A political conversation is a conversation in which people with different views come to agreements about how they're going to inhabit this… — Masha Gessen Copy Share Image
Basically, Trump's significant first moves have been twofold. To marginalize the media, and to start dismantling the federal government. — Masha Gessen Copy Share Image
“The ability to discuss things was still the most highly valued commodity in the Soviet Union.” — Masha Gessen Copy Share Image
I was a political journalist for a long time. I wrote a book about Putin. I made all kinds of trouble. — Masha Gessen Copy Share Image
I kept thinking, I'm not going to do political journalism, because there's no way to keep my principles and be a political… — Masha Gessen Copy Share Image
I think there was certainly contact between the Trump campaign and Russians, which is perfectly normal. All campaigns in the modern age… — Masha Gessen Copy Share Image
It is the first time since 1993 that Russians have come out into the streets without an explicit permission from the government… — Masha Gessen Copy Share Image
“In all societies, public rhetoric involves some measure of lying, and history -- political history and art history -- is made when… — Masha Gessen Copy Share Image
There are several dozen political prisoners in Russia. When I cite that number people are often very surprised. They often think there… — Masha Gessen Copy Share Image
What has happened to protesters in the past was that, basically, the government in 2012 put an end to a series of… — Masha Gessen Copy Share Image
There's this American pretense, which is the pretense of the journalist with the view from nowhere - which has somehow morphed into the journalist… — Masha Gessen Copy Share
Pussy Riot have certainly changed some people's assumptions about the role of political art and the relationship between the intelligentsia and the church. That's… — Masha Gessen Copy Share
Trump, like Putin, has a demonstrably thin skin and short temper when it comes to being criticized by journalists. — Masha Gessen Copy Share
You risk everything if you so much as join a legal protest demonstration in Russia. It raises the stakes. — Masha Gessen Copy Share
Donald Trump creates word salads. And that is awful to language, because we try to parse out what he's saying and try to find… — Masha Gessen Copy Share
It is the first time since 1993 that Russians have come out into the streets without an explicit permission from the government to do… — Masha Gessen Copy Share
I think Donald Trump was brought to power by Americans. They voted for him. — Masha Gessen Copy Share
In the 1990s, there was a lot of reform, and there was a lot of forward movement on a lot of fronts in Russia.… — Masha Gessen Copy Share
Poverty and scarcity are actually very good for totalitarian societies. They maintain that sense of mobilization that's essential for totalitarian societies. — Masha Gessen Copy Share
I think that Putin's strategy has been throwing a lot of money, fairly haphazardly, at a lot of projects aimed at disrupting Western relations… — Masha Gessen Copy Share
Both Trump and Putin use language primarily to communicate not facts or opinions but power: it's not what the words mean that matters but… — Masha Gessen Copy Share
I worked both as a Russian journalist and an American journalist and ran a bunch of magazines in Moscow over the course of about… — Masha Gessen Copy Share
I have no doubt that there are Russian efforts to disturb the fabric of American democracy, but they're disruption efforts. They're troublemaking efforts. They're… — Masha Gessen Copy Share
For years I was the only publicly out gay person who was not a full-time gay activist: my position as a quasi-foreigner gave me… — Masha Gessen Copy Share
