It can feel like all is lost under Trump 2.0, but America has faced extremely dark chapters before and come out on the other side. Heather Cox Richardson—professor, historian and author of the most-read newsletter on Substack, Letters from an American—joins the show to share her long-view approach for this shortsighted era. She walks Dan through the biggest challenges to American democracy throughout history, how she believes we got to this MAGA moment, and what fuels her optimism about the future of the country. CHECK OUT OUR SPONSORS: SIMPLISAFE - http://simplisafe.com/crooked STAMPS - http://stamps.com CODE: CROOKED COOK UNITY - http://cookunity.com/crookedfree CODE: CROOKEDFREE QUINCE - http://quince.com/crooked CHAPTERS 00:00 - Intro to Heather Cox Richardson 01:25 - Finding a Voice (and Audience) on Substack 08:44 - Writing “Letters from an American” 12:24 - Trump and the Myth of the “American Cowboy” 23:43 - Subscribe for Ad-Free Videos 25:00 - Ad Break 1 27:49 - Republicans vs Conservatives vs Radical Extremists 30:37 - Is the Trump Era Actually Unprecedented? 35:09 - Hiding Racism Under an Economic Argument 37:50 - What Drives Political Change? 46:07 - From Barack Obama to Trump and MAGA 50:52 - Ad Break 2 54:06 - Trump’s Deployment of Federal Troops 58:48 - Is Democracy Losing? 01:06:44 - Lessons for Today Join this channel to get access to perks like ad-free episodes and exclusive videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKRoXz3hHAu2XL_k3Ef4vJQ/join Get tickets to CROOKED CON November 6-7 in Washington, D.C at crookedcon.com Subscribe to our channel! https://www.youtube.com/crookedmedia?sub_confirmation=1 Photos courtesy of AP Photo Archive Crooked believes that we need a better conversation about politics, culture, and the world around us—one that doesn’t just focus on what’s broken, but what we can do to fix it. At a time when it’s increasingly easy to feel cynical or hopeless, former Obama staffers Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, and Tommy Vietor have created a place where people can have sane conversations that inform, entertain, and inspire action. In 2017 they started Crooked with Pod Save America—a no-bullshit conversation about politics. Since then, we continue to add shows, voices, and opportunities for activism, because it’s up to all of us to do our part to build a better world. That’s it. End of mission. Learn more about Crooked at http://www.crooked.com Follow the pod on Twitter https://twitter.com/podsaveamerica Follow Crooked on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/CrookedMedia/ Follow Crooked on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/