He Spied on Dictators for a Living. His Warning for America Is Chilling - Steven Cash - America at a Crossroads

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A former senior U.S. intelligence official describes the moment he and dozens of CIA and State Department veterans realized the U.S. was showing the same early-stage autocratic warning signs they spent their careers tracking overseas.

From Trump’s pressure campaign on President Zelenskyy to the pattern they recognized from countries like Hungary, Russia, and Serbia, this conversation lays out why many in the national security community viewed Trump’s actions as an existential threat to American democracy — not just incompetence or policy disagreement.

If you want to understand how democracies erode from the inside, this is a firsthand account from people who’ve watched it happen around the world.

📘 Guest: Steven Cash, Executive Director of The Steady State, Fmr. U.S. Intelligence Official
🎙️ Host: Larry Mantle
📅 Recorded November 2025