In This Episode
In this special episode of Pod Save the World, Tommy and Ben speak in front of a live audience at the Aspen Security Forum.
First, Trump delivers a rambling speech on election security that offers no new evidence, overstates the threat from China, and is laying the groundwork for Republicans to question the validity of the midterm elections. Then the guys turn their attention to the foreign policy establishment itself, taking on some of the more eyebrow-raising statements from fellow panelists at the forum — including Condoleezza Rice — and making the case that the blob needs to reckon seriously with its own failures: on regime change, on ignoring public opinion, and on dismissing anti-war voices rather than engaging with them. They also lay out their vision for reimagining American foreign policy, including more transparency around Washington think tanks, stronger lobbying disclosure rules, a bigger State Department, a smaller defense budget, and returning more war-making responsibility to Congress. Then in the second half, Ben and Tommy sit down with Annalena Baerbock, President of the United Nations General Assembly, to discuss the UN’s near-total absence from negotiations in today’s major conflicts, what meaningful reform of the institution would actually look like, and how alarmed the world should be about the rise of Germany’s far-right AfD party.
