Podcast Episode 8 — The Democrats May Get Their Own Trump

That’s what Steven Levitsky, co-author of “How Democracies Die,” says in my interview with him on the latest episode of “The Long Game.”

Levitsky is a professor of government at Harvard. He’s studied Latin American authoritarians for years, and is an expert on how they’ve used democracy to kill democracy.

Political parties, he and co-author Daniel Ziblatt argue, “are a check on voters.”

“Party leaders actually have some insight into who is a good candidate,” he said. “Politicians actually work with these guys. They see these guys at work. They’ve seen them work under pressure. They’ve seen their strengths, their weaknesses. They are in a better position than voters who have seen these guys on TV a few times to actually evaluate whether this person is fit for office and would be a good president. And that’s pretty important.”

The Democrats’ move to reduce the number of super delegates in their presidential primary is a move in the wrong direction, Levitsky argues.

“Even after Trump was elected, even after Democrats were scandalized, scandalized, that Donald Trump could become president of the United States, many of them are still pushing to remove super delegates rather than either keep them or even expand them. Had the Republicans had a system with super delegates, that might have led to a different nominee,” Levitsky said.

“The unforeseen consequences are that it increases the likelihood … that the Democrats get their own Trump.”

Listen to the full episode here.