America against the World Part 4 – The New Normal?

This Is Not A Drill with Gavin Esler

Podmasters

News, Society & Culture, Politics

4.9 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 27 April 2026

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The final episode of a four-part series from This Is Not A Drill… This time: International leaders cling to the idea that Trump’s violent overthrow of the world order and embrace of raw power will prove temporary. But what if it isn’t? What if we’ve entered a new age where might makes right? And after Iran and Venezuela, is there any coherent vision behind America’s new foreign policy – or is it just driven by anger and greed? Dr Célia Belin of the European Council on Foreign Relations explains how Trump has set out to remake the world in his own cynical image. And Richard Haass, former President of the Council on Foreign Relations and advisor to President George HW Bush, describes how Trump’s aggressive, values-free foreign policy means that if countries like Britain don’t band together, they must choose between submitting to America or cutting a deal with their enemies. • We hope you enjoyed this miniseries. Get fresh insights into geopolitics early when you back us Patreon. Written and presented by Gavin Esler. Produced by Robin Leeburn. Original theme music by Paul Hartnoll – https://www.orbitalofficial.com. Executive Producer Martin Bojtos. Managing Editor Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor Andrew Harrison. This Is Not A Drill is a Podmasters production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	What do you actually think Donald Trump does care about then in terms of his legacy?
0:08.0	Look, I think it just depends on the day, the minute, he, you know, at one point really,
0:12.7	really cares about his ballroom that he's trying to build at the White House.
0:16.3	What would be a mistake when it comes to dealing with Trump, is to think he's constrained or restrained
0:22.2	really by anything at this stage.
0:24.5	Mahal Tusi is senior foreign affairs reporter at Politico.
0:29.0	Even if the Republicans lose largely in these upcoming midterm elections this year,
0:35.8	Trump is still going to be president for another year and a half.
0:38.8	And even as a lame duck, a president has tons of power in foreign policy.
0:44.8	So I don't see a lot restraining him.
0:47.8	I'm Gavin Esler, and this is not a dream. Hello and welcome to the fourth and final episode in our series America Against the World,
1:17.6	in which we speak to global experts on the consequences of Donald Trump's foreign policy.
1:22.5	The Trump transformation raises an obvious question. It has no simple answer.
1:29.8	Does Donald Trump actually have a coherent foreign policy? Does he have what former President George H.W. Bush called the vision
1:35.5	thing? Or could it be that what we get is what we see very clearly, shifting personal ambitions
1:41.5	and prejudices that upend the traditions of American diplomacy since World War II.
1:46.7	For her insights into Trump World, we spoke to Dr. Celia Belang, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
1:54.6	We began by discussing what, beyond an attention-grabbing headline or slogan, MAGA foreign policy might actually be.
2:04.9	After a year full of surprises,
2:07.6	we are at a loss in understanding what are the goals,
2:11.4	foreign policy goals of Donald Trump.
2:13.6	We keep trying to read in tea leaves,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

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

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