What will Trump do about Syria?
Americast
BBC
4.3 • 3.1K Ratings
🗓️ 11 December 2024
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
As Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria fell over the weekend, president-elect Donald Trump posted on Truth Social “THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT.” But how will American interests in the Middle East develop under a second Trump term? And will it get in the way of the ‘America First’ agenda that helped take him to the White House?
The team assess how Trump might respond when he takes office in January, after Justin spoke with John Bolton, former US Ambassador to the UN and former National Security Advisor under Trump, about what recent events mean for the region and whether or not Trump will want to stay out of it.
HOSTS: • Justin Webb, Radio 4 presenter • Sarah Smith, North America Editor • Anthony Zurcher, North America Correspondent
GUEST: • John Bolton, former US Ambassador to the UN and former National Security Advisor
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This episode was made by George Dabby, Catherine Fusillo and Claire Betzer. The technical producer was Mike Regaard. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello to all the new Ameriasters who've joined us in the last few months. |
| 0:02.8 | More of us now, Mariana, than ever before. |
| 0:05.0 | I know, it's brilliant. |
| 0:06.0 | And that's really good because there's so much going on that we want to tell you about |
| 0:09.5 | between now and Donald Trump's inauguration in January. |
| 0:12.5 | We're going to be looking at all sorts of things. |
| 0:14.3 | Who he's picking for his team, what this can mean for the next four years, |
| 0:17.1 | how the Democrats regroup, you name it. So if you have any questions or comments, do get in touch. |
| 0:21.3 | AmeriCast at BBC.co.uk. |
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| 0:27.7 | And if you don't want to miss an episode, which of course you don't, you can subscribe |
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| 0:37.1 | So here is today's. Enjoy. |
| 0:40.2 | BBC Sounds, Music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:43.6 | Justin, I'm sure you can imagine that my life is rather governed by what Donald Trump puts on social media these days. |
| 0:48.7 | So we're constantly looking at his feeds ready to leap onto the news anytime he says anything. |
| 0:53.8 | And this week, he had something |
| 0:55.8 | to say about Syria and the situation that was developing there. And we know he means it because he |
| 1:00.9 | puts it in all caps. And he said, Syria's a mess, but it's not our friend. This is not our fight. |
| 1:07.6 | Let it play out. Do not get involved is the message from Donald Trump. |
| 1:12.4 | So that put me in mind of Leon Trotsky, who is probably not a favorite at Marilago, |
... |
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