Interviews
“If you can take down American democracy—it clearly encourages them to act worse.”
Newsweek, January 17, 2018
“Republicans now see partisan beliefs as ‘fake,’ and they have also bought into Trump’s cult of personality credo that anything or anyone critiquing him is not real.”
Politico, January 16, 2018
“It’s [fake news] anything that contradicts with a leader’s version of reality,” she said, pointing to the situation in Myanmar. “You can will away genocide, you can will away events that you didn’t want people to know happened.”
Politico, December 8, 2018
“It’s about loyalty,” said Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a New York University professor who has studied Trump’s connection with voters. “It’s an allegiance based on loyalty to a person — not a party and not to a set of principles.”
The Boston Globe, October 25, 2017
“Most authoritarians in history are extremely brittle, they don’t take well to criticism so they surround themselves with family and flatterers”
CNN.com, October 12, 2017
“If the leader does not explicitly renounce the violent rhetoric and actions of extremists, they will have done their damage even if he later purges them. The result is a new culture of violence in the country, which the other armed and security forces of society must adapt to.”
The Washington Post, August 16, 2017
“It’s very alarming, because he’s escalating all of the things he’s been doing. And what unites all these maneuvers is his back is increasingly against the wall.”
Toronto Star, July 24, 2017
Ruth Ben-Ghiat Analyzes Authoritarianism & Trump’s Predatory Masculinity
Chauncey De Vega Podcast, June 2, 2017
“Trump doesn’t respect democratic procedure and finds it to be something that gets in his way,” Ben-Ghiat said. “The blaming of others is very typical of autocrats, because they have difficulty listening to a reality that doesn’t coincide with their version of it. It’s part of the authoritarian temperament to blame others when things aren’t working.”
The Washington Post, June 6, 2017
“Historian of Fascism: Why Trump Firing FBI Director Comey…is so Worrisome,” Democracy Now!
“This is not, strictly speaking, a constitutional crisis in that it was perfectly legal for Trump to fire the FBI director. What’s at issue is the politicization of the judiciary and intelligence which he’s been doing all along and the method.”
“This creates a political discourse that emphasizes negative elements, that paints a picture of a society in crisis that needs a strong leader to save it. So you have people like Trump asserting that nothing is working, everything is a mess, and only they can set things right and ‘Drain the swamp.’
Haaretz, March 31, 2017
Is Right-Wing Populism Here to Stay? How Does Trump Fit in? Upfront with Mehdi Hasan, Al-Jazeera
“I think we’re definitely living in a new era,” says Ben-Ghiat, author of Italian Fascism’s Empire Cinema. “We’re also being fed a series of crisis narratives by the new right, which would like us to be in a new era where everything is decaying and they are the answer; they are the saviours.”
“It took people by surprise – What Mussolini did, he came from the left, the revolutionary left. He was a socialist.”
Slate Podcast, January 20, 2017
“There’s a template for authoritarian rule… So far, [Trump is] checking a lot of the boxes.”
CityLab, November 15, 2016
Podcasts/ Featured Interviews
What Happens When a Megalomaniac Begins to Fail
The Political Scene Podcast
February 13, 2026
Autocracy in America Podcast
January 23, 2026
Ali Velshi
MSNBC
October 18, 2025
How to Fix It with John Avlon
June 22, 2025
Ruth Ben-Ghiat joins John Avlon in a conversation titled “Rules for Surviving Authoritarian Times.” Watch and listen here.
UpFront
Al Jazeera
May 23, 2025
Is the US sliding into authoritarianism? The Excerpt
April 27, 2025
“An Alarm Bell for American Democracy” – Apple News Today
April 25, 2025
Listen to the interview here.
Katie Couric
April 10, 2025
Democratic Emergency in Turkey
March 19, 2025
WIRED’s Tech Support
March 18, 2025
David Pakman Show
March 16, 2025
All In With Chris Hayes
October 25, 2024
Ana Cabrera Reports
October 24, 2024
PBS News Hour
October 14, 2024
Trump ramps up his dangerous political rhetoric in final weeks of the 2024 campaign. Watch the segment and read the interview here.
Strict Scrutiny Podcast
August 26, 2024
Trump’s Mental State Suddenly Takes a Darker Turn: “I’ve Gotten Worse”
July 29, 2024
“The European Elections: Discontent with Democracy”
June 11, 2024
Mediaite.com
April 11th, 2024
Authoritarianism Expert Talks to Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway About Trump and ‘What’s Happened In America’
The Bulwark Podcast
April 4, 2024
The Politics of Everything Podcast
March 29, 2024
WDET| Is Donald Trump a Fascist?
February 23, 2024
Is Donald Trump a fascist?
The Lincoln Project:
Masochism and Ritual Humiliation
February 4, 2024
NPR: All Things Considered
January 4, 2024
Ruth Talks with Cult Expert Dr. Steven Hassan
December 11, 2023
KCRW: Press Play
November 22, 2023
The Weekend Show with Anthony Davis
August 6, 2023
Malcolm Turnbull, Defending Democracy, 2023
Meet the New Autocrats and Their Playbooks
Who are the new autocrats and what’s their playbook? We are now living in the era of the strongman – and every dictator has built on the accomplishments of his predecessors.
Listen to the podcast here.
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.
Stay Tuned with Preet Podcast
October 13, 2022
The Rise of Global Fascism
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
Balance of Power: What To Expect From Italy's New Government
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.
Thinking Aloud podcast, April 11, 2022
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