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The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett
The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett

Pulitzer Prize Historian: You Won't Notice Until It's Too Late!

May 11, 2026 • 1h 48m

Summary

⏱️ 9 min read

Overview

Anne Applebaum, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and expert on authoritarianism, discusses the decline of democracy in America and globally. She analyzes Trump's presidency through the lens of autocratic tactics, examines how democracies historically collapse from within, and warns about the erosion of democratic institutions. Applebaum draws on her decades of studying the Soviet Union and Eastern European autocracies to explain the five core tactics used to dismantle democracies: corruption, controlling elections, politicizing civil service, manipulating information, and using paramilitary force.

The State of American Democracy and Trump's Wealth Accumulation

Applebaum opens by highlighting the unprecedented nature of Trump's presidency, noting his net worth has increased from $2.3 billion to $6.5 billion during his term. She argues this represents a fundamental shift in American governance, where the president actively conducts business while in office, making decisions based on what benefits his companies rather than Americans. This corruption, combined with Trump's refusal to accept the 2020 election results, signals a dangerous deterioration of democratic norms that has never existed at this scale in American history.

  • Trump's net worth increased from $2.3 billion to $6.5 billion during his presidency, an unprecedented accumulation of wealth while in office
  • We've never had a president running businesses while in office, creating massive conflicts of interest
  • Decisions are being made based on what's good for Trump's company rather than what's good for Americans
  • The deterioration of American democracy is Applebaum's biggest concern
" Most people think democracies end with tanks in the street or somebody shooting up the presidential palace, but actually in the modern world, they mostly end because someone who is legitimately elected begins to take apart the system. "
" Trump, he has never cared much one way or the other for American democracy. He admires foreign leaders who have no constraints. "

How Democracies Die: The Five Autocratic Tactics

Applebaum explains that autocratic leaders use five core tactics to dismantle democracies: corruption at the highest levels, manipulating elections and voting systems, politicizing the civil service, controlling information and media, and establishing paramilitary forces. She draws parallels between historical autocracies like Hungary under Orban and current developments in the United States, showing how these patterns repeat across different contexts. The key insight is that democratic decline happens gradually through seemingly legitimate means, not through dramatic coups.

  • Democracies need neutral institutions including independent courts, electoral commissions, media, and meritocratic bureaucracy to survive
  • Viktor Orban pioneered the modern approach of slowly capturing the state after being legitimately elected with a large margin
  • Democracy requires agreement that both sides will preserve rules allowing rivals to contest elections fairly in the future
  • The United States is no longer classified as a liberal democracy on global democracy maps, but rather as an electoral democracy
  • Gerrymandering creates one-party states at local levels, leading to corruption and worse government services
" Democracy is a very strange system. You win an election and in a democracy, you have to preserve the rules so that four years from now, your bitter enemies can contest you and maybe beat you again. "

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