Episode 14 - "Hell is locked from the inside" - with David Frum

In the bunker with Darth Putin

In this episode, we welcome David Frum, a Canadian political commentator and former speechwriter for President George W. Bush. David is currently a senior editor at The Atlantic and an MSNBC contributor.

What we discuss:

• David expresses his belief that Trump will soon lose: "He would seem like a stronger candidate if he just stayed at Mar-a-Lago and kept quiet."
• We explore how Fox News broadcasts, let's say, false remarks on television and corrects them on Twitter. This implies that the modified message would only be seen by a considerably smaller audience.
• "That is an impressive disinformation project," David remarks, "to tell people things are going bad when they are going well." As I watched the first 2024 Trump-Biden debate, this struck a chord with my own thinking.
• Do you remember Russian-backed disinformation that the evil West is managing biolabs in Ukraine? David explains how the U.S. and Europe supported researchers from the former USSR who possessed sensitive knowledge to make sure they had continuous employment and didn't end up working for malicious actors. This disinformation was debunked on the BBC as well: https://www.bbc.com/news/60711705
• We briefly mention Lee Harvey Oswald—yes, that guy who apparently shot JFK. He defected to the USSR and worked at a factory in Minsk, my hometown. He lived in the city center. Fancy. The Soviets were happy to award him for his change of loyalty.

Yours truly,

Katie from Minsk