The Banality of Authoritarianism with Dr. Steven Levitsky

The Lincoln Project

Society & Culture, Daily News, News, Politics

4.7 • 8.4K Ratings

🗓️ 15 March 2023

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Host Reed Galen is joined by Dr. Steven Levitsky (Professor of Government at Harvard University) to discuss how authoritarianism continues to threaten American democracy, why the GOP continues to publicly embrace authoritarianism while many privately denounce it, and what to expect from Trump, DeSantis, and the rest of the 2024 hopefuls. Plus, is the United States in line for a violent origin of durable authoritarianism? Be sure to pre-order Dr. Levitsky’s upcoming book, “Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point”. If you’d like to connect with The Lincoln Project, send an email to [email protected].

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey guys, it's Reed. Before we get started, now is the time to get involved. We're almost to the end of the first quarter of 2023.
0:07.7	We got nine months to build out the Field Army for the Pro Democracy Movement to make sure it's ready to fight in 2024.
0:15.8	Go to join the union.us and sign up today. Sign up to do your part in the fight for our future.
0:24.0	Join the union.us. And now on with the show.
0:30.0	Welcome back to the Lincoln Project. I'm your host, Reed Gilley. Today, I'm once again joined by Dr. Steve Levinsky, Professor of Government and Latin American Studies at Harvard University, as well as the Director of Harvard's David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies.
0:51.8	His research focuses on democracy, authoritarianism, and political parties with a focus on Latin America.
0:57.8	He's written in a rare books, including How Democracies Die, which we at the Lincoln Project have cited on many occasions.
1:03.9	His upcoming book, which is a follow up to How Democracies Die, is called Tyranny of the Minority.
1:09.2	Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point, which will be released this fall and is available for pre-order wherever fine books are sold?
1:16.4	Today's joining us from just outside Boston, Massachusetts. Steve, thanks for joining me.
1:21.6	Thanks for having me, Reed.
1:23.2	So you and your co-author, when you wrote your first book How Democracies Die, I guess you finished it.
1:30.0	2017 came out 2018. We were about two years-ish into what I would call this sort of the Trump epic of American politics.
1:39.5	And so just to lay it out quickly and to give a little bit of a preview of your upcoming book, how do you see the evolution of the Republican Party in those intervening years?
1:51.2	Because I got asked this question this morning, Steve, which is,
1:54.8	well, aren't you guys at the Lincoln Project really just Democrats now?
1:58.3	And I said, I used to be a Republican. I'm not a Democrat yet.
2:02.3	I said, well, we are as pro-democracy, and we only have one pro-democracy party left in this country.
2:08.4	From our perspective, it's the Democratic Party, and that's who we fight with.
2:11.5	Has the Republican Party in your mind fully transitioned into the political wing of an authoritarian movement?
2:18.9	Well, to take a couple of steps back, I think it's become a dangerously anti-democratic force.
2:24.9	And that is not what we anticipated when we wrote How Democracies Die.
	...

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