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What if we’re paying attention to the wrong things?
Historian thinks we may be. For all the angst over Trump restricting press access, Snyder argues reporters don’t need to follow the president everywhere, especially when his words are being used as “weapons.” The bigger problem, he says, is that the press too often confuses what Trump says with what he can actually do.
And AI? Snyder thinks we’re so busy worrying about machines getting smarter that we’re missing what they may already be doing to us: making us easier to manipulate and less capable of thinking for ourselves.
Then there are the midterms. The threats are real. But Snyder’s message to voters is emphatic: “You can win big even when they threaten and even when they cheat.”
Snyder is one of the world’s leading scholars of authoritarianism and the author of On Tyranny and On Freedom. We discuss threats to elections and the press, extreme wealth, AI, the affordability crisis, weakened government protections, even the physical remaking of Washington.
I always come away from talking to Tim Snyder seeing the landscape a little differently. He connects things that can look unrelated, puts the present in a much longer frame, and somehow leaves you feeling that what happens next is less inevitable than it seemed an hour ago.
Our conversation is at the top of this newsletter.
If you’d prefer to read a transcript, find that here.
In this newsletter: Renée Good’s family sues the Trump administration. ICE won’t pump the brakes. Release the diesel. The low-hire, low-fire economy. A grisly first in the history of failed executions. Meet your new AI czar. And Costco takes an unusual approach to tariff refunds.
Poorly Handled: New York Gov. Kathy HochulappointedAttorney General Letitia James to oversee an investigation into the alleged gang rape of a former Cornell student,includinghow the case was handled by university and local authorities. Cornell ishiringoutside lawyers to conduct a separate independent investigation. The New York Timesobtainedover 1,000 pages from the university’s Title IX investigation, which show that important context was left out of the official statement provided to the district attorney, including the fact Jane Doe said she was confident she was raped.Pump It Out: G7 countriesagreedto release 100 million barrels of diesel and crude oil from their emergency reserves, after Trumpthreatenedto restrict U.S. exports of diesel. Oil pricesfellsharply after the announcement.No Brakes: ICE issuednew guidanceoutlining limits on vehicle stops. Officers must be trained, equip their vehicle with lights and sirens, wear a body camera, and may not engage in vehicle pursuits. But the agencyclaimedthese policies are just “reminders” that make “no changes” to vehicle stops, which have led to multipleinjuriesanddeaths.Right to Vote: Trump refused to rule out declaring a state of emergency or invoking the Insurrection Act before the midterms in aninterviewwith TIME. I discussed the president’s threats with Timothy Snyder, who argued Trump is “trying to create an atmosphere of threat to discourage people from voting. If you want to win, you have to vote anyway.” Watch our conversation in full at the top of this newsletter.Who Gets to Vote: Defense Secretary Pete Hegsethorderedthe military to give troops a day off to vote. Under the Trump administration, other federal agencies have made itmore difficultfor workers to get time off to vote.
**Still Banned?**The White HouseblockedCNN from covering Trump for the TV pool for the second time in a week, despite a judgeorderingit to lift its ban on the network. The other major networks didn’t take CNN’s place in the pool.Feeling Low: The final jobs report before the midterms is out, and it’s not great. The economyaddedfewer jobs than expected, unemployment ticked up, and wage growthslumpedto a five-year low. Many economists think we’re in a “low-fire, low-hire” situation, with the hiring rate at itslowestlevel in over a decade.Rehabilitation With a Purpose: The Justice Department isinvestigatingwhether the deep state unfairly targeted former President Richard Nixon, according to the Wall Street Journal. Some Republicans, including Vice President J.D. Vance, havecomparedNixon to Trump.Total Failure: Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee postponed the state’s executions and launched an investigation after Christa Pikesurvivedtwo doses of supposedly lethal injection, a botched execution some experts say is unprecedented. Pike is in critical condition. Her ordeal, whichincludedan appeals court staying her execution at the last moment and the Supreme Court overturning that stay hours later, has reigniteddebateover the death penalty.Fighting For Justice: The family of Renée Good, the 37-year-old woman killed by ICE agent Jonathan Ross in January, filed twocivil lawsuits. The suitschallengeboth Good’s death and, in a rarer move, the ICE operation that led to her death, arguing it was an illegal, racially motivated conspiracy that deprived people’s civil rights. “The fact that there’s been no accountability … is completely mind-blowing,” Good’s brothersaid. “We will not wait any longer.”Multi-Tasking: Trump willreportedlymakeDirector of National Intelligence Jay Clayton his new AI czar. It’s unclear what that role will entail. Clayton recentlydescribedAI as “both an opportunity and a threat.”Milestone: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy𝕏announcedthe country deployed a domestically produced ballistic missile in combat for thefirst time. It’s a short-range missile, and the company behind it isexpectedto have a longer-range missile ready within months.
You’ve Got Mail (And Are On Camera): USPS has begun apilot programin Washington DC to install cameras on mail carrier trucks that continuously scan the surroundings, according to anew reportfrom 404 Media. The agency claims this data collection is for “community safety,” but questionsremainabout how the data will be used.
Corporate Responsibility: We’ve reported extensively on companies refusing to pass on tariff refunds to consumers. Here’s an exception. Costco’s CEO recentlyannouncedthe company received $184 million in tariff refunds the previous quarter, and invested the “majority” of that into lowering prices for members.
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