CEOInterviews.AI
Start App
Scott Galloway
Scott Galloway
Founder; Host of The Prof G Pod; Co-host of Pivot and Prof G Markets, Prof G Media
Watch

"Sooner or Later, There's an Economic Impact" — Anne Applebaum on Business and Autocracy

📅 Nov 14, 2026 The Prof G Pod – Scott Galloway 10 MIN 40375 VIEWS 6 SEGMENTS · 2 SPEAKERS
In this clip from May, 2025: Why Anne Applebaum is wary of comparing America to Nazi Germany yet warns that business leaders who go along with autocrats eventually lose, how Hungary went from the gem of Central Europe to one of the EU's poorest countries under Viktor Orbán, why companies, universities and law firms should speak out together, and where she agrees with Scott Galloway's comparison to Germany in 1933. From The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway. Guest: Anne Applebaum (Pulitzer Prize–winning historian and staff writer at The Atlantic) Full episode here 👉    • Kleptocracy, Inc. — with...
Scott Galloway 0:00 ↗
My understanding is that in leading up to World War II, the private sector in Germany basically did sort of a deal or several deals with Hitler that said, you bust our trade unions, you financially favor us, and we'll support you. And then it kind of spun out of control, so to speak, and it got to a point where they were powerless to do anything about it. Do you see any parallels in terms of the private sector in Germany enabling Hitler with what's happening here? Specifically, I've just been shocked that all of these independent thinkers who think of themselves as leaders have been so quiet and have just sort of gone along, whether it's paying 30 or 40 million dollars for some documentary on the First Lady, or deciding that no, just kidding, I'm not going to put tariffs on the home page on the pricing page, or just not saying anything when you know that they're very much against some of these policies. What's your observation around the private sector in America right now as it relates to this, and any historical references?
Anne Applebaum 1:05 ↗
So I'm always reluctant to compare America to Nazi Germany because then all anybody can think about is how Nazi Germany ended. And I don't feel like there's going to be a Holocaust here very soon. So it always creates the wrong image. It also creates an image of dictatorship that's wrong. You know, when people think of Nazis, they think of storm troopers and people goose-stepping through the streets, and that's what authoritarianism looks like. And of course, in the modern world, that's often not what it looks like. Democracies end nowadays usually because a democratically elected leader slowly takes over the institutions of the state, or quickly.
Scott Galloway 1:45 ↗
Not a boom now, right?

3 more exchanges in this transcript

Sign in free to read the rest of this interview. No card required.

Sign in to read the full transcript

Cite this transcript

APA, MLA, BibTeX
APA

Galloway, S. (2026, November 14). "Sooner or Later, There's an Economic Impact" — Anne Applebaum on Business and Autocracy [Interview transcript]. The Prof G Pod – Scott Galloway. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/3291977/

MLA

Scott Galloway. ""Sooner or Later, There's an Economic Impact" — Anne Applebaum on Business and Autocracy." The Prof G Pod – Scott Galloway, 14 Nov. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/3291977/.

BibTeX 
@misc{galloway2026_3291977,
  author       = {Scott Galloway},
  title        = {"Sooner or Later, There's an Economic Impact" — Anne Applebaum on Business and Autocracy},
  howpublished = {Interview transcript, The Prof G Pod – Scott Galloway. CEOInterviews.AI},
  year         = {2026},
  month        = {nov},
  url          = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/3291977/},
  note         = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}