At the UN this week, Trump threatened to annihilate Iran and “drive them into hell,” only to announce hours later that his team had enjoyed a “very good” and “very productive” meeting with Iranian officials.
This is, for lack of a better word, insane.
So who better to discuss this latest bout of madness than Banter contributor Bob Cesca to try to make sense of what you might (generously) call “The Trump Doctrine”.
In the show, we talk about Trump’s policy towards Iran, the bizarre relationship with China, why Taiwan is now in serious danger, the scary unraveling of the postwar international order, and why America’s allies are abandoning ship.
We also discuss Trump’s escalating war on the news media, whether the press has learned anything over the past decade, and why the instability Trump has injected into American politics is more damaging than any of his terrible policies. It was a fascinating discussion so well worth watching.
Check it out in the player above!
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29 Jan 2026
Trump Broke The World
There are a couple of serious geopolitical analysts I follow to make sense of the ever shifting power dynamics of global politics, and Pyotr Kurzin is one of them. The London based journalist has a fantastic Youtube channel called the Global Gambit (https://www.youtube.com/@theglobalgambit), and has recently started a rapidly growing Substack newsletter. You can subscribe here:
I spoke to Pyotr about Trump’s foreign policy and what it actually represents beneath the slogans — whether it’s isolationism, transactional nationalism, or a deeper shift in how American power is exercised. We unpacked the logic behind unpredictability as strategy, the treatment of alliances as leverage rather than institutions, the use of tariffs and trade as geopolitical tools, and the long-term consequences for Europe, China, Russia, and the global order itself. Enjoy!
If you enjoy what we do here at The Banter, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. We rely entirely on our readers to fund us, so your contribution helps enormously. You’ll also get access to all members only content and exclusive chat threads. Join today!:
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2 Oct 2025
Are 'The Jews' to blame for the Islamic attack in Manchester?
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This was a horrific tragedy, but who was really to blame?
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