The Iran War Is Redefining America’s Place In The World
Left, Right & Center
KCRW
3.9 • 5K Ratings
🗓️ 3 April 2026
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
President Trump gave a speech this week about the Iran War to say he’s going to finish dismantling the country’s regime. But he also added that this regime seems pretty reasonable. We focus on what’s actually taking place: The U.S. role in the world has shifted dramatically, Russia and China seem to be benefitting from U.S. actions, the American economy seems vulnerable and Trump’s standing with his party seems to be changing.
President Trump is also trying to redefine the meaning of U.S. citizenship. Should being born here automatically mean you’re a citizen? The President thinks not, and the question is now before the Supreme Court.
And Trump has used a lot of words to trash the news media in our country. A top administration official thinks it’s been way more than a war of words – he’s doing a victory lap. We talk about all that with Liz Bruenig on the left and Sarah Isgur on the right.
Producer: Leo Duran
Host: David Greene
Guests:
- Elizabeth Bruenig, staff writer at The Atlantic - @ebruenig
- Sarah Isgur, senior editor at The Dispatch - @whignewtons
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to another left, right and center, everybody. |
| 0:03.5 | I'm David Green. |
| 0:04.5 | So in case you were wondering why we are at war with Iran, do not blame President Trump. |
| 0:10.3 | I mean, really, it was his predecessors. |
| 0:12.3 | I did what no other president was willing to do. |
| 0:15.9 | They made mistakes, and I am correcting them. |
| 0:19.1 | That was President Trump there in a primetime speech from the White House this past week. |
| 0:23.6 | He said that he has been decimating Iran's military and terrorist capabilities and just wait |
| 0:29.3 | till you see what's coming. |
| 0:30.7 | We're going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. |
| 0:35.1 | We're going to bring them back to the Stone Ages where they belong. |
| 0:40.0 | So cripple this regime, he is saying. I got that, Mr. President. But then you also told us that |
| 0:44.9 | this regime is reasonable. Regime change has occurred because of all of their original leaders' death. |
| 0:54.7 | They're all dead. |
| 0:56.3 | The new group is less radical and much more reasonable. |
| 1:00.2 | Though they did close the Strait of Hormuz, we should say, which shot oil prices up, |
| 1:04.6 | President Trump had some advice for other countries on how to deal with that setback. |
| 1:09.3 | Number one, buy oil from the United States of America. |
| 1:12.5 | We have plenty. We have so much. |
| 1:14.6 | And number two, build up some delayed courage. |
| 1:17.5 | Should have done it before. |
| 1:18.7 | Should have done it with us, as we asked. |
... |
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