4/8/26 Robert Pape: Trump’s Ceasefire Does Not Close the Escalation Trap

Scott Horton Show - Just the Interviews

Scott Horton

News, Politics

4.8 • 989 Ratings

🗓️ 9 April 2026

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Scott brought Robert Pape of the University of Chicago back to discuss the attempted ceasefire that went into effect on Wednesday night. Pape explains why this is not actually a meaningful step away from the escalation to a full-on war that he’s long been warning about. He also talks about how this is war is cementing Iran’s status as a world power and why he expects the Iranians to abandon their previous stance, begin earnestly pursuing nuclear weapons and attain them quickly. Discussed on the show: “The Pause That Isn’t: Why the Iran Ceasefire Changes Everything” (The Escalation Trap) “The War Is Turning Iran Into a Major World Power” (The New York Times) Robert A. Pape is Professor of Political Science and Director of the University of Chicago Project on Security and Threats and the author of Bombing to Win: Air Power and Coercion in War. Follow him on Twitter @ProfessorPape Audio cleaned up with the Podsworth app: https://podsworth.com Use code HORTON50 for 50% off your first order at Podsworth.com to clean up your voice recordings, sound like a pro, and also support the Scott Horton Show! For more on Scott's work: Check out The Libertarian Institute: https://www.libertarianinstitute.org Check out Scott's other show, Provoked, with Darryl Cooper https://youtube.com/@Provoked_Show Read Scott's books: Provoked: How Washington Started the New Cold War with Russia and the Catastrophe in Ukraine https://amzn.to/47jMtg7 (The audiobook of Provoked is being published in sections at https://scotthortonshow.com) Enough Already: Time to End the War on Terrorism: https://amzn.to/3tgMCdw Fool’s Errand: Time to End the War in Afghanistan https://amzn.to/3HRufs0 Follow Scott on X @scotthortonshow And check out Scott’s full interview archives: https://scotthorton.org/all-interviews This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Incorporated https://rrbi.co Moon Does Artisan Coffee https://scotthorton.org/coffee; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom https://www.libertyclassroom.com/dap/a/?a=1616 and Dissident Media https://dissidentmedia.com You can also support Scott’s work by making a one-time or recurring donation at https://scotthorton.org/donate/https://scotthortonshow.com or https://patreon.com/scotthortonshow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Ladies and gentlemen of the press have been less than honest, reporting to the American people, what's going on in this country?
0:11.0	Because the babies are making it.
0:13.0	We're dealing with Hitler Revisited.
0:15.0	This is the Scott Horton Show, Libertarian Foreign Policy, mostly.
0:21.7	When the president doesn't, that means that it is not only...
0:24.5	We're going to take out seven countries in five years.
0:27.0	They don't know what the fuck they're doing.
0:29.3	Negotiate now.
0:31.4	End this war.
0:33.5	And now, here's your host, Scott Horton.
0:39.3	All right, you guys, introducing Bob Pape again from the University of Chicago,
0:44.8	author of Dying to Win and Bombing to Win and Cutting the Views,
0:49.3	and he's got a great new substack, The Escalation Trap.
0:53.8	And so as we're recording this, it's, uh, what,
0:58.6	Wednesday morning. And last night, it was announced that there's a ceasefire for two weeks
1:04.2	between America and Iran. And, um, according to Trump's post last night,
1:12.9	the discussions for a final deal will be based on Iran's 10-point proposal.
1:19.2	Although according to his tweet this morning, no, it's going to be according to America's proposal,
1:24.7	where they sign on our dotted line.
1:27.0	So I guess we'll see how the talks go.
1:30.2	But what's your initial response to the declaration of ceasefire
1:35.5	instead of the wiping out of all of Persian civilization,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Scott Horton, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Scott Horton and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.