Hello, Prestige Heads. You're listening to American Prestige. I'm Courtney Rawlings here, as always, with my friend and comrade Alex Jordan. We have a very special episode for you today. We're sharing the feed with our friends from the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft who have a new podcast called Always at War. You can find the show on Quincy's YouTube channel

or anywhere you listen to podcasts. Today, you'll be joining us for a special interview with

University of Washington professor Daniel Besner, who will talk with us about his forthcoming

book, Imperialist Realism. If you enjoy this episode, which you will,

don't forget to subscribe to this fabulous new podcast, always at war. So without further ado,

here is our conversation with Danny. We still have this militarist culture. And I think it's a way

for Americans to sort of not think about the empire ironically by

like having the flyovers or, you know, allowing troops to board early. You're able to sort of like

externalize the empire, say, okay, don't worry, I'm safe without actually having to think through

its consequences. You're tuning into always at war. The only show in the observable universe that's trying to figure out why exactly the U.S. is always at war.

I'm your host today, Alex Jordan, and we're going to be talking about imperial realism or why it's easier to imagine the end of the world than the end superpower sometimes feels like just a fact of life.

While Americans don't experience the most severe consequences of our endless military interventions all over the world, we certainly get constant reminders of our military's awesome power. But it's not just the military flyovers or marches and parades. America's status as the global superpower, the world's police, Earth's most powerful nation,

is a central feature in our culture and our politics.

America is the greatest nation in all of history.

The most powerful nation in the history, not in the world, in the history of the world.

The history of the world.

The most powerful nation on earth and a beacon of hope for millions.

And remember, no matter what happens, the sun will rise in the morning,

and America will still be the greatest nation on Earth.

Americans are constantly told by the representatives in Washington that we have not only the

capability, but responsibility as the greatest nation in human history, to militarily intervene

everywhere all over the world. Consequences be damned.

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