An act of self-harm: Trump’s latest war might be his undoing
The Intelligence from The Economist
The Economist
4.5 • 3.7K Ratings
🗓️ 19 March 2026
⏱️ 25 minutes
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Summary
A rash entry into a war of choice exposes President Donald Trump in a number of ways—and he may prove more dangerous as he becomes weaker. Turkey’s foreign entanglements mask the democratic backsliding at home; that is bad news for an opposition figure whose trial just began. And Americans seem to be taking their anger out on food-delivery robots.
Guests and host:
- Robert Guest, deputy editor
- Piotr Zalewski, Turkey correspondent
- Rebecca Jackson, Southern correspondent
- Jason Palmer, co-host of “The Intelligence”
Topics covered:
- Donald Trump, war in Iran
- Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ekrem Imamoglu
- America, delivery robots
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Economist. |
| 0:10.3 | Hello and welcome to the intelligence from The Economist. |
| 0:13.3 | I'm your host, Jason Palmer. |
| 0:15.2 | Every weekday, we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world. |
| 0:24.6 | Democrats. a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world. Democratic institutions have been taking a beating in Turkey. |
| 0:28.6 | At the same time, and perhaps as a distraction, |
| 0:31.6 | Turkey has been making itself important on the world stage. |
| 0:34.6 | All that bodes ill for the opposition politician at the middle of a massive |
| 0:39.1 | criminal trial. And we do try to paint a nuanced picture for you when it comes to the narrative |
| 0:46.9 | of the bots are coming for us all. But delivery bots, well, they're already here. Weird thing about |
| 0:53.7 | them though, Americans in particular |
| 0:55.7 | just really hate them. First up, though. |
| 1:08.0 | The back and forth of the war in Iran continues. |
| 1:13.6 | Overnight Israel hit South Pars, the world's largest natural gas field in the middle of the Persian Gulf. |
| 1:19.6 | Iran launched its own attacks, causing serious damage to a natural gas facility in Qatar that accounts for about a fifth of global gas. Saudi Arabia |
| 1:29.3 | said it intercepted missiles aimed at a gas facility there, which makes Donald Trump's recent |
| 1:34.6 | assertion that the war was, very complete pretty much, make even less sense. He threatened |
| 1:41.3 | to massively blow up that South Pars gas field |
| 1:44.4 | if Iran struck caught her again. |
| 1:47.2 | Maybe so. |
| 1:48.4 | What also seems probable is that this war will massively blow up his presidency. |
| 1:53.3 | This is an extraordinary self-inflicted wound by Donald Trump. |
... |
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