The Admiral

Autocracy in America

The Atlantic

News, Society & Culture, Politics

4.8 • 999 Ratings

🗓️ 26 September 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Despite growing up in the Soviet Union, host Garry Kasparov admired American values—believing America was one of the good guys. But is that still the case? In the final episode of the second season of Autocracy in America, Garry is joined by Admiral Bill McRaven, perhaps best known as the military commander who oversaw the SEAL Team Six raid that killed Osama Bin Laden in 2011. Recently, he’s been speaking out about the changing nature of the military’s historically apolitical role in American democracy. Together, Garry and Bill discuss the history of the American military, and what role it should play in protecting democracy. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/listener.Garry chairs the Renew Democracy Initiative, publisher of The Next Move. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:49.4	When I was a young man living in the Soviet Union, I considered myself a Reagan communist.
1:02.0	After all, all Soviet citizens were supposed to be de facto communists, but I much preferred
1:08.0	the free thinking and the free markets of the West. And I got in trouble with the Soviet authorities for saying so,
1:14.0	not just for saying it, but where I said it,
1:16.6	in a long interview with Playboy magazine.
1:19.7	Another example of how poorly I fit in with the Soviet power structure
1:24.1	was when the American Embassy in Moscow
1:26.5	held reception for
1:27.6	Ronald Reagan in 1988.
	...

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