Could the EU do more to defend the rule of law and democracy in Poland and Hungary?

Of course it could do more.

It could do more without changing the treaties, but the problem isn't

the tools or the structures. The problem is the political decisions of other

leaders. And now the good fight with Yasha Monk.

In the early years of the good fight and I encourage you to go back and listen to some of those amazing conversations we had in those disorienting days in late 2016. those basic contours of this new world in which of the

retiring populists were suddenly part of the mainstream rather than the fringes.

Well, in those early days, one of the main debates we were having was the following.

In established democracies like the United States,

would the existing institutions manage to rein in and shape the governing style of newly elected

populist leaders like Donald Trump or would Donald Trump and other leaders be able

to corrupt the institutions to make them operate in their image?

Well I think it's too early for a definitive answer, but the last years and

months and weeks and the last days, frankly, have brought very bad news on this front.

In the United States, the Department of Justice is now investigating the investigation

into Donald Trump's dealings with Russia.

The State Department is investigating Foreign Service Officers who had some emails they sent to their colleagues at the State Department

forwarded without the knowledge

to Secretary Clinton's private email account

and the result may be the dismissal of a lot of foreign service officers.

The FBI now has leadership hand-picked by Donald Trump. The Department of Defense has just awarded a huge

contract to Microsoft that might well have gone to Amazon and could have been redirected because of Donald Trump's desire to punish Jeff Bizos for his ownership of the Washington Post.

...