The Despot’s Apprentice: Donald Trump’s Attack on Democracy
About this audiobook
An ex–US campaign advisor who has sat with the world’s dictators explains Donald Trump’s increasingly authoritarian tactics and the threat they pose to American democracy.
Donald Trump isn’t a despot. But he is increasingly acting like the “despot’s apprentice,” an understudy in authoritarian tactics that threaten to erode American democracy, including
attacking the press,threatening rule of law by firing those who investigate his alleged wrongdoings,using nepotism to staff the White House, andcountless other techniques.Donald Trump is borrowing tactics from the world’s dictators and despots. Trump’s fascination for the military, his obsession with his own cult of personality, and his deliberate campaign to blur the line between fact and falsehood are nothing new to the world of despots. But they are new to the United States. With each authoritarian tactic or tweet, Trump poses a unique threat to democratic government in the world’s most powerful democracy.
At the same time, Trump’s apprenticeship has serious consequences beyond the United States. His bizarre adoration and idolization of despotic strongmen―from Russia’s Putin, to Turkey’s Erdogan, or to the Philippines’ Duterte―has transformed American foreign policy into a powerful cheerleader for some of the world’s worst regimes.
The Despot’s Apprentice: Donald Trump’s Attack on Democracy explores how Trump uniquely threatens democracy―and how to save it from him.
About the author
Brian Klaas is a contributing writer for The Atlantic, host of the award-winning Power Corrupts podcast, and frequent guest on national television. Klaas has conducted field research across the globe and advised major politicians and organizations including NATO and the European Union. He grew up in Minnesota, earned his DPhil at Oxford, and is now a professor of global politics at University College London. He You can find him at BrianPKlaas.com and on X @BrianKlaas.
David Talbot is the author of the New York Times bestseller Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years and the acclaimed, national bestseller Season of the Witch. He is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Salon, a senior editor at Mother Jones magazine, and the features editor at the San Francisco Examiner. He has written for the New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Time, and other major publications.
Patrick Lawlor, an award-winning narrator, is also an accomplished stage actor, director, and combat choreographer. He has worked extensively off Broadway and has been an actor and stuntman in both film and television. He has been an Audie Award finalist multiple times and has garnered several AudioFile Earphones Awards, a Publishers Weekly Listen-Up Award, and many starred audio reviews from Library Journal and Kirkus Reviews.
