Starting Five: US Presidents

Jacob and Marko finally caved to the mob on X and did what everyone (one guy who asked nicely) keeps yelling at them to do - rank the top five geopolitical U.S. presidents and the bottom five disasters. Not the best presidents. Not the most “inspirational.” The most geopolitically competent… and the ones who should never have been allowed within 500 feet of foreign policy.

It gets spicy. Lincoln shows up with ruthless brilliance, Polk rolls in like the ultimate expansionist psychopath, Teddy swings a big stick (and probably breaks a few ribs), and then we get to the bottom five - where the real chaos lives.

Why do some leaders bend history while others trip over it? And what happens when the world’s biggest superpower forgets the stakes?

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Timestamps:

(00:00) - Best Intro Ever

(00:42) - Listener Reactions and Content Expectations

(01:43) - Current Events and Personal Opinions

(02:37) - Coffee Rant and Personal Preferences

(05:07) - Geopolitical Anecdotes and Personal Stories

(09:58) - Top Five Geopolitical US Presidents

(14:10) - Debating Presidential Competence

(46:05) - Reagan's Foreign Policy and the Gulf War

(46:56) - George HW Bush's Strategic Decisions

(48:29) - Bush's Approach to China and Tiananmen Square

(49:54) - Theodore Roosevelt's Foreign Policy Legacy

(50:58) - Comparing Presidential Foreign Policies

(54:50) - Honorable Mentions and Controversial Picks

(01:10:17) - Worst Foreign Policy Presidents

(01:20:14) - LBJ's Economic and War Policies((01:21:14 George W. Bush's Foreign Policy Failures

(01:22:12) - The Impact of Al-Qaeda and the War on Terror

(01:26:07) - Truman's Geopolitical Blunders

(01:32:26) - Bill Clinton's Missed Opportunities

(01:39:36) - Eisenhower's Domino Theory and CIA Operations

(01:48:39) - Biden's Foreign Policy Critique

(01:59:18) - Final Thoughts and Reflections

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Geopolitical Cousins is produced and edited by Audiographies LLC. More information at audiographies.com

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Jacob Shapiro is a speaker, consultant, author, and researcher covering global politics and affairs, economics, markets, technology, history, and culture. He speaks to audiences of all sizes around the world, helps global multinationals make strategic decisions about political risks and opportunities, and works directly with investors to grow and protect their assets in today’s volatile global environment. His insights help audiences across industries like finance, agriculture, and energy make sense of the world.

Jacob Shapiro Site: jacobshapiro.com

Jacob Shapiro LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jacob-l-s-a9337416

Jacob Twitter: x.com/JacobShap

Jacob Shapiro Substack: jashap.substack.com/subscribe

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Marko Papic is a macro and geopolitical expert at BCA Research, a global investment research firm. He provides in-depth analysis that combines geopolitics and markets in a framework called GeoMacro. He is also the author of Geopolitical Alpha: An Investment Framework for Predicting the Future.

Marko’s Book & Newsletter: www.geopoliticalalpha.com/marko-papic

Marko’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marko-papic-geopolitics/

Marko’s Twitter: https://x.com/Geo_papic

Marko’s Macro & Geopolitical Research at BCA: https://www.bcaresearch.com/marketing/geomacro