A Sad State Of Foreign Affairs - Working Audio

Jun 26, 2024

Discussion on the incoherence of Trump's foreign policy, Biden's challenges post-Trump, analysis of China's military goals, critique of JD Vance's stance, and reflections on Trump's impact on civic patriotism and global governance.

Ask episode

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

Intro

00:00 • 2min

Predictions and Concerns for the Upcoming Political Event

01:32 • 12min

Analysis of Donald Trump's Foreign Policy Decisions in his First Term

13:09 • 5min

Analysis of China's Goals, Trump's Middle East Policy, and Iran's Alliances

17:57 • 5min

Critique of JD Vance's Foreign Policy Stance

23:25 • 17min

Reflecting on Trump's Impact on Civic Patriotism and Global Governance

40:51 • 4min

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm

Special announcement from Matt and Brian: We will be hosting a live chat during Thursday night’s debate for paid Politix subscribers. If you’d like to ride shotgun with us, or need moral support to get through the event, be on the lookout for an email invitation to joint the chat just as the debate begins at 9 p.m. ET Thursday.

In that spirit, for this week’s regular episode, Matt and Brian rattled off a few debate predictions—listen for those and see how well they hold up. But mostly this is an episode about the incoherence and opportunism of the Trump/MAGA foreign policy vision.

* Is there any way to make sense of Trump’s biggest global affairs interventions?

* To what extent has Biden been reaping the consequences of Trump’s bluster and blunders?

* What do people like J.D. Vance, Marco Rubio, Robert O’Brien, et al—people who want to ride Trump’s coattails—think they’re getting out of Trump’s foreign policy of self-aggrandizement and predation?

Then, behind the paywall, a longer discussion about how the nature of Trump’s foreign-policy corruption makes the world more ungovernable, even when he’s out of power. To what extent have foreign autocrats made decisions about war and trade and diplomacy with an eye toward helping Trump return to power? Is it even possible for the world to run through official channels when the leader of a major U.S. political party has a shadow cabinet trotting the globe soliciting favors and bribes? And are there signs that Trump’s autocratic partners around the world have grown wary of the risk of using Trump to advance their interests and degrade democracy?

All that, plus the full Politix archive and Thursday’s live chat are available to paid subscribers—just upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed.