For many, America’s Cold War victory validated the country’s self-image as a “shining city upon the hill,” whose democratic ideals were worthy of emulation. More than thirty years later, as authoritarianism and ultranationalism surge around the world, it is worth asking whether a dark undercurrent of America’s international conduct is somehow responsible. This week, the Eurasia Group Foundation’s Mark Hannah sits down with Ben Rhodes, President Obama’s deputy national security advisor. Ben grapples with this in his new book, After the Fall: Being American in the World We’ve Made. Though America in many ways remains a worthy exemplar of democracy, Ben identifies several trends in the United States, which eerily echo in Hungary, Russia, and China. 

 

Ben Rhodes is the author of the New York Times bestseller, The World as It Is: A Memoir of the Obama White House, co-host of the podcast, “Pod Save the World,” and a contributor to MSNBC. He served in the Obama administration as Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications and Speechwriting. You can follow Ben on Twitter at @brhodes.