Why Trump’s ‘Psychosis’ Has Insiders Terrified

The Daily Beast Podcast

The Daily Beast

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4.6 • 8.4K Ratings

🗓️ 23 March 2026

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

David Rothkopf returns to the podcast to deliver a chilling behind-the-scenes account of a war spiraling far beyond public spin, revealing that while officials defend the Iran conflict on TV, insiders across Washington are privately terrified by how badly it’s unfolding. Drawing on deep sources inside the military, intelligence, and diplomatic worlds, Rothkopf exposes a stunning lack of strategy, mounting fears of global economic shock, and a rapidly escalating conflict that experts warned would happen—and now can’t control. From skyrocketing energy prices and the risk of a wider regional war to the unnerving reality that key decisions are being driven by instinct rather than planning, Rothkopf details of a crisis that is not only failing abroad but threatening to destabilize alliances, markets, and America’s standing in the world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	We don't have people around the president who will say no to them.
0:03.0	And even if we did, he wouldn't listen to that.
0:06.0	This is so different from any other war that we have ever seen
0:11.0	because it is being driven by the psychosis of one individual.
0:17.0	And everybody in Washington knows that.
0:19.0	All the guardrails, all the processes, all the
0:23.3	systems that have evolved over time to avoid just this kind of catastrophe have been shut down,
0:30.9	broken down. And we're left with a decaying, elderly, ignorant, paranoid, vain, glorious, deluded,
0:42.3	commander-in-chief, making it up as he goes along.
0:47.3	I'm Joanna Coles. This is the Daily Beast podcast.
0:51.3	Who better to discuss the war with than the great David Rothkopf,
0:56.9	our chief global affairs columnist who was the former editor of Foreign Policy Magazine
1:04.2	and worked in the Commerce Department for the Clinton administration
1:09.2	and now runs a network of podcasts for his own company Deep
1:14.7	State Radio and has amazing connections in the intelligence community and in the foreign
1:20.8	and the diplomatic corps. I don't need to tell you, we're at war. Pete Hegzeth is telling us to
1:26.7	pray on bended knee and Marco Rubio is apparently
1:31.2	talking to the Cubans who knows what will happen tomorrow but for today well we have David
1:38.1	Rothkopf to bring some sanity and some illumination to what feels like the creeping darkness.
1:48.2	David Rothkopf, it's been, what has it been, a week since we last spoke.
1:53.6	And now you're back with a very fancy new title because you are our officially now chief
2:00.0	global affairs columnist. It's very exciting, David.
	...

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