As Ukrainians fight to preserve their democracy, PBS’s Christiane Amanpour declared it necessary on her Friday show to likewise preserve democracy at home against those would rather seek to install some sort of autocracy.
Speaking with political scientist Francis Fukuyama, Amanpour warned, “your own country, the United States, has seen — and certainly some European countries, and particularly in Eastern Europe, you know, illiberal democracies, even a tendency towards a slight autocracy, even in our democracies. It was also happening in the United States. A lot of this is due to the extraordinary divisions within the United States. You touched on it right now, with the fight over vaccine mandates and—and– the rest.”
Earlier in the segment Fukuyama condemned people who equate mask mandates to authoritarianism, claiming that the war in Ukraine should put things into perspective, but Amanpour appears to be arguing that opposition to mandates has led to increased domestic autocracy which makes no sense.
Despite this lack of coherence, she added “there seems to be no sense of the commons in countries like United States and other illiberal democracies. So, even if ‘we’ win this battle against autocracy in Ukraine, it seems to me that the table has to be reset at home, in the homes of democracies, in a very, very deep way, serious way.”
Fukuyama concurred and warned against leaders siding with Vladimir Putin.
Oh, absolutely. Yes. And what’s really different about this battle, compared to the Cold War, is that it reaches into the heart of our democracy, because you have populist politicians, you know, like our former president, or Matteo Salvini in—in– Italy, or Viktor Orban in Hungary, who are really allies of Putin, who like that kind of strongman rule.
Not only did Fukuyama ignore Trump’s role in arming Ukraine, he bizarrely declared, “And they all work together. They all support one other. They all support democratic regimes. To keep Nicolas Maduro at the helm, they’ve all come together. This is the first time that it’s an international network for anti-democratic force. And it’s one that, unfortunately, has allies that are burrowed deep into our democracies.”
Joe Biden inquired about working alongside Maduro on oil production, though none of these men supports him.
Writer: The man behind the words The End of History unironically concluded with one final warning about the erosion of democracy, “And so when I’m saying we have to exercise some agency in order to fight back, that has both an international dimension, as in the battlefield in Ukraine, but it also has a domestic dimension, where we need to protect our democratic institutions against this erosion by people that really don’t value democracy in the way it should be valued.”
Fukuyama nor Amanpour never provided any examples concrete of authoritarianism’s decline, but only vague allegations against their adversaries.
You sponsored this segment.
This transcript is for the 18 March show.
PBS Amanpour and Company
3/19/2022
1:10 AM ET
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR (Yes, it has), but only your country, the United States of America, as well as some European countries and especially in Eastern Europe have seen illiberal democracy, even a tendency toward an autocracy in their democracies. It was even happening in America. A lot of this is due to the intense partisan division in the United States. You touched on it right now, with the fight over vaccine mandates and—and– the rest.
But—but– there seems to be no sense of the commons in countries like United States and other illiberal democracies. So, even if “we” win this battle against autocracy in Ukraine, it seems to me that the table has to be reset at home, in the homes of democracies, in a very, very deep way, serious way.
FRANCIS FUKUYAMA: Oh, absolutely. There is one war that not only has external manifestations like Ukraine but also has internal. And what’s really different about this battle, compared to the Cold War, is that it reaches into the heart of our democracy, because you have populist politicians, you know, like our former president, or Matteo Salvini in—in– Italy, or Viktor Orban in Hungary, who are really allies of Putin, who like that kind of strongman rule.
All of them work together. All of them support each other. They all support democratic regimes. All of them are gathered together in Venezuela in order to maintain Nicolas Maduro’s power. This is the first international network of antidemocratic forces. Unfortunately, it has many allies who are deeply embedded in our democracies. So when I say we must exercise agency to fight back, it has an international dimension (as in the battle in Ukraine) but also a domestic dimension. We need to defend our democratic institutions from erosion by those who don’t really value democracy the way that it ought to be valued.
About Post Author
