Before Donald Trump became president the first time, Daniel Ziblatt warned about the possibility that he might pull the United States toward an authoritarian-style government. Ziblatt, a Harvard professor, described the dangers in his book, "How Democracies Die", co-authored with Steven Levitsky.

Three months into Trump's second administration, their warnings appear prescient.

During the first Trump presidency, Marty Baron and the newspaper he ran, the Washington Post, was a journalistic model for holding the administration to account.

They enjoyed the backing of the Post's billionaire owner, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. They embraced their role with the slogan "Democracy Dies in Darkness".

Things are different now. I spoke with Baron about Trump 2.o, the media's coverage of it, and America's path ahead.

Maria Ressa is one of the handful of journalists that have won the illustrious Nobel Peace Prize, sharing the prize for her work safeguarding freedom of expression by holding an authoritarian government of the Phillipines for its brutality and attacks on the independent press.

Born in Manila and educated in Princeton, she straddles the two countries with her work as the co-founder and CEO of online Filipino news site Rappler and as a Professor at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.

Her memoir, "How to Stand Up to a Dictator", warns that the United States stands just a hop, skip and a jump from the sort of oppression that has beset her native country.