joining us now is timothy snyder, professor of history at yale university. the best-selling author of "on tyranny." it's a real pleasure to have you here tonight. thank you so much. >> very glad. >> you talk about democracy being a global phenomenon that rises and falls in a global way, and the necessity of people seeing democratic movements at work, both as an inspiration and as essentially shoring up our courage to do it ourselves. given that, in the face of this flagrant, flagrant sort of offense in belarus, what's the right way for people who support democracy to stand up for roman protasevich and for democracy here? >> well, i think you have already made the basic point really beautifully, which is that if we want to have democracy, we have to have facts. and if we want to have facts, we have to have the people who produce facts. this is a problem all around the world. and as you say, it's a problem we might see more sharply in our own case if we first notice it abroad. of course, it seems really extreme to have a dictator scramble a jet in order to arr

here to discuss this timothy snyder.ks include the road to unfreedom, russia, europe, america. you made the point the big lie never could have sustained itself solely without the trump. i've observed that myself it's not just trump. it's the people at the rallies, supporters up on capitol hill. what happens do you think if republicans successfully prevent a commission from investigating what happened on january 6th? >> well, the larger point, jim, is that democracy as you've suggested in your coverage already depends upon truth. citizens have to have certain basic ideas that they can share about the most important events in their past. and the failure to have a peaceful transition of power, the attempt by a sitting president to car ate out a coup d'etat is the single most important thing that happened in the united states in the 21st century. so it's not just we but our children and grandchildren going to know the truth about this. the lack of a commission that's just one small part of the problem. of course we should ha

for more on the republican embrace of authoritarianism i'm joined by timothy snyder, professor of history something larger. what kind of moment are we in here, despite the fact that trump was defeated ultimately and his party loss. the opposition party actually got control of all three of the levers of. >> more importantly maybe momentary control is a nation's ability to tell the truth about it. how history is extremely important. but it doesn't happen if no one reports it. it doesn't happen if no one remembers it. as a country, it's very important for us to understand the facts, the dynamics of january six. not just to make sure that it doesn't happen again in the short term. which i too am worried about. but also because we have to be able to look back together, now, and in future generations, over the turning points in our country's history. wherever you're coming from politically. the failure to have a peaceful transition of power and the attempt by a sitting president to stay in power extra constitutionally, is a major turning point in our history. so, i think it is very important fo

. >> timothy snider, the author of on tyranny, professor of history at yale university. professor snyder, thank you very much for your time this evening. i was happy to talk to you about this tonight. >> thank you very much. >> just within the last hour, i will tell you president biden has put out a statement on what happens with the belarus, belarusian opposition journalists being arrested after that plane was forced down. president biden calls it a direct affront to international norms as the united states condemns it in the strongest possible terms calling it an outrageous incident. he says he's asked his team to develop appropriate options to hold accountable those responsible in close coordination with the eu and other allies and partners. he says i applaud the courage and determination of belarusian 's firing for basic rights including journalists like roman profits and opposition leaders to the united states that will continue to stand with the people of belarus. statement from president biden tonight. we will keep you posted, we have a lot more to get through tonight. stay with u