Since this was written, we appear to have crossed a different line. Our "Unitary President," Donald Trump has opted to side with Russia in the current conflict. The geopolitical shift is seismic.
I am in Germany, and meet weekly online with a group of Expats, as we are supporting each other and trying to figure out how to support our fellow Americans in this time of crisis. Not all are in Germany but all are in Europe because of the time zone. Since German elections are on Sunday, where I will also be voting, we are turning our attention to what Europeans should be doing to stand up to Trump and his siding against Ukraine. We hope European leaders appear to lead Europe to a position of greater strength, just as in the US we would like to see the Democratic party making ass much of a nuisance of themselves as the Republicans have. It is a time for rising to the occasion or the moment will be gone, and we will continue hurtling down disaster's path.
Here the Courts are trench one; if that fails, it's impeachment. I know there aren't the GOP votes now, but if he keeps this up there will be. Good luck on Sunday.
"MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell is joined by Yale History Professor Timothy Snyder to discuss Donald Trump saying Ukraine ‘should have never started it’ about Vladimir Putin’s war on the same day that U.S. officials met in Saudia Arabia with a Russian delegation — without NATO, EU or Ukrainian envoys — to discuss the conflict."
Dr. Snyder, I can hear your anger and sorrow. I feel it too, though far less personally than you. I don’t know my country any more. How we could do this to Ukraine…. I provided housing to a Ukrainian family here on parole. Their four-year-old daughter arrived pale, her skin almost gray, quiet and still. After six months if safety, she was pink, energetic and singing Ukrainian patriotic songs. Now they may well be sent back to the hell russia has created. It breaks my heart.
Tim, your courage to travel to an active war zone is heroic. To visit people where their world has completely fallen apart to tell their story of what they are suffering demonstrates your commitment to humanity. Your example and work will live on for a millennium in educating future historians. We thank you 🙏
"I have the strange feeling, this week in Kyiv, that Ukrainians are living freer lives now than Americans. At a book store where I was talking to a Ukrainian philosopher about freedom, a young woman put her hand on my arm and said 'sorry about the U.S.'" Your column brings tears to my eyes. It is perhaps the most powerful one you have ever written. May God keep you safe.
I did see Jasmine Crockett sort of pick up the Shadow Cabinet idea on Chris Hayes/Velshi subbing last night. But other than young people and Bernie, Dems are AWOL so far. I too think the Shadow Cabinet is a truly "revolutionary" idea, as is another idea (Tim Miller I think) that someone loud and effective, like Mark Cuban(?), declare for President in 2028 NOW and become the daily spokesperson for the Resistance. But I despair so far.
Follow Elizabeth Warren, and Pramila Jayapal. They are standing up and fighting for us. Not the only ones, but I see their efforts almost daily. State attorneys general are filing suit. I just think none of it gets a high profile in the media.
Yeah, they say a lot of words and that’s about it. Why don’t they put hold on nominations? Why don’t they actually do something with the Senate rules the house rules instead of just saying words that’s my point
This didnt start with Trump. As someone else recently wrote, :This began with Reagan who declared that "Government is not the solution, its is the problem". Propagandists have been beating that drum for 40 years and it has gotten progressively worse from Limbaugh to Jones, the non stop lies have gotten more and more outrageous so that truth has become like an abused woman, unable to speak for herself. America has always been the place to escape to. It is quickly becoming the place to escape from. When will that curtain fall so even that is not possible? My family lived in the Borderlands for 500 years. We have lived in the west for little more than a generation. Where do we go now? Where is that line? That border?
Dear Timothy, Having lived in Ukraine for almost two years (Kyiv and Odessa) many years ago, I was very moved by your reading of your night on this hurtling train. I can hear those train tracks, taste the tea held by the podstakannik. "Spare a thought" for the Ukrainian soldier indeed. As you indicate, Ukrainians should be experiencing our deepest gratitude, instead they are met with the utmost callousness and distain by trump and his cult, where the claim most recently is that Ukraine started the war?! Our country is truly upside down. Your voice from that moving train to heed the line reverberates today. I will send this on. Thank you.
Trump is bored with Ukraine. How many episodes can he devote to Ukraine in the second season of "Trump the King"? Just hand Ukraine over to Putin and move on to renaming bodies if water or mountains; the true glorious work of Kings!
It is very sad that Putin's disinformation campaign has won here and is winning n Europe.
The Ukraine (and Europe) have been betrayed by our own corrupt government, led by 2 cruel sadistic sociopaths.
The 2024 election was hijacked/rigged with the help of the Russians and Elon Musk.
I am convinced that Harris did not lose the election, but her campaign neglected to do a recount, maybe out of fear for violence or the fact that the Supreme Court would block it (like Core/Bush) and Mike Johnson refusing to certify the election.
