Show Notes
Tommy and Ben walk through a week of epic failures for the Trump administration, from peace talks with Iran to Viktor Orbán’s historic loss in Hungary. They break down everything that was wrong with the US-Iran peace talks, like both sides coming in with maximalist positions, Vice President JD Vance walking out in a huff, and the lack of American expertise at the table. Then they unpack what we know about Trump’s risky plan to also blockade the Strait of Hormuz, the growing economic fallout from the war, the heated AI-powered, LEGO-themed propaganda war happening on social media, the attack on free speech in many Gulf countries, including the arrest of American journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, and the latest on Israel’s bombing, invasion, and occupation of Lebanon. Then they cover some rare good news in Viktor Orbán’s stunning defeat after 16 years in power, and what we can learn from Hungarian activists about fighting corrupt autocrats, and discuss what other world leaders can learn from Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s continued electoral success from punching back at Trump. At the end of the show, Ben speaks to Anand Gopal about his new book about Syria, Days of Love and Rage: A Story of Ordinary People Forging a Revolution. For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast. For Friends of the Pod, the guys answer questions about diplomatic approaches to Cuba, and just how frank diplomatic conversations get behind closed doors. Preorder Ben’s book All We Say: The Battle for American Identity: A History in 15 Speeches and subscribe to his Substack here.
More from Pod Save the World
Trump rigs the war in Russia’s favor, France descends into chaos, and we witness another episode of the Trump administration soap opera drama, As the World Burns. Tommy and Ben walk through Trump and Zelensky’s most recent war of words, the devastating consequences of the US holding back interceptor missile shipments and satellite access, and the ridiculous possibility of a summit to conclude the war with China, Russia, and the US...but not Ukraine. French protests get bigger and more lawless as frustrations with spending on education and the high cost of living get co-opted by violent looters, and French politicians point fingers at the left. An OpenAI employee gets caught allegedly spying for Saudi Arabia. Exclusive polling from the Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project shows that voters in swing states are tougher on Israel than Washington seems to think. And in this week’s latest example of infighting and corruption within the Trump administration, Alina Habba and Richard Grenell battle over a story involving millions of dollars, a Turkish billionaire, and the Kennedy Center. At the end of the show, Ben speaks to independent journalist Jasper Nathaniel, who describes the brutal attack he witnessed on an American photographer in the West Bank, and how violent gangs of Israeli settlers no longer hold back on either journalists or diplomats. Hate listening to ads? Become a Friends of the Pod subscriber for ad-free episodes of Pod Save America, Pod Save the World, Lovett or Leave It, Runaway Country, Offline with Jon Favreau, and more—plus exclusive content, including bonus episodes of Pod Save America. Subscribe now at crooked.com/friends, on Apple Podcasts, or through the Pod Save America YouTube channel. You can request a transcript by emailing [email protected]. Include the podcast name, episode title, and air date. Please allow 48 hours for delivery.
Trump cuts a diesel deal with Putin, the Houthis hit Saudi Arabia’s main airport, and Kimberly Guilfoyle resigns after demanding ice at 4am in Mykonos. Tommy and Ben dig into Trump’s announcement of a diesel fuel deal and “energy ceasefire” with Russia that caught Ukraine and the Europeans completely off guard, and will pump $4 billion into Vladimir Putin’s war machine. The Houthis launch a deadly strike on Saudi Arabia’s international airport in Riyadh that leads the CEOs of major oil companies to cancel their trips to “Davos in the Desert”. Ship attacks in the Strait of Hormuz have nearly doubled in the past two weeks, Iran is reportedly reading war stories to kindergartners and training civilians to fire anti-aircraft missiles, and the guys explain why none of this looks like a country preparing to make a deal. In India, the Cockroach movement is back in the streets after 130 million names were purged from the voter rolls. New reporting exposes details about Erik Prince’s mercenaries conducting drone strikes in Congo and collecting mining taxes. And finally, Kimberly Guilfoyle resigns as ambassador to Greece after a State Department investigation, a $100,000 Amex bill, and an incident involving a 4am demand for ice while drunk in Mykonos. At the end of the show, Tommy speaks to Dr. Lesley Anne Warner, a visiting scholar with the Africa Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, to get more context on why the current fighting in Ethiopia and conflicts in Sudan and Yemen could all spill over into each other. Hate listening to ads? Become a Friends of the Pod subscriber for ad-free episodes of Pod Save America, Pod Save the World, Lovett or Leave It, Runaway Country, Offline with Jon Favreau, and more—plus exclusive content, including bonus episodes of Pod Save America. Subscribe now at crooked.com/friends, on Apple Podcasts, or through the Pod Save America YouTube channel. You can request a transcript by emailing [email protected]. Include the podcast name, episode title, and air date. Please allow 48 hours for delivery.
