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Pod Save the World

Each week, “Pod Save America” cohost Tommy Vietor and Obama’s former Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes break down the biggest developments in foreign policy, national security and global politics. They try to explain which stories matter and why, and what we can all do to understand and shape the world around us.

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The Houthis seize control of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, Trump rolls a grenade into Northern Ireland's politics, and a Russian oligarch funds Don Jr.'s wedding.

Tommy and Ben break down some of the most alarming expansions of the Iran war: Houthi rebels have captured roughly 80 miles of Yemen's Red Sea coastline, Iranian-backed militants have blown up a Saudi pipeline in Iraq, and Iran's targeting has improved thanks to Chinese satellite imagery. 

An exclusive first look at a new Eurasia Group poll finds the Iran war's approval sitting at 34% nationally, with disapproval among independents jumping 13 points. Then Trump visits his Irish golf course on the taxpayer's dime and casually upends decades of US policy on Northern Ireland in an impromptu press conference. This week also brings multiple stories of brazen grift: ProPublica reports that a Russian oligarch with ties to Putin paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for portions of Don Jr.'s Bahamas wedding, and The New Yorker does a deep dive on how much Jared Kushner’s diplomacy is colored by his personal financial motives. 

And finally, a Russian drone strikes a Ukrainian train station minutes after trains carrying the national security advisors of the UK, France, Germany, and Italy passed through. At the end of the show, Tommy speaks to Hamza Chaudhry from the Future of Life Institute about the crazy last week in AI, how to judge tech leaders’ calls for a slowdown in development, and what to expect from Trump’s summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

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 transcripts@crooked.com. Include the podcast name, episode title, and air date. Please allow 48 hours for delivery.

Don Jr.’s Big Fat Russian Wedding

The far right gets a huge win in Germany, Serbia celebrates a war criminal, and Nigel Farage gets caught on camera breaking the law.

Tommy and Ben dig into the ultra-right-wing AfD party's historic results in a regional election, what drove it, what it would mean if they actually form a coalition government, and what it says about the state of European politics more broadly. Trump’s dumb and dumber team of negotiators (Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff) return from a busy weekend traveling to Moscow meeting with Vladimir Putin, and their first trip to Ukraine to meet with Volodymyr Zelensky on a train they named the “Peace Express.”

 In Serbia, convicted genocide architect Ratko Mladić is given a funeral fit for a national hero, which doesn’t bode well for the country’s pathway into the EU. The UK's new Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announces a sweeping shift in British policy toward Israeli settlements, and a bombshell Haaretz investigation reveals that Netanyahu received a direct warning from the UAE about a major Hamas attack ten days before October 7th. 

There are nothing but bad updates in the fallout from the war with Iran, including tit-for-tat strikes, mass polygraph tests at the Pentagon, and the dangerous escalation of the Saudi-Houthi conflict. And finally, a Channel 4 investigation catches Nigel Farage on camera conspiring to illegally solicit foreign donations. 

At the end of the show, Ben speaks to Lawrence Wright, author of The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 about what we have and haven’t learned 25 years after the 9/11 attacks.

You can request a transcript by emailing transcripts@crooked.com. Include the podcast name, episode title, and air date. Please allow 48 hours for delivery.

Can Germany’s Far Right Be Stopped?

The war with Iran reaches six months, Trump’s Pentagon cuts a corrupt oil deal with Venezuela, and Russia makes an (unwelcome) surprise appearance at a G20 meeting.

Tommy and Ben mark six months of the war with Iran, including the death toll, damage to the global economy, and reports that Trump may implement a "mow the grass" forever war strategy. Pete Hegseth is clearly losing the confidence of military leaders as the Secretary of the Army resigns and the Washington Post reports that top military commanders are pushing back on his management of the war. 

Then Trump announces that the US government is taking a 35% stake in a Venezuelan oil company. The guys walk through why the deal wouldn’t benefit either average Americans or Venezuelans, why it’s doomed to fail, and how the corrupt business partner Alejandro Betancourt is a perfect symbol of Trump’s smash-and-grab foreign policy. Also discussed: the US hosts a G20 finance meeting in North Carolina and invites Russia, Israel’s National Security Minister posts a sickening AI video, what we know about the catastrophic glacial collapse in Nepal that killed more than 900 people, Iceland’s vote against restarting EU membership talks, and a crazy story out of South Korea about government corruption and a cult-like church. 

Then Tommy speaks with David Eby, Premier of British Columbia, about Trump’s trade war against the Canadians and his “cringe” name change for Lake Ontario.

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 transcripts@crooked.com. Include the podcast name, episode title, and air date. Please allow 48 hours for delivery.

