The

The Hello and welcome to Behind the News. My name is Doug Henwood.

Two guests today, the non-Douge-approved

standard, both looking at various aspects of what else King Donald. No doubt most of you have seen

his joking, ha-ha, reference to himself as king when he announced his attempt of doubtful legality

to cancel New York City's congestion pricing program, which charges drivers, despite the propaganda,

mostly affluent, $9 to enter Manhattan, funds that will be used to finance investment in our transit system.

Can't have that.

And then, of course, there was his joking, again with a ha-ha, citation of a quote,

wrongly or rightly attributed to Napoleon, saying, he who saves his country does not violate

any law, cap C, cap L. What's he saving us from? Pronouns? So what exactly is Trump? Is he a

fascist? Is he a new kind of neoliberal? To answer these and related questions, we'll hear

from two guests familiar to behind the news listeners, Anatole Levin and Quinn Slobodian.

Anatole first. He is the director of the Eurasia program at the Quincy Institute for Responsible

Statecraft based in Washington. In the 1980s and 90s, Anatole covered the former Soviet Union,

Eastern Europe, and the wars in Afghanistan, Chechnya, and the Southern Caucasus for the

Financial Times and the Times of London. We startya, and the Southern Caucasus, for the Financial Times and

the Times of London. We start by talking about the speech that Vice President J.D. Vance,

a man who was very selective in his concerns about fair elections and freedom of expression,

gave to the Munich Security Conference, in which he condemned Western Europe for not being

open enough to the far right. It shocked the Europeans in the audience who wanted to be reassured that Trump isn't abandoning Ukraine,

and they didn't hear that.

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