America is doing a pretty good job of destroying its own superpower status. At least, that’s how historian Timothy Snyder sees it.
“We are choosing to be far less powerful than we could be,” Snyder tells Shane Smith on the latest episode of Shane Smith Has Questions.
The bestselling author of On Tyranny argues that the Trump administration is rapidly dismantling the alliances, institutions, and international influence that made the United States a global superpower in the first place. And he thinks Russia is making many of the same mistakes.
From the wars in Iran and Ukraine to the Pentagon’s increasingly expensive weapons systems, Snyder questions whether America’s military and political leadership understands the world it’s operating in.
“You can’t stop a drone swarm with testosterone,” he says.
Snyder also warns that a real or manufactured national security crisis could be used to interfere with the midterm elections, raising the possibility that Trump might exploit an attack involving Iran.
“I think Trump is hoping the Iranians do something. I think he’s hoping that they blow something up,” Snyder speculates.
Smith and Snyder also get into America’s growing class of oligarchs, the relationship between fossil fuels and political corruption, and why the ultrawealthy might be operating on something other than rational self-interest.
“If you have a hundred billion dollars, you no longer have interests. You have fantasies,” Snyder says.
They also talk about how corruption drives up everyday costs, why firsthand journalism matters more than ever, and the potential consequences of artificial intelligence, which Snyder calls “artificial stupidity.”
But it’s not all doom and gloom. Snyder sees reasons for optimism in Ukraine’s resistance, grassroots political movements, and democratic countries beginning to cooperate without relying on the United States.