The Art of the Venezuela Oil Deal

Trump starts a trade war with Canada, announces “Economic D-Day” against Iran, while Russia deploys AI killer drones in Ukraine.

Tommy and Ben break down the collapse of US-Canada trade negotiations, the politics animating Prime Minister Mark Carney’s tough talk, and why a trade war carries long-term economic risks for Canada. Then the Trump administration threatens an “Economic D-Day” against Iran, which so far seems like an empty threat. In Ukraine, Russia has deployed autonomous drones that select their own targets using artificial intelligence, while CIA Director John Ratcliffe makes a mysterious trip to Moscow, and British Prime Minister Andy Burnham makes his first foreign trip to Kyiv and promises long-range missiles. The Pentagon fires the publisher, editor-in-chief, and a reporter from the military's own newspaper, “Stars and Stripes,” for speaking about the importance of editorial independence. And the guys dig into the rise of El Salvador's Nayib Bukele as the unlikely standard-bearer for a new wave of hard-right Latin American leaders, and show some terrifying and funny videos from the 2026 World Humanoid Robot Games. Then Ben interviews award-winning filmmaker Poh Si Teng and Dr. Feroze Sidhwa about the new documentary, American Doctor, that exposes the gut-wrenching experiences of doctors who went to Gaza to help, and the battle to force change back in Washington, D.C.

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 transcripts@crooked.com. Include the podcast name, episode title, and air date. Please allow 48 hours for delivery.

Trump & Carney’s Heated Rivalry

Tommy and Ben walk through a week of leaders making bad decisions. President Trump kneecaps military exercises with South Korea, Vladimir Putin’s paranoia reaches new heights, and British PM Andy Burnham gets pranked.

They start with Trump's decision to scale back joint US-South Korean military exercises, what it means for an ally facing a rapidly modernizing North Korean military, and why Trump’s love for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un remains unrequited. Then, Jared Kushner heads back to the Middle East to reassure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel won't actually have to live up to its obligations under the Gaza peace plan, even as violence in the West Bank keeps escalating. Next, they look at Vladimir Putin's extreme paranoia and subterfuge techniques, like his secret train and decoy offices, Trump’s history of making racist comments about Somalia, and why Andy Burnham and other world leaders keep getting pranked. Then Tommy speaks with Natalia Oliverio, independent journalist and Navy veteran, about the horrible conditions and the mental toll that an extended deployment is taking on sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln.

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 transcripts@crooked.com. Include the podcast name, episode title, and air date. Please allow 48 hours for delivery.

Trump’s Unrequited Love for Kim Jong Un

Trump evades Iran via catering truck, Pete Hegseth's Pentagon is a disaster, and Jared pays off a gangster and drug trafficker as part of his Albanian island takeover.

This week Tommy and Ben cover shocking new info on how Trump hid from Iran on his way back from the NATO summit in Turkey, leaving his staff and the press behind as decoys. They shake off their déjà vu to dig into the latest developments in Iran and Israel before touching down in Yemen as the conflict between the internationally recognized Yemeni government and the Houthis heats up. In London, a brave Sudanese protester calls out the UAE’s prime minister for underwriting the war in Sudan. Over at the Pentagon, Pete Hegseth continues to try to remake the military in MAGA’s image, but still finds time to blame an underling for our dire munitions shortage and cozy up to defense contractors. They dig into the strategy behind Ukraine’s attacks on Wildberries (the Amazon.com of Russia), Jared Kushner’s payout to a gangster in his quest to steal an island from Albania, the grim news on Ebola and Trump’s inaction on the crisis, and why Claude is coming for political speechwriters. Then, Ben speaks to Richard Horsey of the International Crisis Group about the state of play in Myanmar, how coup leader and now-president Min Aung Hlaing is making diplomatic inroads with his neighbors, and the recent—and rare—glimpse of Myanmar’s detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

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 transcripts@crooked.com. Include the podcast name, episode title, and air date. Please allow 48 hours for delivery.

Mission: Impossible - Catering Truck (Starring Donald J. Trump)

Over 70,000 migrants try crossing into Spain, the US is running out of precision missiles, and Jared Kushner's brother almost bought FIFA.

Tommy and Ben break down the mass crossing of migrants from Morocco into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta and why right-wing politicians are frothing at the mouth over it. While Trump’s ultimatums and claims of a deal on Iran make us all feel like it's Groundhog Day, reports that the US has burned through virtually all of its precision strike missiles and that Iranian hackers have infiltrated water systems in at least seven states are genuinely alarming. 

