Narrator: Imagine a private dinner in Hong Kong, where a group of powerful American hedge fund managers gather. They understand the world; they see the rising nationalist competition and the potential for global instability. Yet, when a show of hands reveals who they voted for in the 2016 U.S. election, a majority supported the very candidate they saw as a destabilizing force. Why? The answer was simple: tax cuts and deregulation. The pursuit of profit had become more important than the stability of the American-led world order, the very "Pax Americana" that had allowed their wealth to flourish. This unsettling moment reveals a profound truth about the modern world: the systems and values that once defined the post-Cold War era are fracturing from within.

This is the disorienting landscape explored in Ben Rhodes's insightful book, After the Fall: Being American in the World We've Made. Rhodes, a former deputy national security advisor to President Obama, embarks on a global journey to understand how America’s actions have shaped a world now turning against the very principles of democracy and liberalism it once championed.

Narrator: The book argues that America's decline from its position of unparalleled preeminence was not caused by an external enemy, but by the very forces that fueled its rise. After the Cold War, the United States stood as the world's sole superpower, its model of capitalism, democracy, and technological innovation seemingly triumphant. Yet, as Rhodes explains, these forces, once unbridled, began to work against it.

Unchecked capitalism and globalization, while creating immense wealth, also hollowed out industries, exacerbated inequality, and fostered a sense of lost identity for many. The "forever war" launched after 9/11, intended to project American strength, instead drained national resources, promoted a hyper-securitized political climate, and discredited American leadership on the world stage. And the explosion of technological innovation, particularly social media, created tools that were masterfully repurposed to spread disinformation, amplify division, and fragment society. The irony is stark: the pillars of American victory became the agents of its diminishment.

Narrator: Rhodes travels to Hungary and finds a chilling blueprint for the erosion of democracy. He tells the story of Viktor Orbán, a leader who began his career as a liberal, anti-communist hero. But following the 2008 financial crisis, which shattered faith in the global system, Orbán saw an opportunity. He masterfully capitalized on economic anxiety and cultural grievances, promoting a "blood-and-soil" nationalism that promised to "take our country back."

Orbán’s playbook is methodical: attack liberal institutions, demonize immigrants and minorities, spread propaganda through state-controlled media, use corruption to enrich allies, and rewrite the rules through gerrymandering and court-packing. Rhodes discovers that this isn't just a Hungarian story. It’s a global phenomenon, and its tactics bear a striking resemblance to the political strategies emerging in the United States, suggesting that America is not immune to the same forces that have pushed other nations toward authoritarianism.

Narrator: To understand Russia's role in this new world, Rhodes argues we must understand its sense of national humiliation. He recounts the story of Alexey Navalny, the Russian opposition leader, who recalled his Soviet childhood with pride, only to have it shattered by the collapse of the USSR. The sight of his family receiving aid rations from the West German military instilled a deep and lasting sense of shame.

This feeling of humiliation, Rhodes posits, is what fuels Vladimir Putin's agenda. Putin’s goal is not to build a better world order, but to tear down the American one that he feels has disrespected Russia. His strategy is a form of political jujitsu: to use America’s own tools—its open society, its social media platforms, its political divisions—against it. By flooding the system with lies and conspiracy, Putin aims to expose American hypocrisy and turn the country into the worst version of itself, thereby avenging the humiliations of the past and leveling the global playing field.

Narrator: While Russia seeks to tear down the old order, China is methodically building a new one. Rhodes illustrates this with a powerful juxtaposition. In 2008, Beijing hosted a spectacular Olympic Games, a flawless projection of national strength and cultural pride. Just weeks later, the American financial system collapsed, and Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan admitted to a fundamental "flaw" in his free-market ideology. In that moment, the narrative of Western superiority crumbled, and the "Beijing Consensus" began its challenge to the "Washington Consensus."

Under Xi Jinping, this has coalesced into the "Chinese Dream"—a model that blends state-controlled capitalism with a sophisticated system of techno-totalitarianism. In places like Xinjiang, this model reaches its terrifying conclusion, where over a million Uighurs are subjected to mass detention and constant surveillance in an effort to re-engineer their very identity. China offers the world an alternative to liberal democracy, one that promises prosperity and security, but at the cost of individual freedom.

Narrator: The city of Hong Kong serves as the frontline in the battle between these two worldviews. Rhodes explores the 2019 protest movement, a desperate attempt to preserve the city's autonomy under the "One Country, Two Systems" promise. He shows how China's influence is no longer just political, but deeply economic and cultural.

A stunning example of this is the story of Daryl Morey, then the general manager of the Houston Rockets. When Morey tweeted his support for the Hong Kong protesters, the backlash from China was immediate and overwhelming. State media whipped up a nationalist frenzy, NBA games were pulled from television, and lucrative contracts were threatened. The incident revealed how China’s economic leverage could be used to enforce political silence far beyond its borders, forcing American companies and individuals to choose between their values and access to the world's largest market.

Narrator: In the book's final section, Rhodes turns inward, asking what it means to be American in this new reality. He recounts a conversation with Barack Obama, who describes the U.S. government as a massive "ocean liner"—incredibly difficult to turn, which is both a frustration and a saving grace. It limits the damage any one leader can do, but it also makes fundamental change a slow, arduous process.

The book concludes that America cannot return to a past of imagined dominance. Instead, it must confront its own history—the good and the terrible. Rhodes reflects on a speech he helped write for the 50th anniversary of the Selma civil rights march, where the goal was to create a new American canon, one that celebrated the underdogs, the dissenters, and the outsiders who fought to make the country better. This, he suggests, is the path forward: to build a national identity not on a fictionalized past, but on the ongoing, imperfect struggle to live up to the nation's highest ideals.

Narrator: The single most important takeaway from After the Fall is that America's path forward lies not in restoring a lost era of global dominance, but in an act of profound self-reflection and reinvention. The world America made has come back to haunt it, with the tools of its own creation—globalization, technology, and even its political language—being used to undermine the liberal order. The solution is not to retreat, but to engage with this new reality with humility and honesty.

Ultimately, Rhodes leaves us with a challenging but hopeful thought. Every nation is a story, and for too long, America has clung to a simplistic one. The real work ahead is to tell a better, more honest story about who we are—one that acknowledges our flaws, celebrates our diversity, and finds strength not in power, but in the perpetual, difficult, and essential work of creating a more perfect union. The question is, are we willing to do the work to write that next chapter?