Is America Becoming a Rogue State?

Foreign Policy Live

Foreign Policy

News Commentary, News, Politics

4.1 • 622 Ratings

🗓️ 15 April 2026

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Iran war has become the most serious foreign-policy challenge for U.S. President Donald Trump in his second term. But does it reveal a larger point about U.S. power? Stephen M. Walt, a professor at Harvard University and Foreign Policy columnist, argues that it does and that the United States is increasingly acting like a rogue state. What damage will this cause, and what can countries do about it? Plus, Ravi offers his read on Hungary’s election and why it matters for the world. Thomas Carothers: Why Viktor Orban’s Fidesz Party Lost Stephen M. Walt: The United States Has Become a Rogue State Foreign Affairs: Stephen M. Walt: The Predatory Hegemon Ravi Agrawal: Trump Is Ushering In a More Transactional World Howard W. French: Trump’s Recipe for Accelerated U.S. Decline Pew Research Center: International Views of China Turn Slightly More Positive Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	May 5th through 8th, the Hemispheric Security Conference returns to Florida International
0:05.3	University in Miami.
0:07.2	Step into the conversation that is shaping the future of hemispheric security.
0:11.5	Don't miss it.
0:12.7	Register now online at go.fIU.edu.
0:17.6	forward slash HSCSC 2026.
0:24.1	Hi, I'm Ravi Agrual, Foreign Policy's editor-in-chief.
0:28.8	This is FP Live.
0:33.5	So the Iran War has become the most serious foreign policy challenge for Donald Trump in his second term.
0:40.3	However loyalists justify it, the reality is that the war is unpopular, it breaks several domestic and international laws, and it is very costly.
0:50.9	My guest today says the Iran war proves the point he's been making for a while, that the United States is increasingly acting like a rogue state, a predatory hegemon.
1:02.7	The question then is what kind of damage this can cause and what countries can do about it?
1:09.3	That's coming up, but first, I wanted to share my read on a very important development this past weekend.
1:15.4	Hungary had elections.
1:17.6	On its own, Hungary is not that significant.
1:20.6	It has a population of less than 10 million.
1:23.1	It sits outside the top 50 economies in the world.
1:26.4	But it is geopolitically significant. It's in the top 50 economies in the world, but it is geopolitically significant.
1:30.2	It's in the EU, and Hungary's leader of the past 16 years, Viktor Orban,
1:35.2	has frequently played spoiler in the EU, for example, by vetoing military aid to Ukraine.
1:41.8	Unlike most European leaders, Arban has also openly aligned himself with
1:46.6	Russia's Vladimir Putin, with China's Xi Jinping, and notably with Donald Trump's MAGA movement.
	...

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