Trump has boasted "Elon knows a lot about voting machines, that is why I won Pennsylvania with a landslide" (and several other swing states).
On top of that, all the "challenged ballots", bomb threats, burned ballot boxes, minorities kicked of the voting list etc. In the documentary "Vigilantes.Inc", election official boast about rejecting minority ballots.
This was the most blatantly rigged election to date and yet the Harris campaign did nothing. The media immediately sided with Trump and very few Americans showed any suspicion.
I was accused of believing in conspiracy theories but I am not naive, I have followed politics for 50 years and read and collected many books about it.
I agree with you about everything here. Stay strong. There are probably thousands of other people who understand that a fascistic coup has taken place, assisted by Russia.
Take heart. I don't see any evidence that Putin's disinformation campaign is winning in Europe. Here in the UK, opinion polling usually shows that Putin, Trump and Musk are about equally loathed by a majority. Moreover, 58% of Brits are in favour of UK troops being in Ukraine to help provide security for an eventual peace agreement. Even the far-right, Trump-leaning Reform Party is evenly divided on that issue, for and against. Today even BBC News is repeatedly reporting that Trump is "saying things that are simply untrue". Things can change with dreadful speed of course - only a week since this essay was written! It seems like years. But at the moment, I'm hopeful that "Europe" can still tell fact from fantasy.
Thank you. I have a question which can be answered in time. When you return to Yale, this fall, what courses will you be teaching? What books will be included in the cirricullum. i'd like to follow along vicariously.
For years you have warned us, the willfully ignorant passengers on the runaway train to despotism.
So many Americans have grown comfortably numb, docile, and petty. But the day is now upon us,
each of us can no longer turn our heads, FREEDOM TO, NOT FREEDOM FROM requires awareness, understanding and effort, not just by others, but by ourselves. We are about to see what stuff we are truly made of, where we draw the line, what is important and inviolable. As we now see daily,
Courage and Integrity are Contagious! DO NOT OBEY IN ADVANCE, DEFEND INSTITUTIONS, DEFEND THE RULE OF LAW, STAND UP, SPEAK OUT,
Professor, there is a discussion trying to perculate on - The,Ink Anand Giridharadas Substack regarding the People's-Shadow Cabinet. I am hoping you will hear from Anand about holding a conversation. One subscriber mentioned a 3-way having Chris Murphy join in.
Thank you for this thoughtful essay. My parents were born in Saint Petersburg and my Grandfather in Kyiv. When I visited Russia and Ukraine in 1974 my relatives read the Russian fake news to my husband and I. In 1974 the fake news about the US was laughable (now scary) and I did not take it seriously in its attempts to demonstrate what an awful country the US was. Now I see the malicious playbook Trump is using, how the slow burn of fake news seeps into our current world. In the USSR We were followed everywhere and I believe could have been spyed on in hotels. My family had been prominent "white" ( anti communist) Russians and my father in particular had been targeted with threats by the soviets during WWII during his role as an interpreter for Eisenhauer. As an antiwar protester during Vietnam and having gone to school in Ohio during the Kent state shootings it was extremely hard for me to believe what my father told me about Russia. We were very at odds until I visited and experienced myself what a totalitarian government really was. My relatives in Saint Petersburg and Moscow and Kyiv told me about the horrible things. When I returned to the US and Vermont everyone of my protesting lefty friends did not believe me and some were even ready to fight for the dictatorship in Cuba.
Today I am in communication with my father's cousin who lives in Kyiv. My father's cousin unfortunately has bought into the fake Charlie Hebdo cartoon about Zelensky that was out on the internet. I read David Remnick's Book "Lenin's Tomb" several years ago, it summerizes at great length (😁) the horrible history of Stalin's dictatorship. What is going on in America right now threatens to undo what people like my dad and everyone who fought for freedom in WW II. Many of us have lived protected lives and don't understand how dictatorships can emerge and rise here in America. Thanks for listening.
Thank you thank you thank you. One of the most powerful, terrifying, yet brutally honest essays. We need to share this far and wide.
Wonderful essay. Thank you.
Since this was written, we appear to have crossed a different line. Our "Unitary President," Donald Trump has opted to side with Russia in the current conflict. The geopolitical shift is seismic.
I am in Germany, and meet weekly online with a group of Expats, as we are supporting each other and trying to figure out how to support our fellow Americans in this time of crisis. Not all are in Germany but all are in Europe because of the time zone. Since German elections are on Sunday, where I will also be voting, we are turning our attention to what Europeans should be doing to stand up to Trump and his siding against Ukraine. We hope European leaders appear to lead Europe to a position of greater strength, just as in the US we would like to see the Democratic party making ass much of a nuisance of themselves as the Republicans have. It is a time for rising to the occasion or the moment will be gone, and we will continue hurtling down disaster's path.
