Tocqueville Road Trip: 1. Game of chance
Economist Podcasts
The Economist
4.3 • 5K Ratings
🗓️ 13 June 2026
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
John Prideaux, The Economist’s US Editor, embarks on a roadtrip to see how America’s democracy is faring in the era of Trump.
His companion is a long-dead French aristocrat called Alexis De Tocqueville, author of arguably the best book ever written about America.
When Tocqueville arrived in New York in 1831, it was a small, low-slung city where pigs roamed the streets. But he was able to see past that—to a vision of the future.
Arriving in Manhattan today, John finds cause for concern, even among the island’s wealthiest residents.
Guests and Hosts
- John Prideaux, The Economist’s US Editor
- Babara Tober, Philanthropist and former Editor of Brides magazine
- John Catsimatidis, CEO of Red Apple Group
Topics
- Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America
- ‘Equality of conditions’ at 250
- The election of Zohran Mamdani
- Declining faith in American democracy
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Economist. |
| 0:07.3 | This weekend, America starts celebrations for a big birthday, and no, I'm not talking about |
| 0:13.8 | cage fighting on the White House lawn in honour of President Trump's 80th, but 250 years since |
| 0:20.1 | the founding of the United States. When Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville |
| 0:24.5 | visited America in 1831, he saw a new kind of society, not just a country, but an idea that would |
| 0:32.7 | change the world. His writing on America's experiment in liberal democracy made him a founder of modern |
| 0:39.4 | political science, the forbear of the foreign correspondent, and patient zero for a two-century |
| 0:45.6 | swoon over America. But is America's love affair with liberal democracy finally losing its luster? |
| 0:55.9 | I'm Rosie Bloor, and for the next three weeks, the weekend intelligence is taking a break |
| 1:00.7 | while we bring you a brand new series from Economist podcasts. It's a road trip around America's |
| 1:07.2 | past, present and future. Our US editor John Priddo follows in the footsteps of Topville to ask what's happened to American |
| 1:15.5 | democracy and how much of what was so inspiring in the 1830s still remains. |
| 1:22.6 | We'll be publishing episodes every Saturday for the next three weeks. And the weekend intelligence will be back in July |
| 1:29.1 | when we'll be exploring the worlds of human enhancement, |
| 1:32.7 | homeschooling and falling in love with an avatar. But now, here's episode one. |
| 1:50.9 | Not long ago, I boarded an outbound ferry from Staten Island in New York. |
| 2:07.6 | The 25-minute trip takes you across the blue-gray waters of the city's harbour to a terminal on the southern tip of Manhattan. |
| 2:15.6 | On your left, you pass Ellis Island and the Staten Island. to a terminal on the southern tip of Manhattan. |
| 2:22.2 | On your left, you pass Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. |
| 2:26.5 | Off in the distance, to the right, you see the Brooklyn Bridge. |
| 2:33.4 | Out in front, the glass, steel and granite towers of Lower Manhattan reach up to the sky. |
| 2:39.3 | The buildings are physically imposing, but that's not what draws me to this view. |
... |
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