Money & Macro Talks Why Trump attacking his "allies" actually makes sense ft. prof Goddard & Newman
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Jan 26, 2026 
Abraham Newman, Georgetown scholar of international political economy, and Stacie Goddard, Wellesley political scientist, present neo-royalism as a lens on Trump’s foreign actions. They discuss personalist cliques replacing rules, how status and patronage drive moves like Greenland and tariffs, the anatomy of insider networks, and how these dynamics reshape institutions and global tensions.
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International Politics As Cliques
- Neo-royalism describes an international system centered on personalist ruling cliques rather than rule-based nation-states.
- These cliques prioritize concentrated status and resources for insiders over national or collective interests.
Personalist Decision-Making Replaces Bureaucracy
- Decision-making has become brittle and personalist, bypassing deep bureaucratic interagency processes.
- Actions like Venezuela or Greenland serve status and insider gain, not broad U.S. security or economic needs.
Venezuelan Oil And Insider Profit
- Singer, a hedge-fund owner, bought Citgo's U.S. affiliate and stood to profit from Venezuelan oil sales.
- Trump openly declared he wanted control over the money from those oil sales.