Here the Courts are trench one; if that fails, it's impeachment. I know there aren't the GOP votes now, but if he keeps this up there will be. Good luck on Sunday.
Thanks Tom. I really hope that you are correct about the trajectory.
Currently listening to Trump's Trade Policy podcast.
https://youtu.be/ClUOwM56ZQg?si=AKegVXXeuxpdnCYq
"MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell is joined by Yale History Professor Timothy Snyder to discuss Donald Trump saying Ukraine ‘should have never started it’ about Vladimir Putin’s war on the same day that U.S. officials met in Saudia Arabia with a Russian delegation — without NATO, EU or Ukrainian envoys — to discuss the conflict."
https://youtu.be/oB8wLbXfHNo?si=1rCo6K2sAmet0w5M
Dr. Snyder, I can hear your anger and sorrow. I feel it too, though far less personally than you. I don’t know my country any more. How we could do this to Ukraine…. I provided housing to a Ukrainian family here on parole. Their four-year-old daughter arrived pale, her skin almost gray, quiet and still. After six months if safety, she was pink, energetic and singing Ukrainian patriotic songs. Now they may well be sent back to the hell russia has created. It breaks my heart.
Read Lucian Truscott’s Substack if you want to read fire and brimstone. He pulled no punches.
Professor Snyder, "holding the line" is where my energy now lies. Resist!
Tim, your courage to travel to an active war zone is heroic. To visit people where their world has completely fallen apart to tell their story of what they are suffering demonstrates your commitment to humanity. Your example and work will live on for a millennium in educating future historians. We thank you 🙏
Yes. Please write about your trip and what you found and learned.
"I have the strange feeling, this week in Kyiv, that Ukrainians are living freer lives now than Americans. At a book store where I was talking to a Ukrainian philosopher about freedom, a young woman put her hand on my arm and said 'sorry about the U.S.'" Your column brings tears to my eyes. It is perhaps the most powerful one you have ever written. May God keep you safe.
Hello Timothy Snyder,
I am wondering what happened to your shadow cabinet idea. I'd like to see it put into operation.
I did see Jasmine Crockett sort of pick up the Shadow Cabinet idea on Chris Hayes/Velshi subbing last night. But other than young people and Bernie, Dems are AWOL so far. I too think the Shadow Cabinet is a truly "revolutionary" idea, as is another idea (Tim Miller I think) that someone loud and effective, like Mark Cuban(?), declare for President in 2028 NOW and become the daily spokesperson for the Resistance. But I despair so far.
I think as the zone got flooded Democrats are reeling chasing the shiny objects that the Republicans put out there ….
or they’re just waiting for things to self-destruct.
“ when the enemy is making mistakes, don’t interrupt them” Napoleon.
the democrats aren’t doing anything… time to save ourselves, elected officials sure as hell won’t.
Follow Elizabeth Warren, and Pramila Jayapal. They are standing up and fighting for us. Not the only ones, but I see their efforts almost daily. State attorneys general are filing suit. I just think none of it gets a high profile in the media.
Yeah, they say a lot of words and that’s about it. Why don’t they put hold on nominations? Why don’t they actually do something with the Senate rules the house rules instead of just saying words that’s my point
ME TOO
Particularly important in terms of our international relations.
This didnt start with Trump. As someone else recently wrote, :This began with Reagan who declared that "Government is not the solution, its is the problem". Propagandists have been beating that drum for 40 years and it has gotten progressively worse from Limbaugh to Jones, the non stop lies have gotten more and more outrageous so that truth has become like an abused woman, unable to speak for herself. America has always been the place to escape to. It is quickly becoming the place to escape from. When will that curtain fall so even that is not possible? My family lived in the Borderlands for 500 years. We have lived in the west for little more than a generation. Where do we go now? Where is that line? That border?
Dear Timothy, Having lived in Ukraine for almost two years (Kyiv and Odessa) many years ago, I was very moved by your reading of your night on this hurtling train. I can hear those train tracks, taste the tea held by the podstakannik. "Spare a thought" for the Ukrainian soldier indeed. As you indicate, Ukrainians should be experiencing our deepest gratitude, instead they are met with the utmost callousness and distain by trump and his cult, where the claim most recently is that Ukraine started the war?! Our country is truly upside down. Your voice from that moving train to heed the line reverberates today. I will send this on. Thank you.
Trump is bored with Ukraine. How many episodes can he devote to Ukraine in the second season of "Trump the King"? Just hand Ukraine over to Putin and move on to renaming bodies if water or mountains; the true glorious work of Kings!
It is very sad that Putin's disinformation campaign has won here and is winning n Europe.
The Ukraine (and Europe) have been betrayed by our own corrupt government, led by 2 cruel sadistic sociopaths.
The 2024 election was hijacked/rigged with the help of the Russians and Elon Musk.
I am convinced that Harris did not lose the election, but her campaign neglected to do a recount, maybe out of fear for violence or the fact that the Supreme Court would block it (like Core/Bush) and Mike Johnson refusing to certify the election.
Trump has boasted "Elon knows a lot about voting machines, that is why I won Pennsylvania with a landslide" (and several other swing states).
On top of that, all the "challenged ballots", bomb threats, burned ballot boxes, minorities kicked of the voting list etc. In the documentary "Vigilantes.Inc", election official boast about rejecting minority ballots.
This was the most blatantly rigged election to date and yet the Harris campaign did nothing. The media immediately sided with Trump and very few Americans showed any suspicion.
I was accused of believing in conspiracy theories but I am not naive, I have followed politics for 50 years and read and collected many books about it.
I agree with you about everything here. Stay strong. There are probably thousands of other people who understand that a fascistic coup has taken place, assisted by Russia.
Take heart. I don't see any evidence that Putin's disinformation campaign is winning in Europe. Here in the UK, opinion polling usually shows that Putin, Trump and Musk are about equally loathed by a majority. Moreover, 58% of Brits are in favour of UK troops being in Ukraine to help provide security for an eventual peace agreement. Even the far-right, Trump-leaning Reform Party is evenly divided on that issue, for and against. Today even BBC News is repeatedly reporting that Trump is "saying things that are simply untrue". Things can change with dreadful speed of course - only a week since this essay was written! It seems like years. But at the moment, I'm hopeful that "Europe" can still tell fact from fantasy.
We need a general strike. As a form of civil disobedience and to support labor.
As for Trump calling Zelensky a dictator, which is pure Russian propaganda, Trump needs to be removed as an unregistered Russian agent. Obviously.
Thank you. I have a question which can be answered in time. When you return to Yale, this fall, what courses will you be teaching? What books will be included in the cirricullum. i'd like to follow along vicariously.
For years you have warned us, the willfully ignorant passengers on the runaway train to despotism.
So many Americans have grown comfortably numb, docile, and petty. But the day is now upon us,
each of us can no longer turn our heads, FREEDOM TO, NOT FREEDOM FROM requires awareness, understanding and effort, not just by others, but by ourselves. We are about to see what stuff we are truly made of, where we draw the line, what is important and inviolable. As we now see daily,
Courage and Integrity are Contagious! DO NOT OBEY IN ADVANCE, DEFEND INSTITUTIONS, DEFEND THE RULE OF LAW, STAND UP, SPEAK OUT,
CHALLENGE THE LIES, DEFEND THE TRUTH.
Professor, there is a discussion trying to perculate on - The,Ink Anand Giridharadas Substack regarding the People's-Shadow Cabinet. I am hoping you will hear from Anand about holding a conversation. One subscriber mentioned a 3-way having Chris Murphy join in.
Thank you for this thoughtful essay. My parents were born in Saint Petersburg and my Grandfather in Kyiv. When I visited Russia and Ukraine in 1974 my relatives read the Russian fake news to my husband and I. In 1974 the fake news about the US was laughable (now scary) and I did not take it seriously in its attempts to demonstrate what an awful country the US was. Now I see the malicious playbook Trump is using, how the slow burn of fake news seeps into our current world. In the USSR We were followed everywhere and I believe could have been spyed on in hotels. My family had been prominent "white" ( anti communist) Russians and my father in particular had been targeted with threats by the soviets during WWII during his role as an interpreter for Eisenhauer. As an antiwar protester during Vietnam and having gone to school in Ohio during the Kent state shootings it was extremely hard for me to believe what my father told me about Russia. We were very at odds until I visited and experienced myself what a totalitarian government really was. My relatives in Saint Petersburg and Moscow and Kyiv told me about the horrible things. When I returned to the US and Vermont everyone of my protesting lefty friends did not believe me and some were even ready to fight for the dictatorship in Cuba.
Today I am in communication with my father's cousin who lives in Kyiv. My father's cousin unfortunately has bought into the fake Charlie Hebdo cartoon about Zelensky that was out on the internet. I read David Remnick's Book "Lenin's Tomb" several years ago, it summerizes at great length (😁) the horrible history of Stalin's dictatorship. What is going on in America right now threatens to undo what people like my dad and everyone who fought for freedom in WW II. Many of us have lived protected lives and don't understand how dictatorships can emerge and rise here in America. Thanks for listening.