Republicans have just drifted off the spectrum. They’re so committed to extreme wealth and power that they cannot get votes … So what has happened is that they’ve mobilized sectors of the population that have been around for a long time. … Trump may be comic relief, but it’s not that different from the mainstream, which I think is more important.”

Watch Chomsky’s entire speech at Democracy Now!