Autocracy in America

The Columnist

Autocracy in America

Show Notes

When host Garry Kasparov created the Renew Democracy Initiative in 2017, the founding manifesto warned that “the liberal-democratic order is under attack from within and without.” Eight years later, things have not changed for the better.

Garry is joined by Bret Stephens, a columnist for The New York Times and the principal author of that 2017 manifesto. Both Garry and Bret agree that democracy is under attack, and they envision a world where the forces of freedom are united and authoritarianism is in retreat. Together, they discuss what the future of democracy in the United States looks like, and if a change to the two-party system could be the realignment the country needs to secure its freedom.

Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/listener.Garry chairs the Renew Democracy Initiative, publisher of The Next Move. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

More from Autocracy in America

Oct 20, 2026

The midterms will mark the beginning of the end of Donald Trump’s second presidency. This season, the podcast asks, “What happens next?” Host Anne Applebaum sits down with leaders in politics, technology, and culture to discuss what can be done now to reverse the slide toward autocracy.

Feb 6, 2026

When heavily armed agents of the federal government arrived in Minneapolis, the people of the Twin Cities responded with surprising strength.

Feb 6, 2026

The Trump White House is changing the rules of our political system through intimidation, the distortion of information, financial corruption, and the dismantling of government offices. In the final episode of this season, we examine whether the administration is also trying to change the rules of our elections. Dawn Baldwin Gibson, a North Carolina pastor, tells us about how, in 2024, her vote was challenged for reasons that still aren’t clear to her. Host Anne Applebaum interviews Stacey Abrams, who has spent years fighting voter-suppression tactics. Abrams argues that Gibson’s story is one of many attempts to change how people vote and how their votes are counted.

Jan 30, 2026

Kathleen Walters was only 23 days away from qualifying for early retirement at the IRS when she decided to quit, rather than acquiesce to a Trump-administration request that she break the law and compromise millions of people’s privacy. She’s one of hundreds of thousands of civil servants who have left or been fired from their federal-government jobs in the past year. In this episode, host Anne Applebaum speaks with Don Moynihan, an expert in the history of public policy from the University of Michigan. He explains how the destruction of America’s civil service is part of the administration’s greater effort to create a government that derives its power through unprecedented means and fundamentally disrupts democracy as we know it.

Jan 23, 2026

Joan Brugge has worked for nearly 50 years as a cancer scientist, studying the earliest signs that someone might become sick. Then the Trump administration canceled her lab’s funding. The administration’s attacks on medicine, culture, and education—which include funding cuts and verbal threats—are about more than just budgeting and bravado. Our host, Anne Applebaum, speaks with Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a professor of history and Italian studies at New York University and the author of Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present, who argues that this effort is part of a larger autocratic project to maintain power.

See all episodes →