The Plane Truth: Playing Chicken with China, Trump Goes Gulf-ing, Tensions in South Asia

GoodFellows: Conversations from the Hoover Institution

Hoover Institution

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

4.8 • 658 Ratings

🗓️ 15 May 2025

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

America and China take a 90-day time-out in their dispute over tariffs; President Trump’s tour of the Middle East—the first overseas trip of his second term—raises unsettling questions about both his regional strategy and his family’s business dealings; and hostilities between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan raise questions of behind-the-scenes great-power machinations amidst “Cold War 2.” Hoover senior fellows Niall Ferguson, John Cochrane, and Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster discuss what’s at stake in these various parts of the globe. After that: the three fellows debate the severity of Chinese espionage in America’s universities; and how AI’s ability to shortcut the learning process will impact the future of higher education. Recorded on May 14, 2025.

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's Wednesday, May 14, 2025, and welcome back to Goodfellows, a Hoover Institution broadcast,
0:13.5	examining social, economic, political, and geopolitical concerns.
0:17.7	I'm Bill Whalen.
0:18.4	I'm a Hoover Distinguished Policy Fellow.
0:20.0	I'll be your moderator today. And joining me, as per usual, are our three Goodfellows. So I'm Bill Whalen. I'm a Hoover Distinguished Policy Fellow. I'll be your moderator today.
0:21.8	And joining me, as per usual, are our three Goodfellow. So welcome back to the show.
0:26.4	Well, he's devout Protestant, but if the new Pope could somehow engineer an artist in Arsenal,
0:32.3	excuse me, football championship, he might convert. We welcome back, the distinguished historian,
0:36.2	Sir Neil Ferguson. Very good to ferguson very good to be back
0:38.6	very good to be back but my my father would turn in his grave not even arsenals winning the
0:45.0	premiership is worth a mass they're kind of the same man i i've got to tell you like i'm catholic i'm
0:51.0	catholic i'm went to an episcopal high school. It's the same thing. It's like,
0:54.6	Henry VIII wanted a divorce, man. There's a whole episode of Goodfellas we could have
1:00.3	on the Reformation. We can do it now or we can, yeah, we can stick to topic. We'll get to
1:06.0	topic in a minute. Also joining us today, born and raised in Chicago Chicago like the Pope. He is not the Bishop of Rome here in Goodfellas.
1:12.2	He is our high priest of monetary policy.
1:14.2	We welcome back the economist John Cochran.
1:16.9	And sadly the Pope is a white socks fan.
1:19.4	Ah, the devil wins.
1:22.0	And our third good fellow, we've already heard from him.
1:25.9	Last but not least, he is born and raised in Philadelphia, where the Pope did his undergraduate studies at Villanova.
1:31.5	We welcome back former Presidential National Security Advisor and Goodfellas resident optimist, Lieutenant General, H.R. McMaster.
	...

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