Uploaded October 2024 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
When Donald Trump praises foreign dictators—from Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un to Viktor Orban and Vladimir Putin—the typical reaction is shock and dismay. But in fact, Beverly Gage points out in a recent essay (foreignaffairs.com/reviews/autocratic-allure-beverly-gage) in Foreign Affairs, such admiration is not uncommon in American politics. And Trump’s embrace of overseas autocrats is just one of the unsettling features of American civic life today that has a more prominent place in U.S. history than most observers would like to think.
Gage, a historian at Yale, has written extensively about contemporary U.S. politics, ideology, and social movements, and is the author of G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century. She spoke with Foreign Affairs senior editor Kanishk Tharoor on October 17 about the historical parallels that help us understand today’s fraught politics—as well as what set this moment apart.
You can find transcripts and more episodes of The Foreign Affairs Interview at foreignaffairs.com/podcasts/foreign-affairs-interview.
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When Donald Trump praises foreign dictators—from Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un to Viktor Orban and Vladimir Putin—the typical reaction is shock and dismay. But in fact, Beverly Gage points out in a recent essay (foreignaffairs.com/reviews/autocratic-allure-beverly-gage) in Foreign Affairs, such admiration is not uncommon in American politics. And Trump’s embrace of overseas autocrats is just one of the unsettling features of American civic life today that has a more prominent place in U.S. history than most observers would like to think.
Gage, a historian at Yale, has written extensively about contemporary U.S. politics, ideology, and social movements, and is the author of G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century. She spoke with Foreign Affairs senior editor Kanishk Tharoor on October 17 about the historical parallels that help us understand today’s fraught politics—as well as what set this moment apart.
You can find transcripts and more episodes of The Foreign Affairs Interview at foreignaffairs.com/podcasts/foreign-affairs-interview.
Never miss an episode. Sign up for the Foreign Affairs Interview newsletter, delivered every other Thursday:
foreignaffairs.com/newsletter/the_foreign_affairs_interview?utm_medium=social&utm_source=youtube_posts&utm_campaign=podcast_notes
Subscribe to the rest of our free newsletters here:
foreignaffairs.com/newsletter?utm_medium=social&utm_source=youtube_posts&utm_campaign=podcast_notes
