Weimar America

Why do serious historians fear American democracy is hanging by a thread, with parallels to the fall of the Weimar Republic? In this episode, Christopher Browning, an expert on Nazi Germany and the Holocaust, argues eerie similarities exist between our current problems and the hyper-polarized environment of 1920s-30s Germany. The gravediggers of the Weimar Republic used the levers of power to undermine a system they despised, leading to the rise of Adolph Hitler. The United States today faces no such future, but Browning says Republicans loyal to Donald Trump are attacking the legitimacy of American elections while running for key local and state offices that oversee voting -- a kind of legal revolution to disadvantage their electoral opponents.