Andrew Marantz

Well, one thing that a lot of people in Hungary were saying to me during the piece and then after the piece came out is one downside of talking about autocracy and strongmen and all this stuff is that people often use it as an excuse to turn their brains off and stop thinking creatively and stop trying to have a viable and vital opposition. So one is just... how strong is the civil resistance?

How strong is the private sector, public sector resistance? Another thing is, is the emergency sort of slow rolling and gradual enough that we start to just say, oh, well, he disappeared 10 people and eight of them were sent back. So the system is working. The system is holding. He merely got the universities to preemptively agree to some of his demands, not all of them.

How strong is the private sector, public sector resistance? Another thing is, is the emergency sort of slow rolling and gradual enough that we start to just say, oh, well, he disappeared 10 people and eight of them were sent back. So the system is working. The system is holding. He merely got the universities to preemptively agree to some of his demands, not all of them.

Therefore, the institutions are holding, right? So I would worry about a kind of shifting of goalposts in that sense.

Therefore, the institutions are holding, right? So I would worry about a kind of shifting of goalposts in that sense.

You know, an analogy I make in the piece is to climate change where you would think that at some point when enough of Canada was on fire and enough of the smoke in midtown Manhattan had reached the point where you couldn't go outside, everyone would look up and lock arms and say, the emergency is happening now. But in fact, that doesn't happen.

You know, an analogy I make in the piece is to climate change where you would think that at some point when enough of Canada was on fire and enough of the smoke in midtown Manhattan had reached the point where you couldn't go outside, everyone would look up and lock arms and say, the emergency is happening now. But in fact, that doesn't happen.

And so the main thing I worry about in terms of if we're in a slow-rolling democratic emergency is that we never have a chance to all get on the same page about it. And it continues being fractured and hybrid and weird. I mean, people I spoke to in Hungary, they all had different... timelines for when they sort of came to emotionally accept that they no longer lived in a democracy.

And so the main thing I worry about in terms of if we're in a slow-rolling democratic emergency is that we never have a chance to all get on the same page about it. And it continues being fractured and hybrid and weird. I mean, people I spoke to in Hungary, they all had different... timelines for when they sort of came to emotionally accept that they no longer lived in a democracy.

For some people, it was very early, but for a lot, it was 2015, 2016, 2020, 10 years in. When I talked to Steven Levitsky about Venezuela, he said opinion polls showed that most Venezuelans thought they lived in a democracy 10 years into the Chavez regime. So one thing I worry about is just the collective felt experience of the emergency could be here and we never really get it.

For some people, it was very early, but for a lot, it was 2015, 2016, 2020, 10 years in. When I talked to Steven Levitsky about Venezuela, he said opinion polls showed that most Venezuelans thought they lived in a democracy 10 years into the Chavez regime. So one thing I worry about is just the collective felt experience of the emergency could be here and we never really get it.

Andrew? So I am going to break norms a little bit because this is a book that I just picked up and I'm not actually finished reading yet. But I mean, you know, we're in a post-norm reality now. So I figure I just picked this up a couple of days ago. It's called Melting Point. And it's all primary sources. And it just sets you down in the middle of history.

Andrew? So I am going to break norms a little bit because this is a book that I just picked up and I'm not actually finished reading yet. But I mean, you know, we're in a post-norm reality now. So I figure I just picked this up a couple of days ago. It's called Melting Point. And it's all primary sources. And it just sets you down in the middle of history.

In this case, it's the history of the early days of Zionism. And the reason I bring it up in this context is there's one line that one of the characters says, which is, it's never inevitable at the time. And I just think in terms of putting one foot in the other, seeing what is in front of one's nose, I think that's something we know intellectually.

In this case, it's the history of the early days of Zionism. And the reason I bring it up in this context is there's one line that one of the characters says, which is, it's never inevitable at the time. And I just think in terms of putting one foot in the other, seeing what is in front of one's nose, I think that's something we know intellectually.

We don't know how the end of the story is written, but it's something we need to remind ourselves what it feels like. Another one also in that vein is actually a film, I'm Still Here, the Brazilian film. They're six or seven years into a military regime, a military junta, at the point that the film starts, and yet their life feels very hybrid. It feels very liminal.

We don't know how the end of the story is written, but it's something we need to remind ourselves what it feels like. Another one also in that vein is actually a film, I'm Still Here, the Brazilian film. They're six or seven years into a military regime, a military junta, at the point that the film starts, and yet their life feels very hybrid. It feels very liminal.

They're going to the beach and playing volleyball, and their life is actually kind of beautiful, and then comes the knock on the door. And so, again, I'm not saying we are going to have a military coup in America. I'm just saying that the felt sense of it is very unpredictable at the time that you're living.

They're going to the beach and playing volleyball, and their life is actually kind of beautiful, and then comes the knock on the door. And so, again, I'm not saying we are going to have a military coup in America. I'm just saying that the felt sense of it is very unpredictable at the time that you're living.

You kind of want to shout at the screen, like, don't you know you're six years into a military dictatorship? But they kind of don't, or they don't know what the informal rules of that dictatorship are, even though they're in the middle of it. And then last, I would bring up The Constitutional Bind by Aziz Rana, which is a really big and challenging book, and I'm not sure I...