Can anyone beat a madman president?
Americano
The Spectator
4.0 • 762 Ratings
🗓️ 17 March 2026
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Freddy Gray speaks to James D. Boys, author of the new book US grand strategy and the madman theory. He is also a senior research fellow at UCL. They discuss the origins of the madman theory – which applies insights from psychology to understand how your enemies think. James covers it from from Nixon to Trump and its intellectual home in Boston. They also explore how the madman theory is being applied in the Middle East conflict and how regularly the theory can be misapplied.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | On Tuesday the 24th of March, our speakers will debate the motion, |
| 0:04.0 | this House believes we should abolish the licence fee. |
| 0:07.2 | Spectator Chairman Charles Moore and the telegraphs Alison Pearson |
| 0:10.2 | will propose the motion with Spectator editor Michael Gove |
| 0:13.4 | and former BBC America editor John Sopel opposing. |
| 0:16.8 | I'm Isabel Hardman and I'll be in the chair to maintain decorum and take your pressing questions. |
| 0:22.2 | Join us on Tuesday the 24th of March at 7pm and book your tickets at spectator.com |
| 0:27.7 | forward slash debate. |
| 0:36.3 | Hello and welcome back to the Americana Show. My name is Freddie Gray. I am the deputy editor of the |
| 0:41.9 | spectator and the US editor. And I'm pleased to tell you that this is the 10th year of the |
| 0:48.3 | Americano podcast. And I think it's fair to say it's been a fairly fascinating time in American politics, life and culture. |
| 0:58.1 | And that's what we talk about every episode on this podcast. |
| 1:02.1 | So please keep listening and provide as much feedback as you like. |
| 1:06.9 | Hello and welcome back to the Americano Show. |
| 1:09.9 | I am delighted to be joined today by James D. Boyce, |
| 1:13.5 | who is the author of a new book, a book that couldn't be better timed, really. It's called US Grand Strategy and the Madman Theory, |
| 1:22.3 | from Nixon to Trump. James, I should say, is also Senior Research fellow at the Centre for US Politics Studies at UCL. |
| 1:30.8 | James, yes, as I say, it couldn't be better time because as we speak, |
| 1:35.4 | maybe the greatest experiment ever in Madman theory is being applied in the Middle East by Donald Trump. |
| 1:44.1 | But I thought perhaps we should start with the origins of the madman theory |
| 1:48.1 | because anybody who's followed US politics or followed Donald Trump |
| 1:51.8 | knows that it comes from the Nixon era, |
... |
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