Fixing Failed States, America Edition

Episode description

It's no secret that the United States is in a bad place. Fiona Hill saw the chaos and blunders up close, as deputy assistant to President Trump and top Russia advisor at the White House. In November 2019, she was a witness in House hearings during the Trump's first impeachment.

Fiona has a new book out There Is Nothing For You Here and is back at the Brookings Institution. She joins Shadi and Damir to talk about whether she would would have agreed to work under Trump knowing what she knows now. Was there anything redeeming about Trump in the flesh? Fiona also discusses growing up poor in British coal country, seeing our divisions from inside the Trump administration, and how to apply the lessons other countries have learned in building unity at home.

Does America need a national reconciliation process? Can the country's divides be fixed through policy innovation or must Americans resign themselves to living with people who are beyond the pale?

Required Reading:

• There is Nothing For You Here, by Fiona Hill
• Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin, by Fiona Hill and Clifford Gaddy
• "The Role of Islam in European Populism" by Shadi Hamid (Brookings)
• "Dealing with the Dignity Deficit", by Damir Marusic (The American Interest)