Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Democracy: How it held up during election 2020 and what it may look like going forward
Until late Tuesday, Christopher Krebs was the top Trump administration official overseeing election security.
By Madeleine Brand • • 17m ListenUntil late Tuesday, Christopher Krebs was the top Trump administration official overseeing election security. The branch of the Department of Homeland Security he led put out a statement last week saying the 2020 election was the most secure in American history. That totally contradicts more than two weeks of unsubstantiated claims by Trump of widespread voter fraud. Trump ended up firing Krebs — via Twitter.
Krebs later tweeted from his personal account:
Honored to serve. We did it right. Defend Today, Secure Tomrorow. #Protect2020 — Chris Krebs (@C_C_Krebs)
KCRW speaks with Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, government professors at Harvard and authors of the 2018 book “How Democracies Die.”
“How Democracies Die” is a 2018 book by Harvard government professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt.
Excerpted from How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt.
We tend to think of democracies dying at the hands of men with guns. During the Cold War, coups d’état accounted for nearly three out of every four democratic breakdowns, and more recently, military coups toppled Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi in 2013 and Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in 2014. In these cases democracy dissolved in spectacular fashion, through military power and coercion.
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Copyright © 2018 by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher. Reprinted from HOW DEMOCRACIES DIE Copyright © 2018 by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt. Published by Crown Publishers, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.
The full episode
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LA Opera puts on ‘The Anonymous Lover’ during COVID- 0:00Democracy: How it held up during election 2020 and what it may look like going forwardYou’re reading this
- 17:58Alex Lee, the first Gen Z lawmaker, is heading to the California State Assembly
- 27:32LA Opera’s first COVID-era production: ‘The Anonymous Lover’ by an 18th century Black composer
- 40:45Thanksgiving pies: How to make them at home, where to buy them in Southern California
Madeleine Brand
Host, 'Press Play'
Sarah Sweeney
Vice President of Talk Programming, KCRW
Michell Eloy
Former Producer/Line Editor, Press Play
Amy Ta
Digital News & Culture Editor
Steven Levitsky
professor of government at Harvard, co-author of “How Democracies Die”
Daniel Ziblatt
professor of government at Harvard University, co-author of “Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point”
The full episode
1 of 4LA Opera puts on ‘The Anonymous Lover’ during COVID- 0:00Democracy: How it held up during election 2020 and what it may look like going forwardYou’re reading this
- 17:58Alex Lee, the first Gen Z lawmaker, is heading to the California State Assembly
- 27:32LA Opera’s first COVID-era production: ‘The Anonymous Lover’ by an 18th century Black composer
- 40:45Thanksgiving pies: How to make them at home, where to buy them in Southern California