Can Trump Bully Russia?

What Next | Daily News and Analysis

Slate

News, Daily News, News Commentary, Politics

4.6 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 17 July 2025

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

For years, Donald Trump was often the only Western leader with anything nice to say about Vladimir Putin.But with Russia and Ukraine still fighting six months into his term, their friendship is on the rocks. Are we seeing a temporary spat – or a real policy shift? Guest: Michael McFaul, U.S. ambassador to Russia 2012-2014, author of the upcoming book “Autocrats vs. Democrats: China, Russia, America, and the New Global Disorder.” Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Ethan Oberman, Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Oh, that's my prime delivery.
0:01.6	What, already?
0:02.7	Only one thing can match the buzz of Prime's fast delivery.
0:06.2	And that's the buzz of Prime's entertainment.
0:09.0	What are we watching?
0:09.7	Heads of state, that new action comedy with Idris Elber as the Prime Minister,
0:13.3	John Sina as the president, and Prianka Chopra Jonas,
0:15.9	as their only hope.
0:17.0	It looks like a blast.
0:18.3	From fast delivery to explosive entertainment, it's on Prime. For only
0:23.0	899 a month, join now. Content includes limited ads, subscription or to renews. For more information,
0:28.2	go to amazon.com.uk.U.K. Prime. Hi, this is Ava from Vanta. In today's digital world,
0:34.3	compliance regulations are changing constantly, and earning customer trust has never mattered more.
0:40.3	Vanta helps companies get compliant fast and stay secure,
0:43.3	with the most advanced AI automation and continuous monitoring out there.
0:47.3	So whether you're a startup going for your first SOC 2 or ISO-27,001,
0:51.3	or a growing enterprise managing vendor risk.
0:56.2	Banta makes it quick, easy, and scalable.
0:58.2	And I'm not to say that because I work here.
1:00.3	Get started today at banta.com.
1:06.5	Just a heads up, there is some quick, strong language in this episode. So here are a few words that President Donald Trump has used to describe Vladimir Putin over the years.
1:19.6	He's called him a genius.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 27 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

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

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