As President Donald Trump’s second term unfolds, one big question looms: How resilient is American democracy? Professor Suzanne Mettler has spent years studying the forces that put democracy at risk and in this episode, she draws on her most recent book to share lessons from events across U.S. history that feel eerily relevant today. From Trump’s expanded executive power to deepening political divisions, she explores the forces that threaten American democracy, and what everyday citizens can do to push back.

For more on this topic:

• Read Mettler’s book, Four Threats: The Recurring Crises of American Democracy, written with Robert Lieberman at Johns Hopkins University.

• Check out her opinion piece about a disturbing plot against a Kansas Territory governor in TIME Magazine, co-authored with Robert Lieberman.