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.