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Despite the rise of far-right nationalism in Europe, the more insidious sentiments of xenophobia underlying "Brexit" in his own country, and the thinly-veiled demagoguery of Donald Trump's ambitions to "Make America Great Again," musician Billy Bragg remains optimistic.

"I've been coming to America for 35 years and I think it's a pretty great place," Bragg says in his conversation with Takeaway Host John Hockenberry. "It's changed over that time, but mostly it's changed for the positive."

Bragg has mixed "pop and politics" over his three-decade career, and his blend of folk, minimalist punk, and populist activism has solidified him as a leftest guardian of the everyman. Bragg says the biggest enemy to American democracy this election cycle isn't ISIS, or some foreign threat, but cynicism within ourselves.

"These are strange times," Bragg says. "It's not just you, and it's not just us. But together, hanging onto each other — those of us who believe in internationalism and empathy and curbing our cynicism — we're gonna get through this."

Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear our full conversation with Billy Bragg.