The Balcony Moment: What Ceaușescu's Last Speech Teaches Trump's America

Part 6 of The Fall examines the bloodiest revolution of 1989 — and what it teaches about who takes power after the fall.

I started in 1989 in southern China.

Nine months into a long journey, nearly out of money, I had spent New Year’s Day somewhere in what was, unmistakably, communist territory. From China, I made my way to Beijing, where I spent ten days collecting visas and hunting for a train ticket. I found one — fifty dollars, which was all I had left — that would car…