How Trump's War Has Triggered New Axis of Evil

The Daily Beast Podcast

The Daily Beast

News

4.6 • 8.4K Ratings

🗓️ 3 March 2026

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

David Rothkopf joins Joanna Coles to argue that Donald Trump’s Iran war reveals a president who believes he governs like a king, not a constitutional commander in chief. Rothkopf, The Daily Beast’s unmissable columnist and Founder of the DSR Network, lays out the case that this is an illegal war launched without congressional approval, with just 21 percent public support, no coherent National Security Council process, and early casualties already compounding the chaos. He connects Trump’s impulsive strike to Benjamin Netanyahu’s political incentives, the risk of regional escalation, oil shocks ahead of the midterms, and the dangerous fantasy that regime change will somehow yield democracy in Tehran. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You know, there was a time 20-odd years ago when George W. Bush, in making his case for his war,
0:07.0	said the United States faces an axis of evil.
0:11.0	Right.
0:12.0	I think a case can be made if you're looking at the number of innocent deaths and the number of wars of choice that shouldn't be undertaken.
0:19.0	That the new axis of evil contains Vladimir Putin,
0:22.6	but it's now also Donald Trump and Peeb. Netanyahu.
0:27.7	I'm Joanna Coles. This is The Daily Beast podcast. It's day three of Israel and the United
0:33.1	States bombing campaign against Iran and what appears to be war in the Middle East.
0:39.8	Who better to talk about this with than the Daily Beast's own David Rothkopf, who's been writing up a storm since it became clear that the action was on and that the military buildup in the Gulf was in fact there for a very
0:56.8	specific reason. We've got regime change and we've got Donald Trump strutting around like a
1:03.3	UFC fighter with his hands in the air saying only he could have done this. And American
1:09.6	casualties, they are what they are.
1:12.3	They are what they are.
1:14.0	So with no further ado, let's get into it.
1:16.8	And just to remind you, David Rothkopf is the founder of Deep State Radio,
1:20.7	but he was the editor of Foreign Policy magazine,
1:23.5	and he worked in the Commerce Department under Bill Clinton.
1:29.9	David Rothkopf, welcome on a Monday morning.
1:33.7	Yes, ma'am.
1:34.5	Last time we spoke, it was all about Epstein.
1:37.3	Now it's all about Iran.
1:39.3	We're three days in.
	...

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