I think Putin's popularity was genuine when he first came to power. He was seen as a welcome relief from the Yeltsin… — Masha Gessen Copy Share Image
I think Donald Trump was brought to power by Americans. They voted for him. — Masha Gessen Copy Share Image
Dictators fall when they're overconfident; they stay in power when they're paranoid. — Masha Gessen Copy Share Image
“No one is easier to manipulate than a man who exaggerates his own influence.” — Masha Gessen Copy Share Image
Autocratic power requires the degradation of moral authority - not the capture of moral high ground. — Masha Gessen Copy Share Image
To exercise ignorance, racist prejudice, a love of power and total disregard for factual accuracy, one has to inhabit a world where… — Masha Gessen Copy Share Image
Putin was very careful to gradually sort of rotate people in and out of power, to make sure that he had competent… — Masha Gessen Copy Share Image
I have experienced power as a journalist. On three different occasions, when I wrote about individual immigrants or refugees, the article -… — Masha Gessen Copy Share Image
Both Trump and Putin use language primarily to communicate not facts or opinions but power: it's not what the words mean that… — Masha Gessen Copy Share Image
Many Americans have been looking for an explanation for Mr. Trump's apparent adoration of Mr. Putin. How can a powerful, wealthy American… — Masha Gessen Copy Share Image
It's not just that both Putin and Trump lie, it is that they lie in the same way and for the same… — 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
