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The David Frum Show

Why Do Billionaires Go Crazy?

The David Frum Show

The Atlantic

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 2.4K Ratings

🗓️ 25 June 2025

⏱️ ? minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Atlantic’s David Frum opens this episode of The David Frum Show with a statement about Trump’s Iran strikes. The strikes fulfilled commitments of past presidents, who have long maintained that the U.S. would not allow an Iranian nuclear bomb. David also makes the point that Trump, who has already abused peacetime powers, is now a wartime president, a role that will allow him to wield even larger authority—and do even greater damage.  Then David is joined by the author and editor Tina Brown for a conversation about the disorienting effects of extreme wealth. They discuss how billionaires often become detached from reality, how philanthropy is used to consolidate image and influence, and how Brown’s personal experience with Donald Trump shaped her understanding of his ego and evolution. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at theAtlantic.com/listener. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Okay, so what if you could listen to all your books, docs, PDFs, and articles?

0:04.6

Well, you can.

0:05.8

With the 11 Reader app, you can turn anything into natural-sounding voice, like this one.

0:11.4

So download 11 Reader for free on your favorite app store today.

0:15.1

Music Hello, and welcome back to the David Fromm Show, in an America that suddenly finds itself at war in the Middle East under the leadership of President Trump.

0:36.8

My guest today is Tina Brown, the former editor of Tatler, Vanity Fair, and the New Yorker,

0:42.9

author of the Fresh Hell Substack.

0:45.1

I recorded this dialogue with Tina Brown before the outbreak of hostilities.

0:49.6

We're going to continue with it because I think it says a lot of important things by Tina

0:53.6

about the political culture of the United States today.

0:56.7

But I am recording on the Monday morning after the strikes.

1:00.1

I'm in a different location, obviously, as you will see from the location I was in when I recorded the dialogue with Tina.

1:05.4

And, of course, we're in a different world, a world in which the United States has struck Iran with air power and which

1:10.9

that calls for some new thinking and some new approaches. For many Americans, nothing much has

1:18.2

changed politically. They opposed Donald Trump before the war, and they opposed Donald Trump

1:23.0

now that he's led the country into a war. For those of us on the center right, on the never Trump side, things are a little bit more

1:30.6

complicated.

1:31.8

Among the reasons that me and people like me oppose Donald Trump was not just along with

1:36.6

our many, many coalition partners spreading across the American spectrum, his disdain for

1:41.8

democracy, his attempt to overthrow the 2020 election, his authoritarianism,

1:46.8

his corruption. We also had very particular political concerns. The thing that led me and people like me

1:53.6

to the political right in the first place was our belief in American global leadership,

...

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