Part two of David’s conversation with historian Chris Clark asks whether the best historical insights into Trump-like leadership come from comparison with kings or commoners, democrats or dictators. Does Trump’s leadership style share much if anything with an epoch-making politician like Bismarck? Should Trump’s public persona be understood as standing outside the norm of presidential politics or as quintessentially American? And what can we learn from a close reading of his magnum opus, The Art of the Deal?

Next time: The Rise and Fall of Homo sapiens

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Today’s episode is the first of a two-part conversation with historian Chris Clark exploring how German history might help us understand Trump-like leadership, but not through looking at the Nazi period. Instead, David and Chris explore the character and leadership style of Kaiser Wilhelm II, a monarch with many Trumpian qualities. Was Wilhelm a populist or an elitist? Did he know what he was doing and what he was saying? Or was he out of his depth? Plus, how did his maverick and mercurial behaviour impact on those around him trying to run the country - and how did it help lead his country to ruin?

Next time on Trump-like leadership in German History: Chancellor, Tyrant, Emperor?

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Today’s episode is the second part of David’s conversation with historian Julian Jackson about the case of Marshal Pétain and the crimes of the Vichy regime. Did Pétain really play a ‘double game’ in which he tried to deceive the Nazis? How then to explain the vicious antisemitism of the Vichy regime? Why did the fate of France’s Jews not get more attention at Pétain’s trial? And how does the case of Pétain and the question of Vichy still resonate in French politics today? 

Julian Jackson’s France on Trial: The Case of Marshal Pétain is available wherever you get your books https://bit.ly/4oTHcRP

Next Time: Chris Clark on Trump-like leaders from German history (and it’s not the one you think!)

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Today’s episode is the first of two on the extraordinary treason trial of Marshal Pétain in the summer of 1945 that ended up putting wartime France in the dock. David talks to historian of modern France Julian Jackson about how Pétain found himself so quickly charged with treason and who was judging him. What was the essence of Pétain’s crime? Conspiracy? Surrender? Collaboration? Complicity in genocide? And what on earth was his defence?

Julian Jackson’s France on Trial: The Case of Marshal Pétain is available wherever you get your books https://bit.ly/4oTHcRP

Available now on PPF+: our second episode on the Moscow Show Trials in which David and Edward Acton discuss the 1938 trial of Nikolai Bukharin, the most celebrated defendant of them all, whose case inspired some of the world’s great political literature.  To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening sign up to PPF+ today https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus

Next time in Politics on Trial: The Case of Marshal Pétain Part 2

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Today’s episode is the first of two exploring the origins, conduct and legacy of the Moscow Show Trials that Stalin staged from 1936-38. David talks to historian of Russia Edward Acton about what motivated these grotesque spectacles, how the defendants were chosen, how their confessions were extracted, why the rhetoric was so violent and who was fooled by what they saw and heard. Plus: how did the trials of these few lead to the murders of so many?

Available tomorrow on PPF+: our second episode on the Moscow Show Trials in which David and Edward discuss the 1938 trial of Nikolai Bukharin, the most celebrated defendant of them all, whose case inspired some of the world’s great political literature.  To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening sign up to PPF+ today https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus

Next time in Politics on Trial: De Gaulle vs Pétain

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We return to our series about the most significant trials in history with the trial of the twentieth century: Scopes ‘Monkey’ (1925), which was meant to be about a Tennessee schoolteacher but became a battle between science and religion and everything in between. What made it such a blockbuster showdown? Who really won and who really lost? And how are arguments from one hundred years ago still roiling American politics today? 

To get our free fortnightly newsletter delivered to your inbox with guides, clips and much more to accompany all our episodes sign up now https://www.ppfideas.com/newsletters

Next time in Politics on Trial: the Moscow Show Trials

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Today’s episode was recorded in front of a live audience at the Cheltenham Literature Festival: David talks to Bruno Maçães and Sarah Wynn-Williams about who is winning in the fight for control between China and America, between state power and corporate power and between AI and humanity. Where are the battlegrounds in the fight for the future? What are the weapons? And how will we know what victory looks like?

Out now on PPF+: A bonus episode with more of your questions and suggestions for how to fix democracy and more answers from the two Davids. Should MPs be chosen by lottery? What has happened to the centre-right? Which needs fixing first: democracy or capitalism? To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening sign up to PPF+ today https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus

The 4th film in our autumn Films of Ideas season at the Regent Street Cinema in London is coming up on Weds 5th November: a screening of Derek Jarman’s Wittgenstein followed by a live recording of PPF with writer and philosopher Nikhil Krishnan. Get your tickets now https://bit.ly/47bsJcN

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In today’s episode the two Davids try to answer some of the hundreds of questions, comments and suggestions we have had in response to this series, ranging from the very broad to the very specific. How do we know if democracy is broken? Have we ever had a real democracy anyway? Should old people be banned from voting? Or should we simply ban the internet instead? Plus much, much more.

Out tomorrow on PPF+: A bonus episode with more questions on how to fix democracy and more answers from the two Davids. Should MPs be chosen by lottery? What has happened to the centre-right? Which needs fixing first: democracy or capitalism? To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening sign up to PPF+ today https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus

Next time: PPF Live Special recorded at the Cheltenham Literature Festival – Who Rules the World? w/ Sarah Wynn-Williams and Bruno Maçães

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For the final episode in this series David talks to historian Ayse Zarakol about the prospects for democracy in the age of strongman politics, from Trump to Erdogan, from Orban to Modi. Where did the strongmen come from? How unusual is this kind of politics in the broad sweep of history? Does democracy have the wherewithal to resist its pull? And if not, what happens next?

The 4th film in our autumn season at the Regent Street Cinema in London is coming up on Wednesday 5th November: a screening of Derek Jarman’s Wittgenstein followed by a live recording of PPF with writer and philosopher Nikhil Krishnan. Get your tickets now https://bit.ly/47bsJcN

Up next: Fixing Democracy Q & A w/David Klemperer

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In our penultimate episode in this series David talks to writer Sam Freedman about whether democracy can cope with the demands of the social media age. Are we really more vulnerable to disinformation than we have ever been? Is the bigger problem our ever-shrinking attention spans or our ever-divided politics? What happens to democracy as visual communication squeezes out the written word? And what might make things better?

Sam Freedman’s Substack is Comment is Freed https://samf.substack.com/

Next time on Fixing Democracy: Confronting the Strongmen

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