This is GPS, the global public square. Welcome to all of you in the United States and around the world.

I'm Farid Zikaria coming to you live from New York.

Today on the show, another judgment day in the Senate, and another acquittal for Donald Trump.

The former president's critics say it's yet another sign that American democracy is broken.

If so, what can be done to put it back together and make it stronger?

This cannot be our future. This cannot be the future of America.

I last David from an Ann Applebaum. Then the state of the pandemic, case loads dropping, new variants surging, meanwhile vaccinations are going slowly but steadily.

What to make of it all? I will talk to Tom Frieden, the former head of the CDC. Then America under attack.

In case you forgot, the United States is still recovering from a massive cyber attack. The New York Times's Nicole Perlott tells us why America is so shockingly vulnerable.

But first, here's my take. Joe Biden has begun his presidency with great success.

He's moved to address the central issue facing the country, the pandemic, and proposed big bold policies to help the country recover.

He seems to have learned a key lesson from the Obama years. The Democrats do well when they act with imagination and courage rather than waiting around and watering down proposals in the vain hope of Republican support.

But while the Biden administration has adopted a confident assertive stance on domestic policy, on foreign policy it's taken a somewhat different approach, hesitant and fixated on preemptively modifying its Republican critics.

Now, let me be clear. Biden's foreign policy team is highly intelligent and capable. And these are early days. But I do want to highlight some worrying signs.

Ever since Donald Trump pulled out of the Iran deal, Joe Biden and his top advisors have made clear that the withdrawal was a serious mistake. One that dramatically undermined America's credibility with the world and created a more dangerous mid-least.

The deal had placed Iran in a box imposing strict limits on its nuclear program. Without them, Tehran was moving ever closer to nuclear weapons.

So you'd assume that once in office, the Biden administration would be searching for a quick way to return to the deal. No, it turns out.

Both the Secretary of State and the Director of National Intelligence say that rejoining the deal is a long ways away.

They insist that Iran first come back into compliance, but that's largely a tactic to avoid confronting the issue.

Diplomats could easily find a method for the two countries to rejoin simultaneously. Many of Biden's officials have negotiated the Iran accord and argued strenuously it was the best deal that the United States could get.

Have they changed their minds? On China, the administration has been falling over itself to prove how tough it is. The American readouts from both Biden's call with Xi Jinping and Secretary of State Blinken's call with his counterpart, Yang Ji-Shear.

Soundless like diplomatic documents, then pieces of performance art designed for a domestic audience. They're studded with words like coercive and unfair, and have stern vows to hold Beijing accountable for its efforts to threaten stability.

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