Russia’s attempt to swing the 2016 U.S. election campaign for Donald Trump was just one of dozens of such operations Moscow has waged in the West in recent years. Assessing the specific impact of each act of political interference is exceedingly difficult. But analysts increasingly point to a general trend that serves Russia's interest: The operations are eroding Western voters' overall trust in democracy.

This week on And Now the Hard Part, we trace the roots of Moscow's political interference and talk about how countries can fight back.

“You have to send the message to those that try to undermine our democracies that there will be consequences for their actions,” says Alina Polyakova, the director of the Global Project on Democracy and Emerging Technology at the Brookings Institution and our guest this week.

Listen to the episode on this page or subscribe and download wherever you get your podcasts.

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