Rachel Maddow joined Chris Hayes’ podcast “Why Is This Happening? Live With Chris Hayes and Rachel Maddow” for an in-depth conversation which will air as a two-hour primetime special on Friday.
The two-hour episode will begin airing at 7 p.m. ET on Friday and will be shown simultaneously on both MSNBC and Peacock, demonstrating the network’s multi-platform strategy.
The podcast episode was pre-recorded on Sunday, Nov. 12 in New York and in front of a 1,200-person audience. This was the final stop on Hayes’ live podcast tour.
Hayes and Maddow discussed the state of democracy, our history with fascism, and Maddow’s new book “Prequel.”
In a preview clip for the special, Hayes says “If I had the NBA draft of like fascist autocrats, and I was like running them through you know the paces, like I don’t know in the end what makes it work for someone and not for someone else.”
“This is a very unpopular opinion, but I do not believe that the leader matters,” Maddow replies. “You’ve got like, Franco was Napoleon-sized, right? Like Hitler was a dork. Right? Mussolini was a journalist and a socialist.”
“Like there’s nothing about these guys that is inherently, that transformed those countries against their will,” Maddow continues. “Those countries were subject to an anti-democratic, pro-authoritarian movement that had skills and the people were ready to do it.”
This event was part of MSNBC’s “Why Is This Happening? With Chris Hayes” podcast tour this fall, in which Emmy Award-winning host Chris Hayes and a lineup of special guests appeared in front of live audiences in Austin, Chicago, Philadelphia and New York City.
The special is also available as a new episode of “Why Is This Happening? The Chris Hayes Podcast,” available today wherever you get your podcasts.
