TechTank: The Weaponization of Information Threatens American Democracy. What Should We Do About That?

Samantha Lai, Darrell West
Tuesday, August 23, 2022, 5:46 PM

The latest episode of TechTank.

Published by The Lawfare Institute
in Cooperation With
Brookings

New revelations from the January 6 hearings continue to shock the nation. And while former President Donald Trump failed in his attempt to undermine a peaceful transition of power, it’s dangerous to assume that an end to Trumpism is an end to all of America’s problems. Political polarization and extremism continue to be at an all-time high, worsened by ongoing economic tensions.

In his most recent book, “Power Politics: Trump and the Assault on American Democracy,” Darrell M. West, vice president and director of Governance Studies, senior fellow at the Center for Technology Innovation, and co-host and founder of the TechTank podcast, contends with how all these issues put American democracy at risk.

On TechTank, guest host and research analyst Samantha Lai converses with him on his new book and discusses how the weaponization of information threatens our democratic institutions and the country as a whole, and what could be done to address these contemporary challenges.

You can listen to the episode and subscribe to the TechTank podcast on AppleSpotify, or Acast.


Samantha Lai is a senior research analyst with the Partnership for Countering Influence Operations at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Prior to joining Carnegie, Lai was a research analyst at the Brookings Institution and the Foreign Policy Research Institute. She holds a B.A. in political science from Wellesley College.
Darrell M. West is vice president and director of Governance Studies and holds the Douglas Dillon Chair. He is Co-Editor-in-Chief of TechTank. His current research focuses on artificial intelligence, robotics, and the future of work. West is also director of the John Hazen White Manufacturing Initiative.

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