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.
The Melania movie follows the First Lady for 20 days leading up to the inauguration.
It shows her trying on her dress, reviewing invitations, getting in and out of planes,
meeting with other First Ladies, trying the dress on again.
She looks absolutely flawless in every shot, from glossy waves to lube towns.
It's called a documentary, but that's a real stretch.
It's much more in the vein of it.
a commercial.
When you think documentary, you think a sort of journalistic endeavor or a,