Interviews

Podcasts/ Featured Interviews

WBUR, Here and Now with Deepa Fernandes
June 12th, 2023

The Deepening Radicalization of Donald J. Trump
May 24th, 2023

The former president’s positions and rhetoric have grown more confrontational and extreme as he seeks a second term.  Listen here.

The Lincoln Project
Donald Trump’s Victimhood Complex Podcast
March 29th, 2023

Discussion on how the entire GOP has become an autocratic entity (not just the MAGA extremists), why Trump’s propaganda has turned into policy, and how Donald Trump’s victimhood complex is just another play from the standard authoritarian playbook.

Fast Politics with Molly Jong-Fast
September 27, 2022

Balance of Power, Bloomberg Radio
September 26, 2022

On Giorgia Meloni and the future of Italian politics

KCRW
Press Play With Madeline Brand Podcast
September 26th, 2022

Fascist Giorgia Meloni is likely to become Italy’s first female prime minister and the country’s first far-right leader since World War II.  And she could be out without 1 year.

PBS News Hour
July 18th, 2022

How some members of the Republican Party have normalized the use of violent rhetoric

Click here to watch the video podcast segment.

This is Critical with Virginia Heffernan Podcast
May 22th, 2022

Zelensky is the Antidote to Putin’s ‘Strongman’

Click here to listen to the podcast.

Renew Democracy Initiative
May 20th, 2022

Winter Is Here Podcast: Why Tyrants Should be Humiliated

Click here to listen to the podcast.

MSNBC – The Beat/ Ari Melber
May 18th, 2022

Busted: Tucker Carlson’s ‘Fascist’ Conspiracy Theory Cited By Shooting Suspect

MSNBC – The Rachel Maddow Show/ Ari Velshi
May 6, 2022

Ruth talks about what the lessons of history suggest will happen if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade and empowers conservatives to criminalize previously private matters.

MSNBC – The Rachel Maddow Show
April 16, 2022

DeSantis is making Florida into his own mini-autocracy

BBC Radio, April 11, 2022

Thinking Aloud podcast

Strongmen: Laurie Taylor explores the global rise of authoritarian leaders.

NPR – 1A Podcast, March 8, 2022

Why is authoritarianism surging worldwide?

CNN Newsroom With Anna Cabrera
March 13, 2022

MSNBC – The Sunday Show
March 13, 2022

“Autocrats don’t negotiate, they do deals with other autocrats.”

Velshi, MSNBC
January 22, 2022

KCRW – Press Play with Madeline Brand – January 20, 2022

Putin signals he may soon invade Ukraine. How likely is it?

New Day With John Berman
October 11, 2021

Democracy in peril

SKY News – January 22, 2021

Trump’s Last Stand

MSNBC: The Choice – January 22, 2021

Going to Extremes

ABC News – The Breakdown
January 7, 2021

Extremism in America

WNYC, November 23, 2020

Podcast interview on A History Of Modern Authoritarians

David Pakman Show/ Free Speech TV, November 19, 2020

“How Authoritarian Strongmen Come to Power” interview

WBUR, November 12, 2020

Podcast interview on On Point with Meghna Chakrabarti

Vox.com, October 23, 2020

Is Trump a fascist? 8 experts weigh in.

Call him a kleptocrat, an oligarch, a xenophobe, a racist, even an authoritarian. But he doesn’t quite fit the definition of a fascist.

Read the full article here.

CNN International Interview – November 15, 2020

NPR On Point Podcast

“What The ’Strongmen’ Of History Reveal About Modern Politics “

NPR 1A Podcast

“What is Fascism? Is Trump a Fascist?”

“A Scholar of Fascism Sees a Lot That’s Familiar with Trump,”

The New Yorker, November 4, 2016

Read the full article here.

Strange Days with Fernand Amandi

Two of America’s most prescient scholars on autocracy & fascism, Ruth Ben-Ghiat + Sarah Kendzior, sound the alarm on a must-hear #StrangeDaysPodcast.

Click to image below to listen:

Slate Trumpcast

A Historical Lens on Trump’s Authoritarianism