The Time of Monsters with Jeet Heer

The Trump administration has released a new National Security Strategy that is a marked shiftnot only from earlier administrations but also Trump’s first term in office. While the new policystatement eschews the goal of global hegemony, it promotes culture war in Europe bypromising support of anti-immigration political parties, economic rivalry in Asia with China, anda renewal of US military hegemony in the Western hemisphere. To survey this document andTrump’s often contradictory foreign policy, I spoke to frequent guest of the show StephenWertheim, who is American Statecraft senior fellow, Carnegie Endowment for InternationalPeace.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Only a few years ago, European elites were patting themselves on the back for fending off thetide of right-wing anti-system parties (often styled as populists). But recent polls in France,Germany and the United Kingdom show that that the far right is once again gaining traction,thanks in no small part centrist governments that have demoralized the population andlegitimized xenophobia. David Broder, author of Mussolini's Grandchildren and European editorof Jacobin, wrote a wide-ranging essay on this for The New York Times. I spoke to David aboutboth the dismal decisions of mainstream parties and also possible alternatives.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

The famed economist Larry Summers, not for the first time, finds himself the center of ascandal. He’s had to take a leave from Harvard, where he teaches, because of embarrassingemails he had with his late friend Jeffrey Epstein.I talked to economic journalist and Nation contributor Doug Henwood, a long-time Summerswatcher, about the career of this controversial and influential figure. Summers has been one ofthe most influential policy makers of his era, serving as Treasury Secretary and President ofHarvard. He has also embodied the major intellectual and political limitations of the ruling class.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

The scandal around Jeffrey Epstein, who trafficked and abused children and died in a prison cellin 2019, has never gone away. It continues to explode now that House Democrats havereleased thousands of emails from Epstein and his cronies. But while the political class andmainstream media are understandably focused on the sex scandal, another dimension of thescandal goes uncovered except by independent media outlets such as Drop Site: Epstein’s deepties to the national security state. I talked to international relations scholar Van Jackson aboutthis crucial part of the story.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Much has been written about how the Israel/Palestine conflict is dividing the left, but thesame is true of the right. Tucker Carlson’s interview with the antisemitic critic of Israel NickFuentes has created an intense debate on the right about anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism,currently playing itself out in turmoil at the Heritage Foundation. I spoke with the historianDavid Austin Walsh, whose book Taking America Back: The Conservative Movement and the FarRight provides a crucial background for this story.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Donald Trump claims he wants to be the peace president and has even lobbied for a NobelPeace Prize. But his foreign policy has been wildly contradictory. While the United States isclearly retrenching from many parts of the world, violence against hemispheric neighbors isincreasing. I talked to Trita Parsi, co-founder and executive vice president of the QuincyInstitute for Responsible Statecraft, for a wide-ranging discussion on why American hegemonyis declining but also why the push for retrenchment hasn’t gone far enough.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

On Friday, the self-styled “Secretary of War” Pete Hegseth announced the US was sending an aircraft carrier to bolster its attacks on Venezuelan boats (which the Trump administration alleges, without evidence, are trafficking drugs). I spoke to international relations scholar Van Jackson (whose work can be found here) about the motives for this new war as well as the muted opposition to it from Democrats.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

The fragile ceasefire negotiated between Israel and Hamas hasn’t ended the violence, but it hasfor now lessened it. But even if the ceasefire holds, the need for a political solution toPalestinian dispossession remains. To discuss the issue of accountability, I spoke to YousefMunayyer, who is the head of the Palestine/Israel Program and Senior Fellow at Arab CenterWashington DC. We talked about how the shocking events of the last two years have shiftedglobal public opinion, including in the United States. Both parties are heading towards a long-delayed debate about the value of the US/Israel relation.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Few movies have ever been as timely as Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest film One Battle AfterAnother, which traces the battle between revolutionary resistance groups trying to protectimmigrants and an authoritarian government run by racists. There are scenes from the moviethat feel like they are being played out right now on the streets of Chicago, Los Angeles andPortland. Although it presents a stylized version of reality, the film raises important questionsabout different strategies of resistance. David Klion, a frequent guest, wrote about the moviefor The New Republic. David and I talked about the film, its roots in actual history but alsovariance with that history as well as its relationship with the Thomas Pynchon novel Vineland.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Donald Trump has plunged the nation into another government shutdown. I spoke with my Nation colleague Chris Lehmann about the larger political stakes. We take up Trump’s shiftingrhetoric, which has started with false and racist claims about undocumented immigrantsreceiving benefits and now seems to be about gloating over austerity. We also take up theDemocratic party response, and the way the base of the party has forced the leadership to takea stronger stance. Chris’ article on the shutdown can be found here.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy