#461 — Dictators Always Tell You What They'll Do
2/25/202629 min
Sam Harris speaks with Garry Kasparov about the erosion of American democracy and the global authoritarian threat. They discuss Trump's systematic corruption, the GOP's moral collapse, the 2026 midterms as a decisive moment for democracy, Trump's entanglement with Russia and Putin, what a Ukrainian victory would mean for the free world, why Putin's nuclear threats are a bluff, and other topics.
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First 90 secondsSam Harris· Host0:00
[gentle music] Welcome to the Making Sense Podcast. This is Sam Harris. Just a note to say that if you're hearing this, you're not currently on our subscriber feed, and will only be hearing the first part of this conversation. In order to access full episodes of the Making Sense Podcast, you'll need to subscribe at samharris.org. We don't run ads on the podcast, and therefore it's made possible entirely through the support of our subscribers. So if you enjoy what we're doing here, please consider becoming one. I am here with Garry Kasparov. Garry, thanks for joining me again.
Garry Kasparov· Guest0:40
Thank you for inviting me.
Sam Harris· Host0:41
Uh, it's great to see you. So I, I think it's been, uh, something like five years, four or five years, six years maybe, since we've spoken. A lot has happened, but still we were speaking under the shadow of, uh, Trump and Trumpism, uh, I think each of the times we spoke. I think our first conversation was in twenty sixteen, and then, uh, then maybe like twenty twenty-two. I think that's where we are. So been about four years. Well, first, just to introduce you properly, many people will know you as, uh, one of the greatest, uh, chess masters, uh, of all time and, uh, world champion for many years, and but maybe we'll return to the topic of chess at some point. But now you're, you're currently the, uh, the chairman of the Renew Democracy Initiative, and also you have a Substack, thenextmove.org, uh, which is, um, you know, associated with, with that foundation,