Listener supported WNYC Studios.

Brian Laird on WNYC Studios. Now'll continue to ask a question that underlies many of the policy

changes the Trump administration is implementing. In addition to the policies themselves,

we're asking, is this what democracy looks like? Another way to ask it, is this what rising

authoritarianism looks like? Back with us

now is Timothy Snyder, Yale History Professor and the author of many books, including On Tyranny,

and his latest on freedom. He also writes the substack newsletter called Thinking About.

He was last on the show in December in our 100 Years of a Hundred

Things series for our episode called 100 Years of Freedom versus 100 years of fascism.

Professor Snyder, thanks for joining us again. Welcome back to WNYC.

I'm very glad to be with you. And there are so many places we could start today, but let's

start with your latest newsletter post called Unfreedom at the

Washington Post, how an editorial line fosters authoritarianism. Most of our listeners well know by now

that Jeff Bezos, as owner of the Post, announced he won't publish opinion pieces anymore

that don't conform to his notions of personal liberties and a free market economy.

So that is Bezos maybe being an ideologue, maybe being a coward at one major newspaper,

but why do you link it to authoritarianism?

Yeah, thanks for that question because I think it's important to probe this as deeply as we can.

I think it's pretty obvious to everyone at first glance that having an editorial line that defines what freedom is is more than problematic.

Because what freedom is has to do with what the author wants to say and not how the editor constrains him.

Which leads to the second problem.

Who can decide?

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