American Crisis

I think this short episode is so important that I’m making it available to everyone, not just paid subscribers, as usual. Please have a listen. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit margaretsullivan.substack.com/subscribe

As I wrap up Season One of “American Crisis: Can Journalism Save Democracy?” I’m especially delighted to offer all subscribers this conversation with Garrett Graff, the brilliant author of “Watergate: A New History.” He really is the perfect person to cap off all we’ve been talking about because he’s a serious student of both the Watergate scandal and the events that preceded and followed Jan. 6,...

Of all the people I’ve interviewed for American Crisis — Carl Bernstein, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Molly Jong-Fast and others — Steve Inskeep is probably the least alarmed about this moment in American history. He’s far less alarmed than I am, in fact. He brings to bear on this question his many years as a journalist, including covering the Pentagon, George W. Bush’s 2000 presidential campaign, and the U.S....

If you’re anything like me, you’re somewhere between disappointed and enraged at the state of the American news media today.  The right-wing media spreads lies (and gets caught doing it, as in the whopping settlement that Fox News had to pay to a voting systems company). Meanwhile, the mainstream media fails us as it prioritizes demands for corporate profit over the public’s best interests, and co...

In the past few weeks alone, student journalists have been on a remarkable roll. Impressive reporting at The Stanford Daily led to the resignation of the university’s president. And, after an investigation into hazing rituals by The Daily Northwestern, that university fired fired its football coach because of his players’ alleged involvement. “More than anything, to me, this should raise conversat...

If we hadn’t all been worn down by the relentless turmoil of Donald Trump’s rise to political power, the events of recent weeks would be even harder to believe. Even though we are somewhat jaded, the barrage of criminal indictments and ominous investigations still have the power to stun. But they haven’t stopped Trump’s drive to win the presidency again next year. If he prevails (and it’s very far...

A few days before the 2016 presidential election, the New Yorker magazine published a prescient interview with Ruth Ben-Ghiat , a scholar and historian with a particular interest in Mussolini. (She also writes the excellent Lucid newsletter here on Substack.) “These people are mass marketers,” she said then about populist strongmen — including a certain presidential candidate. “They give the impre...

“Most people in this country are not open to what Woodward and I have called the best obtainable version of the truth.” Those are some tough words from Carl Bernstein — and you’ll hear them in this episode of American Crisis. I grew up hero-worshiping Bernstein and his Washington Post reporting partner Bob Woodward. As a teenager, I joined my family in being glued to the Senate Watergate hearings...

Asha Rangappa just about stopped me cold when I heard her answer to whether she considers American democracy in real trouble, and how worried she is. Worried enough, this former FBI special agent told me, that she’s looking at colleges outside the United States for her children. Rangappa is an expert on misinformation and disinformation; she lectures on these subjects at Yale University and writes...

I call this podcast American Crisis because I’m convinced our democracy -- like every democracy -- is fragile. It’s not simply a done deal, for all time. And over the past few years, American democracy come unacceptably close to the brink of failing. Yes, we came through the aftermath of the 2020 election and the violent attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. But there’s still a lot to be worried...