The US Needs a Democracy Movement

Oct 13, 2025 | Anne Applebaum is an award-winning historian and journalist who studies democracy and dictatorship. Her latest book, Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World, explores how autocracies are working together to undermine democracy across the globe. Fortunately, Applebaum also considers how democracies can maintain their power against the siege of authoritarianism. Today, why is democracy worth fighting for and how can it be protected in the U.S. Plus: why Poland is a guide for how to reverse years of democratic backsliding.

Pivotal Regional Powers Are Turning Away from America and toward China

Sep 7, 2025 | CNN’s Fareed Zakaria speaks with The Atlantic staff writer Anne Applebaum about China calling attention to its growing global strength, with a huge military parade and a summit between China’s Xi Jinping, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.

Anne Applebaum Predicted Trump’s ‘Absolute Power’ in Second Term | Reupload

Aug 13, 2025 | Anne Applebaum, staff writer for The Atlantic, has covered dictators for decades.

In an interview from before the 2024 election with Mediaite's Press Club, she told host Aidan McLaughlin that Donald Trump’s language mirrored rhetoric from Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini.

She described a disturbing trend in his authoritarian language -- and how it foreshadowed his consolidation of "absolute power" in a second term as president.

America Doesn't Care About What's Real Anymore | Anne Applebaum & Preet Bharara

Jul 10, 2025 | If Trumpism is a reaction to an earlier era of politics, what will be the reaction to the reaction? Preet is joined by Anne Applebaum, a staff writer at The Atlantic, to examine today’s broader political landscape. From the passage of the Republicans’ “Big Beautiful Bill,” to the administration’s controversial immigration policies, they explore what is straining our democratic institutions and what could help restore them.

Anne Applebaum: Why Do MAGA Republicans Hate Europe So Much?

Aug 14, 2025

Americans can no longer be trusted. — © Mark Alexander

Anne Applebaum: Everything the Founders Feared Is Happening | The Bulwark Podcast

Aug 7, 2025 | The United States, through USAID, not only supplied a big chunk of the world's humanitarian aid, it also provided almost all of the logistical support for other aid organizations to deliver relief as well. Now in Sudan, where the state has disintegrated and millions of people are trying to flee anarchy and civil war, virtually no Western organization is there to provide food and shelter. And no American is working on trying to end the conflict. Plus, Tim Cook joins the CEO suck-up to Trump, a top well-regarded FBI official who was trying to hold the line under Kash has been pushed out, and Putin may be trying to pause Ukraine's punishing air war on Russia—but he's not showing any sign that he wants peace. Anne Applebaum joins Tim Miller.

Anne Applebaum: 'The West Doesn't Understand the Extremism of Putinism' | DW News

Jul 28, 2025 | Internationally renowned historian, writer, and publicist Anne Applebaum told in an interview with DW why Trump is so patient with Putin and what Putin's ultimate goals are in Ukraine.

Anne Applebaum on Trump’s Interest in Russia

She believes that his interests are financial.

A Conversation with Anne Applebaum

Jul 8, 2025 | A recording from Anne Applebaum and Steve Schmidt's live video

The Liberal World Order Is OVER. Here’s Why | Aaron Bastani Meets Anne Applebaum

Sep 8, 2024 | Political scientists agree that we are now living in a multi-polar world. How we might have arrived at this new formation and whether the newly powerful actors on the global stage are inherently problematic, remain areas of much disagreement.

MAGA Is Telegraphing How They'll End Democracy (w/ Anne Applebaum) | The Michael Steele Podcast

Aug 15, 2024 | Michael Steele speaks with Pulitzer Prize-winning author and staff writer at The Atlantic, Anne Applebaum about her new book, "Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World.” The pair discuss the network of countries united by their common interest in maintaining absolute power, the reasons why people are attracted to autocratic regimes, the tactics used by modern autocrats, and the importance of civic engagement in preserving democracy.

Trump Wants to Remodel America: Historikerin Anne Applebaum zu Trumps Politik in den USA - Englisch

Mar 9, 2025 | The USA is “still a democracy”, but Trump and his team are trying to change the rules of the political system, says historian Anne Applebaum.

Die USA seien zwar "immer noch eine Demokratie", aber Trump und sein Team würden versuchen, die Regeln des politischen Systems zu ändern, sagt die Historikerin Anne Applebaum.

'Insulting and Rude': Anne Applebaum Reacts to Vance's 'Random Country' Remark

Mar 4, 2025 | Vice President Vance is facing criticism after declaring that an American economic deal in Ukraine was a “better security guarantee than 20,000 troops from some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years.”

