"In a wide-ranging interview, America’s favorite travel writer sounds off on Trump’s assault on public media and the disturbing historical echoes of the current administration: 'Every time I read the news, I think, Well, that’s exactly what Hitler did, or that’s exactly what Mussolini did.”'
(. . .)
On television, Steves is reliably upbeat; his PBS program has been, for devoted 'Rickniks' like myself, a reliable source of comfort, especially during the pandemic, when the only travel my wife and I could do was vicariously through his show. I hoped he might be able to give me some cause to be optimistic in this otherwise gloomy political moment. But Steves, it seems, is as worried as anyone: 'You’ve got to be hopeful,' he told me. 'But America has to wake up,' he said. 'Right now, we’re going in the wrong direction.'"
