Ray McGovern discusses the recent personnel changes in the Trump administration and what they could mean for his final months in office. McGovern thinks that John Brennan and his allies are getting nervous that as a lame duck, Trump might decide to simply release documents that incriminate these deep-state officials for their roles in the “Russiagate” plot, and potentially even worse things. Brennan is trying to make it seem like Trump could be endangering national security with these...

Scott interviews Doug Bandow about the missed foreign policy opportunities of the Trump administration. Bandow laments that Trump didn’t push harder to get U.S. troops out of our wars in the Middle East, theorizing that he was worried the political cost in the eyes of wealthy donors like Sheldon Adelson would outweigh the benefits in terms of popularity with voters. Bandow hopes that Trump’s policy toward North Korea, at least, will be preserved in the next administration—a policy that...

Scott talks to Mike Maharrey of the Tenth Amendment Center about the shameful state of U.S. foreign policy. In particular, Maharrey explains the way that congress has completely abdicated its role of declaring wars—instead, they have ceded that power fully to the president. Maharrey reminds us that all empires collapse eventually, and indeed that empire is often the final stage in a civilization’s existence. If we want to preserve our republic, he says, we must do so at the cost of abandoning...

Pentagon reporter Mark Perry discusses the recent appointment of retired Colonel Douglas Macgregor to a senior advisory position under President Trump’s new secretary of defense. Perry calls Macgregor one of the greatest military minds in America; after a distinguished Army career that included one ofAmerica’s swiftest and most lopsided victories in the Persian Gulf War’s Battle of 73 Easting, Macgregor became a military historian and scholar. He continues to openly share his sometimes...

Grant Smith discusses the concept of “QME”, or “Qualitative Military Edge,” and how Israel and their lobby in the U.S. use it to get billions of dollars from the American taxpayers. Smith explains that during the Cold War, the doctrine of QME was used to keep the U.S. ahead of the Soviet Union and its allies—today, the same doctrine is being advocated by those who see Israel as a beacon of freedom and goodness amid a sea of enemies. And they use this concept to justify billions of dollars...

Scott interviews Danny Sjursen about where his former commanders from Afghanistan have ended up in the years since the surge. Sjursen goes through a handful of these men: almost without fail, his former generals have ended up with profitable jobs in the arms industry or at hawkish think tanks, and his colonels have been promoted to take the place of those retired generals—and will surely join them in the private sector soon enough. The fact that none of this surprises us should be a reminder...

Scott interviews author and peace activist David Swanson in honor of Veterans’ Day, or Armistice Day, as it was originally known. Swanson begins by describing the way World War II has become the justification for just about every use of military force by the United States since then. This particular part of American history has made an impression on many people that war can be necessary and good, and that America can be the world’s police force. In a new book, Swanson tries to shift that...

With Joe Biden apparently poised to be America’s next president, Scott talks to Dave DeCamp about some possible foreign policy changes under the new administration. To begin with, DeCamp worries that Biden will use a recent uptick in violence as an excuse to keep American troops in Afghanistan indefinitely, basically the strategy he advocated as Vice President. On Israel, DeCamp says that Biden was known as one of the strongest zionists in Washington until Trump showed up, and so we can expect...

Jeff Deist discusses the idea that the best path forward for America may be some kind of peaceful breakup. He reminds us that America has never truly been one country, the way that, for instance, many small European nations are—and indeed the United States was never really supposed to be a single unified monolith. With such a diversity of culture over such a huge geographical area, a federal government was meant to serve a very limited purpose while leaving most decisions up to the individual...

Nicolas Davies joins the show for an update on the situation in Bolivia, where President Evo Morales was forced to flee the country last year after allegations that his party fixed the elections to give him another term. Davies argues that the elections probably were fair after all, but at the time these allegations were enough to set in motion a military coup that saw the installation of an interim government more aligned with America’s interests. Interim President Jeanine Áñez twice delayed...

Matt Taibbi discusses the controversial new developments surrounding possible corruption in the Biden family. Taibbi takes us back to the original controversy of Biden’s supposed pressure on the Ukrainian government to dismiss prosecutor Viktor Shokin when Biden was Vice President. The mainstream press, says Taibbi, remains united in their view on this issue: the dismissal had nothing to do with Hunter Biden’s activities on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma, and anyone claiming...

Scott talks to Giorgio Cafiero about the latest push for Sudan to join the group of countries officially normalizing ties with Israel. Cafiero thinks these official normalization deals are somewhat significant, but reminds us that none of the countries to sign such deals have actually been at war with Israel, and so the deals do not accomplish nearly as much as the Trump administration claims that they do. In Sudan in particular, Cafiero fears that a new deal with Isreal could jeopardize an...

Scott talks to Danny Sjursen about the latest in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, where Sjursen says about 5,000 people have likely been killed. The media narrative about this situation, explains Sjursen, has always been that Russia is providing material support to Armenia, and encourages the fighting for their own geopolitical purposes. In reality though, Russia supports both sides to some extent, and really only has an interest in peace, since these countries are...

Daniel Davis is back, this time for a discussion of Trump and Biden’s foreign policy positions in light of last night’s presidential debate. Overall Davis thinks it’s good that Trump hasn’t started any new wars—unlike all of his recent predecessors—but is disappointed by the extent to which he has been unable to put his antiwar campaign promises into practice. Davis think Trump made good strides toward peace with North Korea, something that Biden predictably attacked him for during the debate....

The great Daniel Ellsberg shares his thoughts on Julian Assange’s extradition hearing, comparing the situation to his own trial in the 1970s. Ellsberg, of course, was acquitted—in part because it was proven that the government spied on confidential conversations with Ellsberg’s psychiatrist. The CIA and its allies have been shown to have done the same thing in Assange’s case, surveilling both his doctors and his lawyers. On these grounds alone, Ellsberg believes the case should be thrown out....