Journalist Describes Trump's Movements as a 'Regime Change' towards Authoritarianism

The Atlantic writer Anne Applebaum says President Trump's dismantling of the U.S. civil service system, and his attacks on judges and his opponents, are part of a playbook on undermining democracy. | Wednesday, February 19, 2025

Historian Anne Applebaum Breaks Down What Trump's Alignment with Russia Means

NPR: President Trump's cozying up to Russian President Vladimir Putin marks a significant departure from decades of U.S. foreign policy.

For years, U.S. policies have been in place to isolate Russia over its full scale invasion of Ukraine, but the Trump administration is now poised to make a deal with the Kremlin to end the war without Ukraine having much of a say.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz held talks with Russian officials last week to begin hammering out a Russia-Ukraine peace deal. Ukrainian officials say they were not invited.

Meanwhile, President Trump is falsely blaming Ukraine, a U.S. ally, for starting the war three years ago. Even before these events, Trump was already showing willingness to treat other allies adversarially, including those from NATO – a partnership formed after the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.

Historian and writer for The Atlantic Anne Applebaum says this departure from traditional U.S. foreign policy is "radical" given that Russia is a daily threat to the rest of Europe. » | Leila Fadel, Arezou Rezvani, Obed Manuel | Monday, February 24, 2025

Two Trump officials decline to say Russia started the war in Ukraine: In recent days, Trump has upended the prior U.S. position by falsely calling Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator” and blaming Ukraine for Russia’s invasion. »

We've Seen This Before, a Conversation with Anne Applebaum

Feb 23, 2025 | Regime change, techno authoritarianism, and the institutions of state

Trump's Problems Mount as He Turns His Back on Allies | Anne Applebaum

Feb 25, 2025 | “Trump has a number of problems that he doesn’t know how to solve."

Trump adds to his problems as he reshapes American foreign policy by abandoning his allies, says staff writer at the Atlantic Anne Applebaum.

Anne Applebaum: westliche Demokratien und ihre neuen Feinde | Sternstunde Philosophie | SRF Kultur

Feb 24, 2025 | Wie wehrhaft sind Europas Demokratien in Zeiten von Putin, Trump, Krieg und Fake News? Gibt es eine globale Achse der Autokraten? Wenn ja, mit welchen Zielen? Ein Gespräch mit der preisgekrönten Historikerin Anne Applebaum über wehrhafte Demokratien, den Preis der Freiheit und die Zukunft Europas.

Februar 2025 – es ist eine Zeitenwende, mit der in dieser Intensität kaum jemand gerechnet hat. Russlands Angriffskrieg gegen die Ukraine geht ins vierte Jahr. Die Vereinigten Staaten erleben eine Revolution von oben. Das globale Kräftegleichgewicht scheint sich in Richtung Autokratien zu verschieben. Selbst in Europa werden Attraktivität und Funktionstüchtigkeit liberaler Demokratien immer öfter in Frage gestellt. Wie sind diese Entwicklungen zu begreifen, zu deuten, eventuell umzukehren? Welche Methoden wenden autokratische Kräfte an, welche Netzwerke bilden sie aus, welche Motive und Ideologien leiten sie?

Die amerikanisch-polnische Historikerin Anne Applebaum, Trägerin des Friedenspreises des deutschen Buchhandels 2024, setzt sich in ihren Büchern und Publikationen entschieden für die Zukunft liberaler Demokratien ein. Seit Jahrzehnten mahnt die Autorin der 2004 mit dem Pulitzerpreis ausgezeichneten Geschichte des sowjetischen Gulag-Systems vor dem Einfluss des Systems Putins auf das globale Kräftegleichgewicht. Im Gespräch mit Wolfram Eilenberger benennt sie die zentralen politischen wie militärischen Herausforderungen einer Zeit, in der insbesondere Europa zu einer neuen Wehrhaftigkeit zu finden hat.

Sternstunde Philosophie vom 23.02.2025


The English version is here.

How Global Autocrats Will OWN Trump | Anne Applebaum

Jan 13, 2025 | Anne Applebaum, Pulitzer prize winning historian and writer for The Atlantic, joins David to discuss her book Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World

'The Fall of Any Dictator Reflects Badly on All Autocracies'

Dec 15, 2024 | Journalist and author Anne Applebaum joins Trevor Phillips to discuss the network of authoritarian states and the issues they pose for the West.

It comes after the Assad regime which ruled over Syria was toppled by rebel forces.

Ms Applebaum says, "the fall of Assad as a blow to the alliance [of Russia, China, Iran etc] - it may mean Putin doubles down on his war in Ukraine."