Hillary Clinton on the Psychology of Autocrats

The Political Scene | The New Yorker

The New Yorker

Politics, Obama, News, Wnyc, Washington, Barack, President, Lizza, Wickenden

4.2 • 3.3K Ratings

🗓️ 19 September 2025

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Washington Roundtable is joined by the former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Keren Yarhi-Milo, the dean of the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, to discuss why interpreting the psychology of world leaders such as Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and Xi Jinping is essential to understanding global crises. Clinton also shares her thoughts on Gavin Newsom’s plan for redistricting in California, the Trump Administration’s free-speech crackdown in the wake of the Charlie Kirk assassination, and ABC’s decision to pull “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” off the air. “Jimmy Kimmel and all of the late-night comedians have certainly said a lot of things about me that I found painful, offensive, outraging. It never crossed my mind that I could call up and say, ‘Hey, get rid of this guy,’ ” Clinton says. “It’s all at the behest of the President, who wants to stifle and remove any opposition, and certainly anyone who makes fun of him.” Clinton and Yarhi-Milo’s new book, “Inside the Situation Room: The Theory and Practice of Crisis Decision-Making,” was published this week.

This week’s reading:

“The Grave Threat Posed by Donald Trump’s Attack on Jimmy Kimmel,” by Isaac Chotiner
“Israel’s New Occupation,” by Ruth Margalit
“J. D. Vance, Charlie Kirk, and the Politics-as-Talk Show Singularity,” by Andrew Marantz
“What the Video of Charlie Kirk’s Murder Might Do,” by Jay Caspian King

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1:15.7	Music eBay. Things people love. Welcome to the political scene from The New Yorker, a weekly discussion about the big questions
1:20.5	in American politics. I'm Susan Glasser and I'm joined as ever by my great colleagues
1:25.3	Jane Mayer and Evan Osnos. Hi, Jane.
1:30.9	Hey, Susan. Hey, Evan. Great to be back with you guys.
1:47.1	All right. Well, today we're joined by two very special guests. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is here. She's joined by Karen Yararrhi Milo, Dean of Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, and her partner in both teaching a class at Columbia University
1:52.8	and releasing a book out this week inside the situation room about how leaders make decisions in
1:58.4	moments of crisis. And wow, do we have a lot of crises. This conversation
2:02.4	could not be more timely. I promise we're going to get to it all from Jimmy Kimmel to Putin's war in
2:08.3	Ukraine to the psychology of Donald Trump, Secretary Clinton, and Dean Jarim Milo. We are very glad to
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