I'm Ann Applebaum.
Over the past year, as I watched Donald Trump demand unprecedented new powers, I wondered,
don't he and his team fear that these same powers could one day be used by a different administration and a different president to achieve very different goals?
Well, maybe they are afraid.
And maybe that's why they're using their new tools to change our institutions,
even to alter the playing field in advance of midterm elections later this year.
to make sure their opponents can't win.
Ultimately, destroying trust is the currency of autocrats.
We could win, but we are very, very,
very likely to lose if we keep treating this as business as usual.
Reporting on the sweeping changes unfolding in our country and preparing you to think about what might happen next.
The new season of Autocracy in America, available now.
I always tell people to kind of picture their cell phone and like navigating somewhere you've never been.
This is Ryan.
My name is Ryan Hippenstiel.
And he's explaining to me how the work that he and his colleagues do helps a person like me who has no sense of direction get around.
Or I should probably say he and his former colleagues.
First, your cell phone is using GPS technology.
And then you have all these layers, right?
It might be a layer of restaurants so you can, you know, find a new pizza joint.