Know Your Enemy21 Marras 2024

Trump the Dove? Or Trump the Neocon? (w/ Curt Mills)

The second Trump administration hasn't started, but it's already proving chaotic, disturbing, and downright bewildering. (Not unlike the first!) Trump's picks for key staff and cabinet positions display a discordant, if not altogether surprising, mix of ideologies, experience, and scandalous baggage. (Indeed, one of his picks, Matt Gaetz for Attorney General, withdrew from consideration between the time we recorded our interview and when we recorded the intro.)

For this episode, we're focused on Trump's national security team, which is shaping up to be divided against itself: neoconservatives like Marco Rubio (State) alongside quasi-isolationists like Tulsi Gabbard (Director of National Intelligence) alongside bellicose TV personalities like Pete Hegseth (Defense). To make sense of it all, we're joined by Curt Mills, a longtime foreign policy reporter and executive director of The American Conservative. A semi-enemy, Curt hails from the paleoconservative school of foreign affairs, which prioritizes realism and restraint. (That is to say, he's not thrilled about Rubio...) Based on Trump's appointments thus far, we ask Curt to assess, from his perspective, the relative strength of various factions of the Trump coalition: Will Trump listen to the warmongers in his midst? Will he side with the America Firsters? Or will he ignore everyone and just make some deals? Listen to find out.

Further Reading:

Curt Mills, "What a Trump Cabinet Might Look Like," The American Conservative, Oct 18, 2024.

— "What Trump Could Do in Foreign Policy Might Surprise the World," NYTimes, May 13, 2024.

Patrick Smith & Peter Alexander, "Police report details alleged sexual assault by Trump's defense pick Pete Hegseth," NBC News, Nov 21, 2024.

Baker, Haberman, Swan, "Gaetz’s withdrawal follows revelations in a sex-trafficking inquiry." NYTimes, Nov 21, 2024.

Dave Phillips and Carol Rosenberg, "The Metamorphosis of Pete Hegseth: From Critic of War Crimes to Defender of the Accused," NYTimes, Nov 21, 2024.

David Frum, "Unpatriotic Conservatives," National Review, Mar 25, 2003.

...and don't forget to subscribe to Know Your Enemy on Patreon for access to all of our bonus episodes!

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(267)

Becoming Elon Musk, Part Two

If there's ever been a Know Your Enemy subject worthy of two episodes, it is Elon Musk—currently the world's richest man, CEO and leader of several pathbreaking companies, ringleader of the Department...

25 Maalis 20252h 1min

Becoming Elon Musk, Part One

17 Maalis 20251h 22min

"Exit From Within" (August 2022)

Here's something a little creepy. In a bonus episode from August 2022, Matt and Sam were discussing Sam's profile of Arizona Senate hopeful and Peter Thiel-protégé Blake Masters when we found ourselve...

5 Maalis 202520min

How Bad Is It? [TEASER]

Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemyJust over a month into Trump's second term, Matt and Sam offer their thoughts on where we're at—and, to be blunt, ...

24 Helmi 20254min

Pay Attention! (w/ Chris Hayes)

We're all anxious, and none of us can pay attention. We don't read long books anymore; our kids don't read at all. When we watch TV, we scroll at the same time. And we absolutely cannot be alone with ...

18 Helmi 20251h 1min

MAGA x DOGE, So Far (w/ John Ganz) [TEASER]

Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemyThe first three weeks of Donald Trump's second administration have seen a flurry of vicious executive orders aimed...

8 Helmi 20252min

Ayn Rand Against the World (w/ Jennifer Burns)

An atheist, a radical for capitalism, a caricature of a greedy libertarian, a best-selling novelist, a difficult partner and passionate lover, and the self-proclaimed greatest philosopher since Aristo...

3 Helmi 20252h

How Republics End (w/ Mike Duncan) [TEASER]

Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemyA stock rhetorical trope on the right is to invoke ancient Rome when talking about American decline—often making d...

28 Tammi 20252min