Thinking about...

(Trying to fulfill my promise of translating all of my text posts into audio or video. This seemed like an important one to do before the election. Please think about it and share it. And vote!) We have seen this show before.  We know what Trump losing looks like. Three Trumpian actions are predictable.  We know them from the last election.  Last time around, when Trump lost, when Trump knew that...

I wrote this in March, with the text as below, and am posting this recording now, in the hopes that it can be useful. Please share it. TS 1/11/2024 Quite a few Americans like the idea of strongman rule.  Why not a dictator who will get things done?  I lived in eastern Europe when memories of communism were fresh.  I have visited regions in Ukraine where Russia imposed its occupation regime.  I hav...

Some people talk about Trump’s economic plans; others about his intention to undo the rule of law. In this five-minute video, I try to explain how the two relate: how lawlessness will wreck the economy. Please consider and please share. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit snyder.substack.com/subscribe

Given where we are just now, there have been quite a few questions about my book On Tyranny, and in particular about the first lesson, which is “Do Not Obey in Advance.” The violations of that lesson of the twentieth century have been so flagrant that they are, at least, serving as an education in how not to behave. In this setting I thought I would review some of the lessons in a little talk (hal...

Greetings from Oklahoma. Here are a few thoughts from here on video about the decisions of the owners of the Washington Post and the LA Times to suppress their editorial boards’ decisions to endorse Kamala Harris. A problem with the very wealthy is that, alas, the least vulnerable have a tendency to think of themselves as the most vulnerable. And from that position they harm everyone else, while p...

A few thoughts for Americans for whom the survival of Ukraine is an electoral issue. Please watch and share. If you’re in Michigan and it’s 23 October, you can catch me live in Detroit at noon and in Kalamazoo at 7:00pm . This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit snyder.substack.com/subscribe

You have to be in a place to appreciate the television. And I think the history of fascism helps us to see what is happening in the ads. In public, the Trump presence in Ohio is weaker than in previous elections. There are fewer signs, and the big ones are in front of the small houses. There are fewer aggressive slogans in public, and the ones personally targeted Vice-President Harris are rarer an...

Continuing yesterday’s theme on fascism, responding to questions about the possibility of American fascism. There have been American fascist movements in the past, and perhaps more importantly a tradition of us-and-them politics, sometimes under the surface. There are fascists in the present who continue American fascist traditions. And we invite fascism in the future by telling ourselves that it...

People are talking about fascism. After a New York Times article was published today, I heard both from people who are baffled that we did not been speaking of fascism more and earlier, and from people who want to know what it means — and from people who want me to explain why fascism is bad. I am on the road, so I took ten minutes to make a little video about all of this. I hope it helps. As I’ll...

As a historian of forced population movements and as an American, I don’t think we are taking the consequences of the Trump-Vance deportation plan seriously enough. The reality will be much more personal and awful, and the politics more transformative and durable, than we might think. I will write this up soon; but I was moved to do a recording by the urgency of this, and by the desire to catch th...

This is the podcast version of a post from July which seemed timely now. I put the text below: what is new is the audio. You are receiving this as a subscriber, but please feel free to share! As the United States hovers at the edge of fascism, the history of Germany can help. To be sure, Americans have other histories to ponder, including their own.  Some American states, right now, are laboratori...

I thought this piece on our media religion, which I meant entirely seriously but which I hope is also fun, might be a useful preparation for the media this weekend and in weeks to come. This is the podcast version of a written post from July. I paste the text in below; what is new is the podcast. You receive it as a subscriber, but you are welcome to share it. Why does American television and pres...

After more than a year and a half of war, it can be hard to imagine it ending.  And yet it can, and will.  The Ukrainians can win this war, provided that we do not let them down.  What they cannot do is constantly remind us how important the war is. We have do some of that work for ourselves. This history lecture, the Lax lecture delivered at Mt. Holyoke, is about the origins of Ukraine, in a deep...

Today the Ukrainian president visits to thank Americans for our support. The right kind of hospitality would be to thank Ukrainians for all that they have done for us and others. Here are ten reasons we should be grateful. (Kherson Oblast, Ukraine, TS) TS 19 September 2023 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit snyder.s...

Dear Friends, This is a lecture I delivered yesterday (6 April 2023) at Princeton University, in a series devoted to the European Union, and in the presence of colleagues who study Europe as social scientists and historians (and I was impressed by how many turned up!). I took as my title “Empire, Integration, and Ukraine,” because I wished to show how the present moment, that of the Russo-Ukrainia...

Russia’s war against Ukraine has been genocidal from the beginning. Genocide is a matter of actions, and a matter of intentions. In this lecture, delivered at Boston University on 28 October 2022, I give examples of all five of the crimes that are designated genocidal by the 1948 convention. In Russia’s war against Ukraine, the problem is not the absence of expressions of genocidal intention. If a...

In this lecture, which I will summarize briefly here, I take the premise seriously. Democracy might or might not have a future. The signs, in general, are not good. The tendency, also in this country, is not encouraging. Our republic might have only a few years left. I will write about this soon. I try to make the case that the future is democracy, or it is not at all. We are used to people tellin...

In this lecture, I begin from a recent clip on Russian television: a Russian soldier explaining that, if Ukrainians do not accept that they are Russians, it will be necessary to kill a million of them, five million of them, or all of them. The man in question is a known fascist (he appears in my book Road to Unfreedom ), and what he says opens the way to a discussion of the character of Russian fa...

This year I have been writing a philosophical book about freedom, in which the war in Ukraine and Volodymyr Zelens’kyi figure in important ways. A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of a long conversation with President Zelens’kyi, which was entirely devoted to the subject of freedom. I was able to pursue with him several interesting conceptions that he himself has advanced, in word and in dee...

Lesson 13. Practice corporeal politics. Power wants your body softening in your chair and your emotions dissipating on the screen. Get outside. Put your body in unfamiliar places with unfamiliar people. Make new friends and march with them. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit snyder.substack.com/subscribe

Lesson 12. Make eye contact and small talk. This is not just polite. It is part of being a citizen and a responsible member of society. It is also a way to stay in touch with your surroundings, break down social barriers, and understand whom you should and should not trust. If we enter a culture of denunciation, you will want to know the psychological landscape of your daily life. This is a public...

Lesson 11: Investigate. Figure things out for yourself. Spend more time with long articles. Subsidize investigative journalism by subscribing to print media. Realize that some of what is on the internet is there to harm you. Learn about sites that investigate propaganda campaigns (some of which come from abroad). Take responsibility for what you communicate to others. This is a public episode. If...

Lesson 10: Believe in Truth. To abandon facts is to abandon freedom. If nothing is true, then no one can criticize power, because there is no basis upon which to do so. If nothing is true, then all is spectacle. The biggest wallet pays for the most blinding lights. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit snyder.substack....

Lesson 9: Avoid pronouncing the phrases everyone else does. Think up your own way of speaking, even if only to convey that thing you think everyone is saying. Make an effort to separate yourself from the internet. Read books. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit snyder.substack.com/subscribe

Lesson 8: Stand out. Someone has to. It is easy to follow along. It can feel strange to do or say something different. But without that unease, there is no freedom. Remember Rosa Parks. The moment you set an example, the spell of the status quo is broken, and others will follow. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sn...