Defender of democracy, political activist, and advocate for women and LGBTQ+ rights, Amy Siskind is best known as the author of The List: A Week-by-Week Reckoning of Trump's First Year (2018), host of the website and podcast The Weekly List: This is How Democracy Ends, President of The New Agenda, and a former Wall Street executive. After Donald Trump’s unexpected 2016 election victory, Siskind recognized the importance of closely monitoring the changes taking place in American public life. Drawing on stories she had heard about the rise of Hitler and her commitment to an equitable democracy, on a weekly basis, she started documenting developments that she believed threatened democratic norms, promoted authoritarianism, or advanced hateful rhetoric and regressive policies.
What had begun as a personal effort to track events and maintain perspective quickly became The Weekly List. First shared with friends and followers, the list grew rapidly. By Week 9, it had reached more than two million views, establishing Siskind as a prominent voice of the resistance. Today, hundreds of thousands of people read the list each week across multiple platforms. In 2018, Bloomsbury published The List: A Week-by-Week Reckoning of Trump’s First Year. Siskind used her book tour to raise awareness and funds for organizations including the ACLU, Southern Poverty Law Center, Anti-Defamation League, and NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
Siskind will discuss the differences between the first and second Trump administrations, the normalization of once-unthinkable lawlessness and broken norms, and the evolution of the country’s mood from outrage and engagement to fatigue, weariness, and fear. She will also examine the November election results and their implications for America’s future.
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