Listen: A Wave of Global Disappointment in Democracy Brought Trump to the White House

The Chauncey DeVega Show is the official podcast of Salon.com politics writer Chauncey DeVega. The weekly show features a relaxed and free-form conversation with artists, authors, musicians, researchers, academics, journalists, activists, actors and directors.

Yascha Mounk is the guest on this week's special fundraising month episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show. He is a lecturer on political theory at Harvard University's Government Department, a postdoctoral fellow at the Transatlantic Academy of the German Marshall Fund, and a nonresident fellow at New America's Political Reform Program. Mounk is the author of three books including the forthcoming The People versus Democracy: Why Our Freedom Is in Danger and How to Save It. He writes a column at Slate in addition to hosting The Good Fight podcast.

In this week's episode of the podcast, Yascha Mounk and Chauncey DeVega discuss how Trump rode a wave of global discontent about liberal democracies into the White House, how a lack of faith in democracies is spreading around Europe and other parts of the world, right-wing authoritarian populism, what can be done to save democracy, the responsibility of teachers and other educators in this moment of crisis, and what we know and don't know about how and why democracies succeed or fail. 

DeVega also shares how the Trump administration is trying to kick immigrants out of the country if they dare to use public services such as Head Start or food stamps. He also reminds folks of the human cost of Trump's white supremacist war on black and brown immigrants by sharing a story about home healthcare workers and their importance to the most vulnerable Americans.