1. Game of chance
Economist Podcasts
The Economist
4.3 • 5K Ratings
🗓️ 11 June 2026
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
John Prideaux, The Economist’s US Editor, embarks on a roadtrip to see how America’s democracy is faring in the era of Trump.
His companion is a long-dead French aristocrat called Alexis De Tocqueville, author of arguably the best book ever written about America.
When Tocqueville arrived in New York in 1831, it was a small, low-slung city where pigs roamed the streets. But he was able to see past that—to a vision of the future.
Arriving in Manhattan today, John finds cause for concern, even among the island’s wealthiest residents.
Guests and Hosts
- John Prideaux, The Economist’s US Editor
- Babara Tober, Philanthropist and former Editor of Brides magazine
- John Catsimatidis, CEO of Red Apple Group
Topics
- Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America
- ‘Equality of conditions’ at 250
- The election of Zohran Mamdani
- Declining faith in American democracy
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Economist |
| 0:05.0 | Not long ago, I boarded an outbound ferry from Stassen Island in New York. |
| 0:21.6 | The 25-minute trip takes you across the blue-gray waters of the city's harbour |
| 0:26.6 | to a terminal on the southern tip of Manhattan. |
| 0:32.6 | On your left, you pass Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. |
| 0:36.6 | Off in the distance, to the right, you see the Brooklyn Bridge. |
| 0:40.3 | Out in front, the glass, steel and granite towers of Lower Manhattan reach up to the sky. |
| 0:47.3 | The buildings are physically imposing, but that's not what draws me to this view. It's what they stand for. |
| 0:55.0 | Because even if you've never been to New York, you've felt its pull, |
| 1:00.0 | maybe even imagined yourself inside it, like Ross and Rachel, Spider-Man or Sinatra. |
| 1:07.0 | Approaching it via the water, it feels like a great and powerful civilization is opening its arms out to you. |
| 1:15.6 | On this trip, I stood on the passenger deck and took it all in. |
| 1:20.6 | But I wasn't here for the sightseeing. |
| 1:24.6 | I was on the trail of a long-dead hero of mine. |
| 1:34.3 | Here we are in New York. |
| 1:39.3 | From a Frenchman's perspective, it looks disarmingly weird. |
| 1:43.3 | There isn't a dome, steeple, it looks disarmingly weird. |
| 1:47.6 | There isn't a dome, steeple, or a large edifice inside, |
| 1:53.7 | which leaves one with the impression that one has landed in a suburb, not the city itself. |
| 2:05.8 | Alexis de Tocqueville also arrived here by boat, almost 200 years before me, in May 1831. He was 25, a wiry brown-haired aristocrat on a mission from the French government, visiting the New World for the first time. |
| 2:12.9 | Togville wasn't greeted by an imposing skyline. Back then, New York was a modest outpost of bricks and timber, |
| 2:20.2 | almost entirely confined to the lower tip of Manhattan. Paris was four times bigger. Pigs roamed |
... |
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