Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright knows a thing or two about how government works.

She worked for two U.S. presidents, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.

Albright also knows about the dangers of eroding Democracy, as her family fled both the Nazis and Communism.

Now in the Trump era, she’s written a book, "Fascism: A Warning", in which she says “some of the world’s savviest politicians are moving closer to tyranny with each passing year.”

Pat Kiernan sat down with Madeleine Albright at the Marlene Meyerson JCC in Manhattan where she had a speaking event recently.

The conversation started with her arrival at Ellis Island when she was 11 years old.

Madeleine Albright: We came in on the S.S. America. And I what I remember was the Statue of Liberty sailing by. Later, I started going to Columbia University, and I said to myself ‘someday I will live in Manhattan under the right circumstances.’ And then I became ambassador to the UN, so the penthouse at the Waldorf certainly was the right circumstance.

Pat Kiernan: As a woman you were a pioneer as secretary of state in 1997. We have pioneering women in different forms today. For someone like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, what advice would you offer to them as they head into their careers in Washington?

Madeleine Albright: Well that she has a wonderful election. I’m sure she’s doing this, is try to find out what she wants to have, how far she wants to go, who are the people that she needs to work with. The thing I learned about Washington is you can get nothing done if you don’t see yourself as part of a team. 

Pat Kiernan: The title of your book is ‘Fascism: a Warning’. Is it fair to call Trump supporters fascists?

Madeleine Albright: I don’t call them fascists. The reason I wrote the book - some people think it’s alarming, it’s supposed to be. I do not call Trump a fascist, I say that he’s the least democratic president we’ve had in modern American history. And I have also urged that we try to talk to the people with whom we disagree, and find out why they feel the way they do. But I try to be careful in not calling people fascists, except for the real ones like Mussolini and Hitler.

Pat Kiernan:  We have the state of the union address coming up. What state are we in?

Madeleine Albright: I think we’re in a very confused state, just generally. I think the state of the union messages have always been very very important. They’re watched, and I think the tone as much as anything will be very important.

Pat Kiernan: How do we make this better, where do we go from here?

Madeleine Albright: Well by the way, I have great faith in young people. I was very moved by the young people that went out and demonstrated after the parkland killings. We have the saying ‘see something say something.’ I have added to that ‘do something.’ Democracies need people to be active and participate and be informed and push, and try to find ways to make this great Democracy work.