Trump announces a "historic" Gaza disarmament deal, but Hamas says he’s lying, the guys explain why the Japanese yen is suddenly America's problem, and FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s corrupt plan to sell off the most lucrative parts of the World Cup might cost him his job. Finally, the State Department displays an inaccurate map of Africa at an international AIDS conference, and a Spider-Man screening in Cartagena is evacuated due to a gassy incident of epic proportions. 

At the end of the show, Tommy speaks with Casey Michel, author of United States of Oligarchy: How America's Wealthiest Ally with Dictators, Weaken the U.S., and Destroy Democracy, about our home-grown oligarchs, why they pose a threat to national security, and what to do about it.

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 also request a transcript by emailing transcripts@crooked.com. Include the podcast name, episode title, and air date. Please allow 48 hours for delivery.

Far Right Freaks Freak Over Migrants in Spain

Trump welcomes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu to the White House on the same day as Lindsey Graham’s funeral, a MAGA nut does a wild U-turn on Ukraine, and the freakout over Chinese Artificial Intelligence intensifies.

This week Tommy and Ben cover…Trump hits pause on the Iran war after two weeks of nightly bombing amid concerns about dwindling stockpiles of US air defense interceptors, while the Pentagon goes to disgraceful new lengths to hide the casualties and costs of the war. Then Lindsey Graham gets the equivalent of a state funeral in Washington but almost no real coverage or accounting of his bloody foreign policy record. MAGA influencer Laura Loomer goes to Ukraine in the middle of a head-spinning shift from Ukraine hater to supporter. China rolls out new, cheaper AI models, while the US government refuses to regulate the industry. 

Finally: The Cockroach Movement notches a rare win from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the US extracts money and political concessions in Venezuela, Trump considers starting a new war in Mali, and Europe reels from historic heatwaves and wildfires. Then, Ben speaks to David Remnick, Editor of The New Yorker, about his recent profile of Gadi Eisenkot, Benjamin Netanyahu’s leading challenger for the Israeli premiership and Remnick’s observations of Israel over his decades of reporting there.

For a transcript of this show, email the episode title to transcripts@crooked.com

Lindsey Graham's Bloody Legacy

More US casualties in the war with Iran, the State Department's new neo-McCarthy Cuba blacklist, and the UK gets a new Prime Minister while CPAC Great Britain flops.

Tommy and Ben discuss reports that the Pentagon has been covering up the full extent of casualties associated with the war with Iran, the impact of the Houthi rebels potentially getting involved in the conflict, and Trump’s threat to bomb a new Iranian nuclear site. The State Department released a new report blaming everything Marco Rubio doesn’t like on Cuba, and the guys read it* so you don’t have to! (*skimmed it) Then they discuss the national security risk from prediction markets, Trump’s decision to slap new tariffs on Canada as its forests burn, and new British Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s first days in office. Finally, the guys take you to the first CPAC Great Britain, and discuss Count Binface’s deep-space bid to defeat Nigel Farage. Then Tommy speaks to Oleksiy Sorokin, Deputy Chief Editor for the Kyiv Independent, about the latest barrage of Russian ballistic missile strikes and protests in Ukraine over Zelensky’s military staffing decisions.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast, episode title, and episode date.

Pentagon Covers Up Iran War Casualties

In this special episode of Pod Save the World, Tommy and Ben speak in front of a live audience at the Aspen Security Forum.

First, Trump delivers a rambling speech on election security that offers no new evidence, overstates the threat from China, and is laying the groundwork for Republicans to question the validity of the midterm elections. Then the guys turn their attention to the foreign policy establishment itself, taking on some of the more eyebrow-raising statements from fellow panelists at the forum — including Condoleezza Rice — and making the case that the blob needs to reckon seriously with its own failures: on regime change, on ignoring public opinion, and on dismissing anti-war voices rather than engaging with them. They also lay out their vision for reimagining American foreign policy, including more transparency around Washington think tanks, stronger lobbying disclosure rules, a bigger State Department, a smaller defense budget, and returning more war-making responsibility to Congress. Then in the second half, Ben and Tommy sit down with Annalena Baerbock, President of the United Nations General Assembly, to discuss the UN's near-total absence from negotiations in today's major conflicts, what meaningful reform of the institution would actually look like, and how alarmed the world should be about the rise of Germany's far-right AfD party.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast, episode title, and episode date.

Trump's Delusional Election Rant

Tommy and Ben recap all of the world news you missed over the holidays, including the latest on the war in Ukraine, Zelensky’s visit to DC, Bibi Netanyahu’s new government, the end of China’s zero-Covid policy, the new ban from the Taliban against Afghan women, and Bolsonaro’s hideout in Florida.

 

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.

New year, old problems

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