Tommy and Ben dig into Brazil's election results, where right-wing candidate Flavio Bolsonaro surged past expectations and is now favored to win the October 25th runoff. In Europe, Spain's Pedro Sanchez calls a snap election over a housing crisis after a dramatic eviction sparks demonstrations, and student protests have spread to more than 40 French cities over a lack of funding and poor conditions at schools. Quebec separatists win provincial elections with eyes on an independence vote in the future. Germany's former intelligence chief is arrested for passing state secrets to foreign governments — a wild story that involves a steakhouse heiress, a custody dispute, and a kidnapping in Denmark. Reports of a pneumonic plague death at a research institute that have Russian officials saying one thing and local governors saying another are terrifying because no one knows who to trust. Then the Iran war: US B-1 bombers are suddenly pulled out of a UK airbase, 10,000 more troops are headed to the Middle East, and Trump suggests (jokingly?) that Iran should bomb Los Angeles and San Diego. And finally, a report from the Wall Street Journal raises new questions about Chinese Premier Xi Jinping’s health. At the end of the show Ben speaks to Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who details his time imprisoned in Russia in his new book, This Cursed Beautiful Land: A Russian American Story. Hate listening to ads? Become a Friends of the Pod subscriber for ad-free episodes of Pod Save America, Pod Save the World, Lovett or Leave It, Runaway Country, Offline with Jon Favreau, and more—plus exclusive content, including bonus episodes of Pod Save America. Subscribe now at crooked.com/friends, on Apple Podcasts, or through the Pod Save America YouTube channel. You can request a transcript by emailing [email protected]. Include the podcast name, episode title, and air date. Please allow 48 hours for delivery.
The Trump/Xi summit produces two pandas and not much else, violence in Ethiopia could have massive regional consequences, and Manchester City is found guilty of nearly a decade of cheating. Tommy and Ben close the loop on Xi Jinping's state visit to Washington and how Trump walked away with only vague commitments. On Iran, Trump is reportedly planning to resume bombing after the midterms, and a workaround in the Strait of Hormuz is getting oil flowing again, but it may make Trump less likely to cut a deal. A potential plot at a UK base used by US bombers to strike Iran ends with five British men arrested. The guys do a deep dive into Ethiopia, where a peace deal from 2022 is unraveling and the risk of a conflict that could merge with the wars in Sudan and Somalia is very real. Manchester City is found guilty on 115 charges of breaking Premier League financial rules for nearly a decade — and the story highlights the complications of state-owned entities with unlimited money buying their way into sports. OpenAI pauses its latest model because it kept lying, and a previous model hacked an Australian healthcare website. And finally, we take a tour of Trump's ambassador corps: Charles Kushner ignoring France's foreign ministry, Kimberly Guilfoyle steering contracts to her boyfriend's clients in Greece, and the US ambassador to Belgium picking a fight over circumcision. At the end of the show, Tommy speaks to Sam Vigersky, an international affairs fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, about the dangerous on-the-ground reality in Haiti and how the Trump administration is making it worse. Hate listening to ads? Become a Friends of the Pod subscriber for ad-free episodes of Pod Save America, Pod Save the World, Lovett or Leave It, Runaway Country, Offline with Jon Favreau, and more—plus exclusive content, including bonus episodes of Pod Save America. Subscribe now at crooked.com/friends, on Apple Podcasts, or through the Pod Save America YouTube channel. To watch this episode with subtitles, click here and turn on closed captions (CC). You can request a transcript by emailing [email protected]. Include the podcast name, episode title, and air date. Please allow 48 hours for delivery.
Xi Jinping comes to Washington, the UN struggles for relevancy, and the Russian parliamentary elections turn out exactly as expected. Tommy and Ben break down Chinese President Xi Jinping's first state visit to Washington since 2015, including Trump’s personal airport greeting, and what leverage China has on everything from AI to rare earths to Iran. Then a new list of disturbing AI headlines: a Bloomberg investigation on how AI-assisted targeting contributed to the US strike on an Iranian elementary school, a CNN report on how AI nearly triggered a war with China, and the Israeli election is being flooded with AI-generated slop. It's also UN General Assembly week in New York, where Trump met with Zohran Mamdani, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and threatened Iran. The Houthis keep expanding their military campaign in Yemen, attacking Riyadh and Saudi oil facilities, and Trump can't seem to decide whether to help the Saudis or not. Russian parliamentary elections are setting Vladimir Putin’s party up for its largest majority ever. The far-right AfD wins again in two more German regional elections, and Ben and Tommy give some thoughts on Trump’s arch and the Pentagon’s height and weight requirements. At the end of the show Ben speaks to Maher Bitar, executive director of National Security Action, about new polling that reveals why foreign policy is on the ballot in the midterms. Hate listening to ads? Become a Friends of the Pod subscriber for ad-free episodes of Pod Save America, Pod Save the World, Lovett or Leave It, Runaway Country, Offline with Jon Favreau, and more—plus exclusive content, including bonus episodes of Pod Save America. Subscribe now at crooked.com/friends, on Apple Podcasts, or through the Pod Save America YouTube channel. You can request a transcript by emailing [email protected]. Include the podcast name, episode title, and air date. Please allow 48 hours for delivery.