The Great X Debate, with Matt Continetti: Vance v. Ferguson, Trump Diplomacy, DOGE, and Hackman

GoodFellows: Conversations from the Hoover Institution

Hoover Institution

News Commentary, Government, News, News:news Commentary, Politics

4.8 • 658 Ratings

🗓️ 28 February 2025

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A one-week window into the Trump administration’s worldview—the president blaming Ukraine for Russia’s invasion; his vice president taking to social media to accuse a Hoover scholar of “historical illiteracy”; the US then refusing to join other UN members in condemning Russian aggression—raises the question: Is the Trump brand of confusion and controversy mere happenstance or a calculated means to an end? American Enterprise Institute scholar, author, and columnist Matthew Continetti joins Hoover senior fellows John Cochrane, H.R. McMaster, and Niall Ferguson (the subject of the vice president’s lashing on X) to discuss Trump’s unorthodox style, the showcasing of executive orders, and his chances of success at home and overseas. Also discussed: the significance of Trump’s firing top military brass, a $5 million “gold card” for US residency, the Washington Post’s editorial shift to “personal liberties and free markets,” Scotland’s rugby disappointment at the hands (and legs) of England, plus the late Gene Hackman’s best performances. Recorded on February 27, 2025.

Transcript

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0:00.0	President, do you still think that Mr. Zelensky is a bit tighter?
0:04.0	Um, did I say that? I can't believe I said that. Next question.
0:14.0	It's Thursday, February 27th, 2025, and welcome back to Goodfellows, a Hoover Institution broadcast examining social, economic, political, and geopolitical concerns.
0:23.5	I'm Bill Whalen. I'm a Hoover Distinguished Policy Fellow. I'll be your moderator today, joined by our full complement of Goodfellows, as we like to call them.
0:30.1	That would include the historian, Sir Neil Ferguson, the economist John Cochran, and former presidential national security advisor, Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster.
0:38.4	And joining us today from the swamp or somewhere outside the swamp, I think. I believe he resides
0:42.5	in northern Virginia. Our friend Matthew Contenetti. Matt Contennetti is a director of domestic studies
0:47.0	at the American Enterprise Institute. He's a Fox News contributor. If you're a podcast maniac like me,
0:51.8	you listen to him every morning on the Always Entertaining Commentary Magazine podcast.
0:56.0	Matt, thanks for joining us.
0:57.4	Thanks for having me, Bill.
0:58.6	And let me just say it's a real pleasure to be with the Goodfellows.
1:02.0	I've been a fan from the beginning.
1:04.1	I never miss an episode.
1:05.8	Well, we will do our best to meet your expectations today.
1:08.0	Matt, Donald Trump is not a drinker.
1:10.6	He famously does not care for
1:12.4	alcohol. It's a very personal thing regarding his brother. But if we were to concoct a Trump cocktail,
1:18.3	Matt, I might call it the method and the madness in this regard. Anytime we talk about something that
1:23.2	Trump does, something he says, something he suggests, We always kind of fall back to this fundamental question,
1:28.4	does he know what he's doing?
1:29.5	Is he thinking about what is he doing?
	...

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