Historian Timothy Snyder on Orban’s defeat, Christian nationalism, and What’s Coming Next
Next Question with Katie Couric
Katie Couric Media
4.4 • 4.7K Ratings
🗓️ 24 April 2026
⏱️ 68 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Snyder has spent his career studying how democracies collapse — and how they fight back. He's the Chair in Modern European History at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy at the University of Toronto, the bestselling author of On Tyranny and On Freedom, and he's also the writer behind the popular Substack newsletter Thinking About.
In this conversation, Snyder uses Hungary's stunning election upset, in which opposition leader Péter Magyar defeated Viktor Orbán after 16 years in power, as a roadmap for American democracy. He breaks down what made Magyar's campaign work, why protests matter even when they feel futile, and how the war with Iran could impact the upcoming elections.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This is an I-heart podcast. |
| 0:03.2 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:05.1 | No gloss, no filter. |
| 0:08.1 | Just stories. |
| 0:09.8 | Spoken without fear. |
| 0:11.6 | Person who is not generous can not be an artist. |
| 0:14.5 | The world will be at peace only when it is ruled by poets and philosophers. |
| 0:19.1 | Listen to my weekly podcast, the Pooja Abhaw show and the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, |
| 0:25.0 | or wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:28.1 | Come for the honesty. |
| 0:29.9 | Stay for the fire. |
| 0:52.8 | If the government is controlled instead of by your vote, if it's controlled by the whims and the interests of individual people around the president and the president, you will always lose. It's the feedback mechanism, your vote, |
| 0:56.5 | which makes these people responsible to you. |
| 0:59.3 | Without your vote and without your ability to change those who are governing you, |
| 1:03.4 | this is the natural tendency that things are going to go. |
| 1:07.8 | Hi, everyone. I'm Katie Couric, and this is next question. |
| 1:14.5 | The state of the world is, well, it's a dumpster fire. I'm not going to sugarcoat it. |
| 1:20.0 | Professor Timothy Snyder always has extraordinary insights on what's happening and why, often using history as his guide, which makes total sense |
| 1:29.6 | because he's a professor of Central European, Ukrainian, Soviet Union, and Eastern European |
| 1:35.1 | studies at the University of Toronto. He's also the author of several best-selling books, |
| 1:41.0 | including on tyranny and on freedom, and has a popular substack newsletter |
| 1:46.3 | called Thinking About. Professor Snyder, great to see you. I'm so happy to have you here in our |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Katie Couric Media, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Katie Couric Media and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.