Podcast
The Bulwark Podcast
Will Saletan compiled an extensive piece on Lindsey Graham, which was set to be released as an e-book, analyzing how authoritarianism rose in the US by tracing Graham's transformation and capitulation to Donald Trump.
You've done something really amazing that I want to talk about, about Lindsey Graham. [...] You write, you know, before we start, I should tell you what this is and what it is not. It is not a rant ab...
— Episode: Will Saletan: A New American Exceptional...
Episode: Will Saletan: A New American Exceptionalism?
Will Saletan compiled an extensive piece on Lindsey Graham, which was set to be released as an e-book, analyzing how authoritarianism rose in the US by tracing Graham's transformation and capitulation to Donald Trump.
You've done something really amazing that I want to talk about, about Lindsey Graham. [...] You write, you know, before we start, I should tell you what this is and what it is not. It is not a rant about Graham's servility or hypocrisy and it is not a profile.
I wanted to understand how authoritarianism arose in the United States in our time under Donald Trump. And what I wanted to understand was not just Trump himself because any bully, any strongman can come along and threaten a democracy. What's important to understand is how did an entire political party fall in line behind him, the people who should have been the gatekeepers?
And he actually used the word, I don't know if you could hear it, monster, that Trump is a monster and that they failed.
The surrender to despotism doesn't happen all at once. It advances in stages, a step, a rationalization, another step, another rationalization. The deeper you go, the more you need to justify.
I strongly recommend it. I think that for people who have followed the Bulwark, this is I think one of the most important things that we have done so far.