Hot Type: In One Another We Trust

In order to defend against Soviet-era tactics aimed at destroying the West from within, citizens in democratic nations must treat trust as sacred, argues Heidi Siegmund Cuda

When I became friends with two-time Alexei Navalny campaign volunteer Dmitrii Kovegin he shared something with me that I never forgot: “Putin’s cruelty originates from envy,” he said. “He wants to rob our humanity.”

Kovegin told Byline Supplement that Putin has always envied the United States’ trust in one another.

“Trust is crucial to American society,” he explained. “Compassion to another person would not be able [to exist] if there would be no trust.”

Part of how the West was lost in an information war was that old hatreds were ginned up for a new era. And wherever those hatreds were being sold like snake oil in a fever dream, you could find Russian operatives.

Now, some of those paid operatives have all access passes to the White House press pool, because Trump needs new Ministers of Propaganda.

As I make my way through European countries, observing that functional democracies still exist in 2025, I want to shout from a bullhorn: “Don’t let Putin break your trust! Your immigrant neighbor is a good person! Your public schools, health care, and paved roads are to be cherished! Don’t be like America and sleepwalk into fascism!”

But instead, I have quiet conversations with citizens, who are sad and confused about how America could have fallen prey to Putin and his US collaborators. They love America, and just don’t get it.