@grigoriipodoksik9296
I am a Russian American. What she is telling is exactly, exactly the way Russia functions. And the way it came to be is extremely similar, under a small exception that Putin did not come to power through elections (he was a VP under a president who left office). I am very terrified, I left a certain kind of Russia 7 yrs ago that "evolved" into a fascist regime it is now. And now America is on track to becoming that kind of Russia from 7 yrs ago, in front of my eyes...
@timhamilton5699
"The loyalty test" as mentioned around minute nine, immediately makes me think of the photo making its rounds on late night television of RFK eating McDonald's on an airplane with Trump.
@jimmiller1686
This has all been well advertised in advance, and the American voter chose this guy as well as both housese of Congress. Now we have to live with it. Jefferson said "The government you elect is the government you deserve."
@henriikkak2091
I'm Finnish. I criticize Russia and Russians a lot, but it's not as if the oligarchs stood on the stage next to Yeltsin or Putin and declared: "Vote for us! We're going to take people's rights away starting day one." It's not as if that was presented to people as a choice. Many feel that they had no choice and that's true to an extent. They didn't have free and fair elections, the rule of law, or other institutional guardrails in place that the United States has/had. I don't know if Russians had chosen differently if given the choice - there's a lot of hostile nationalism and Soviet nostalgia there - but it says something that the powers to be in Russia didn't feel confident enough to drop the masks until much further down the line. I have observed the democratic decline of the US and some of our neighbors here in Europe accelerating in the past decade. I am under no illusion that the US couldn't descend into authoritarianism under the coalition of oligarchs and Christian nationalists that the citizens have just elected into all public offices in the country. The degradation is so blatant and advances so rapidly that it would have left the most cynical Russia observer incredulous twenty years ago. Now anything's possible.
@ldhorricks
My Family are Czech/Polish...I've photographed in Central/Eastern Europe and the Balkans for over 35 years...with a good amount of time spent in Russia. I've also worked a lot in Hungary over the past 15 years and I have to say that I don't feel it's hyperbole (from my experience in both those places), that America is on the brink of Authoritarian rule that could take decades to overcome if ever. It's seems almost unthinkable that this is happening...but make no mistake it is happening.
@rekaroob2589
I hope Ms Applebaum will continue some kind of journalism even if she becomes the First Lady of Poland because her husband is a potential, kind of dark horse candidate in the Presidental Race there. Love Anne's work from Hungary (where many people know what the situation is) very much ❤
@jcwebb264
This is probably the most intelligent take on the MAGA movement I've heard. And it is really important to remember- this IS a movement, and one that's almost a decade old at this point. The entertainment, sport-team like factor is a feature, not a bug.
@vertexmodel1517
Good show. Thanks. I got inspired to be more active in the fight for democracy and against fascist ideologies.
@imalloutagum6083
This is all relevant but I don't see more people talking about how everything Trump does is what conservative talk radio has been talking about for 30 years. We essentially have a bad political pundit as a past and future president. He does things that get the audience hyped up and creates controversy, but that ultimately aren't that well thought through and have no regard for morality.
@kayajacolev7349
So many shades of Guy Debord's observations on "The Spectacle"!
@jackstrubbe7608
We need to understand trump probably will not survive four years due to his age, health, and CHOICES. We need to pay more attention to successors, and those in the back of the photos.
@bernardzsikla5640
The progressive liberalism of this podcast and specifically the NYT did not age well, post election. I don't think Ezra has internalized his responsibility as a progressive liberal for the cultural shift in American politics.
@AaronLance
19:30,... Trump doesn't need a devil's advocate. He isn't interested in justice or fairness. He wasn't targeted unfairly. The DOJ bent over backward to avoid embarrassing him, as if that was possible. He's not an underdog. The attacks about fairness and payback are part of that embarrassment. He feeds on it. It's why they said his poll numbers would go up when he was prosecuted. MAGA feeds on cringe.
@zxy78267
"This is just the way he talks." is exactly what I heard from my Republican family member. It's infuriating that she downplays everything he does and says, and translates his words to something completely benign.
@leechowning2712
I wish Americans had a better grip on world history, because National Socialism is not the best comparison we have now, rather it is the French and White Russian revolutions... which is concerning then, because the DNC seem completely unable to take it seriously. The National Socialists were a small minority who expanded by simply being more brutal, but who were resisted by a fair part of their population because they were so obvious. Actual populist rebellions, like the early years of the Russian revolution, the French Republic, and the Jacobean anti-catholic war in England, are were we seem to be now... and that is much more dangerous because it is not coming from a small external group, but a sizable part of the population which have a figurehead but not a leader. If Trump loses control of them, like historically has happened to most of those revolts, they will tear him to shreds even faster for having failed them. I fear it more, because unlike in 1930s Germany, where the general population was neutral to the abuses of the new government, in a populist revolt the population actually demands it be public... and you see it right now. They want to see the downfall of their enemies.
@bradman1961
Thanks NY Times for sane-washing Trump and helping him win. Salute!!
@joelashadali
This is only the second podcast/ writer I've been following since the election,the other Heather Cox Richardson. All I can handle currently. I'm still unable to accept I have to deal with this monster for another four years.
@dawnfmEnthusiast
A recommendation to create a community post to announce the story board job listing for the pod
@DisinterestedParty
NO ONE could have predicted Attorney General Gaetz. Stranger than fiction.
@rmutter