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Authoritarianism Expert Tim Snyder Warns America Is Committing “Superpower Suicide”
Historian and On Tyranny author Timothy Snyder tells Ben Meiselas he has never seen a major country surrender so much power so quickly.
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Historian Timothy Snyder has spent much of his career studying authoritarianism, tyranny and the collapse of democratic institutions. Now, he has a stark phrase for what he believes is happening to the United States under Donald Trump: “superpower suicide.”
Snyder, the author of On Tyranny, On Freedom, and Bloodlands, joined MeidasTouch co-founder Ben Meiselas for a wide-ranging conversation about the United States, Russia, China, Ukraine, Canada and the rapidly changing global order.
“The term that I came up with when I was trying to capture all this is ‘superpower suicide,’” Snyder told Meiselas. “I can’t see an example of a country, a major country, losing so much power so quickly as the United States under Trump.”
Snyder argued that the damage goes beyond strained alliances. In his assessment, the United States is voluntarily weakening several of the foundations that historically made it powerful, including its ability to attract immigrants, maintain technological leadership and sustain world-class education.
“We are choosing to be much weaker,” Snyder said.
He also argued that Trump’s approach has created an opening for China.
“What the Trump administration has done is spectacularly helped China,” Snyder said, contending that reduced American support for Ukraine has squandered an opportunity to demonstrate to Beijing the potential costs of military aggression.
Snyder offered a striking way of describing the shifting balance between Washington and Beijing.
“They’re not rising. It’s that we’re falling,” he said. “And we’re falling because we’ve chosen to fall.”
The historian also focused heavily on Russia and Ukraine. Snyder, who recently returned from Ukraine, said Russia is attempting to portray strength despite what he views as serious vulnerabilities. He expects Moscow to intensify attacks on Ukraine’s economy and civilian infrastructure through the winter while simultaneously attempting to intimidate European countries into reducing their support for Kyiv.
“The Russians are in a position of weakness, which they want to make look like strength,” Snyder said.
Snyder believes the coming months could prove especially consequential.
“This next six months, I think, will be pretty decisive,” he told Meiselas.
Despite the severity of his warnings, Snyder ended the conversation with a measure of hope. He argued that the United States still has an opportunity not simply to restore what existed before Trump, but to construct something better, noting that the conditions that preceded Trump were themselves flawed.
“I do think that we could have a better version of the country,” Snyder said.
But Snyder suggested rebuilding American power and international trust would not mean simply expecting old allies to fall back into line. The United States, he said, would have to earn that trust again and potentially learn from democracies in Canada, Europe and across the Pacific that continued cooperating while Washington pulled away.
“It’ll be a matter of us earning trust and taking examples from other people,” Snyder said.
Watch Ben’s full conversation with Timothy Snyder above as they discuss authoritarianism, Trump, Russia and China, the war in Ukraine, and Snyder’s warning about America’s place in the world.
