Autocracy in America

4.8 (1.4K)
POLITICS
WEEKLY SERIES

Reporting on the sweeping changes unfolding in the United States, and preparing you to think about what might happen next. Subscribe now to The Atlantic to hear all 5 episodes of our latest season available immediately on January 9, 2026.

EPISODE 1

ICE and the National Guard Are Acting with Impunity

The transformation of ICE into a type of national police force, backed, in some cases, by soldiers from the National Guard, has been covered as immigration story—but these forces are reshaping democracy for all of us. This shift was evident even before the shootings in Minneapolis and Portland this week. In this episode, George Retes, a U.S. citizen and an Army veteran, recounts how he was detained by ICE and held for three days without explanation. The Atlantic staff writer Anne Applebaum returns as host of Autocracy in America and talks with Margy O’Herron and Liza Goitein from the Liberty & National Security Program at NYU’s Brennan Center for Justice about the potential impact of these forces on elections in November. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/Listener. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

29 min
EPISODE 2

Crypto Corruption

Brandon LaRoque kept his life savings in a cryptocurrency account. One morning, as he went to check his balance, he discovered that it was all missing. LaRoque is one of many victims of the unregulated crypto industry. President Donald Trump has rolled back regulation of the industry, while he and his family have earned untold billions of dollars from new crypto ventures. Host Anne Applebaum talks with Molly White, a writer focused on the intersections of tech and finance. They discuss whether more people are bound to befall the same fate as LaRoque and how this new financial industry is shaping our politics and facilitating corruption within our government. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/Listener. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

31 min
EPISODE 3

Reality Reshaped

Joan Brugge has worked for nearly 50 years as a cancer scientist, studying the earliest signs that someone might become sick. Then the Trump administration canceled her lab’s funding. The administration’s attacks on medicine, culture, and education—which include funding cuts and verbal threats—are about more than just budgeting and bravado. Our host, Anne Applebaum, speaks with Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a professor of history and Italian studies at New York University and the author of Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present, who argues that this effort is part of a larger autocratic project to maintain power. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/Listener. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

30 min
EPISODE 4 • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

Dismantling Public Service

Kathleen Walters was only 23 days away from qualifying for early retirement at the IRS when she decided to quit, rather than acquiesce to a Trump-administration request that she break the law and compromise millions of people’s privacy. She’s one of hundreds of thousands of civil servants who have left or been fired from their federal-government jobs in the past year. In this episode, host Anne Applebaum speaks with Don Moynihan, an expert in the history of public policy from the University of Michigan. He explains how the destruction of America’s civil service is part of the administration’s greater effort to create a government that derives its power through unprecedented means and fundamentally disrupts democracy as we know it.

29 min
EPISODE 5 • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

Elections Distorted

The Trump White House is changing the rules of our political system through intimidation, the distortion of information, financial corruption, and the dismantling of government offices. In the final episode of this season, we examine whether the administration is also trying to change the rules of our elections. Dawn Baldwin Gibson, a North Carolina pastor, tells us about how, in 2024, her vote was challenged for reasons that still aren’t clear to her. Host Anne Applebaum interviews Stacey Abrams, who has spent years fighting voter-suppression tactics. Abrams argues that Gibson’s story is one of many attempts to change how people vote and how their votes are counted.

31 min

See All Season 3 (5)

The Atlantic has long been known as an ideas-driven magazine. Now we’re bringing that same ethos to audio. Like the magazine, the show will “road test” the big ideas that both drive the news and shape our culture. Through conversations—and sometimes sharp debates—with the most insightful thinkers and writers on topics of the day, Radio Atlantic will complicate overly simplistic views. It will cut through the noise with clarifying, personal narratives. It will, hopefully, help listeners make up their own mind about certain ideas. The national conversation right now can be chaotic, reckless, and stuck. Radio Atlantic aims to bring some order to our thinking—and encourage listeners to be purposeful about how they unstick their mind.

4.3 (2122)

POLITICS
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4.8 (3398)

HISTORY
Professionally narrated articles from The Atlantic—just for subscribers. For more audio articles, visit theatlantic.com/audio or download The Atlantic app.

3.8 (31)

NEWS
The story of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination on April 4, 1968, is often recounted as a conclusion to a powerful era of civil rights in America, but how did this hero’s murder come to be the stitching used to tie together a narrative of victory? The week that followed his killing was one of the most fiery, disruptive, and revolutionary, and is nearly forgotten. Over the course of eight episodes, Holy Week brings forward the stories of the activists who turned heartbreak into action, families scorched by chaos, and politicians who worked to contain the grief. Seven days diverted the course of a social revolution and set the stage for modern clashes over voting rights, redlining, critical race theory, and the role of racial unrest in today’s post–George Floyd reckoning.

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HISTORY

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Gary Kasparov

Host

4.8

out of 5

1,387 Ratings

Crypto

6d ago

Che Block

I don’t understand Why didn’t Brandon use a bank?
Essential learning

Jan 18

slowdowngrl

Thank you, Anne, for your relentless reporting.
Excellent Interviews

Jan 12

Trash Panda Logic

This season of Autocracy in America is excellent- (no matter how depressing the subject is). Very knowledgeable guests, and conducted in the manner that Applebaum always excels in: great questions and follow-up based on expertise. This is a clear statement of where we are in the USA and as they say, knowledge is power. Thank you for this offering!
Very Insightful

09/29/2025

DeacSteve

This podcast by Gary is very insightful and tells us a lot about what we have to fear from the current administration. Well worth a listen.

Reporting on the sweeping changes unfolding in the United States, and preparing you to think about what might happen next. Subscribe now to The Atlantic to hear all 5 episodes of our latest season available immediately on January 9, 2026.