You're an expert on this subject:

Are we living in an autocracy?

Not yet.

So, we still have

plenty of agency.

We have opposition

political parties.

We can do this.

We have a civil society

that functions.

We have a press that functions.

See, you know,

there's at least

five members of it

sitting right here.

The highly functional.

We haven't,

we haven't been arrested yet.

Yeah.

You know, what you're watching now?

You are—

and I don't think this is

just Trump;

it's actually people around Trump

who've learned from

what's happened in other places

and who are sometimes,

sometimes openly

imitating what

they've seen in Hungary or Turkey

or even Venezuela.

You have people around him

who understand

what are the levers to press on

if you want to destroy democracy.

So, you eliminate the independent

civil service;

you undermine judges;

you undermine experts,

as Tom just said.

They are—

this is a playbook,

and they are following it.

But there is nothing

inevitable about politics.

And just because they know

what the playbook is

and they've started to follow it

doesn't mean that they

achieve their goal in the end,

which is which is

making sure

we don't ever vote again,

or that our vote

doesn't mean anything.