Applebaum: The Free World Has No Leader | The Bulwark Podcast

I love it when you have Anne on your show. I first discovered her through the Bulwark and have since read several of her books. Anne knows what's going on, and she has been sharply and intelligently banging the drum for a while. When Anne speaks, listen up.

I am an American citizen who lives in New Zealand. Trust me, we get all the news you do in America. I am not planning on visiting family and friends in America until this corrupt government is long gone.

Anne is one of my favorite Bulwark guests. Dispassionate, analytical & clear-eyed about US standing in international community & how other countries have slipped into & extricated themselves out of authoritarianism.

Thanks for having Ann Applebaum on! Such an important voice for our time.

Tim Miller and Anne Applebaum are absolutely right to connect these decisions to the collapse of moral leadership. Cuts to USAID are not just numbers on a spreadsheet; they translate into children dying from starvation, preventable disease, and displacement. What can you possibly say to a mother or father whose child died because that aid never arrived? There are no words that make that loss acceptable. What is frightening is that this same disregard is spreading at home. The proposed cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and rural healthcare follow the same logic, where human lives are reduced to cost savings. People will die quietly in small towns, nursing homes, and emergency rooms that never open. Whether it is indifference, ideological blindness, or what Hannah Arendt called the banality of evil, the pattern is the same: powerful people making decisions that destroy lives while pretending it is just policy. The free world truly feels leaderless when compassion and responsibility are dismissed as weaknesses instead of being recognized as the foundation of democracy.

That money for USAID had been appropriated by Congress, had it not? Cutting it was illegal. So much for the rule of law in the US.

The richest man in the planet is a mass murderer due to the USAID cuts.

After eliminating USAID aide, Trump moved on to politicking for a Nobel Peace Prize, while millions of people who were depending on USAID were dying.

Making my no kings poster while listening. Rooting for democracy. Anne is such a thoughtful, knowledgeable voice!

Great interviews this week. Heather Cox Richardson and now Anne Appelbaum 🎉