Pod Save the World
“Pod Save America” cohost Tommy Vietor thought foreign policy was boring and complicated until he got the education of a lifetime working for President Obama’s National Security Council. On “Pod Save the World,” he and former deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes break down the latest global developments and bring you behind the scenes with the people who were there. New episodes every Wednesday.
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Subscribe to Friends of the Pod! Your subscription makes Crooked’s work possible and gives you access to ad-free episodes of Pod Save America and Pod Save the World, plus exclusive content and a lively Discord community. Learn more and subscribe at crooked.com/friends or on Apple Podcasts.
Episodes (52)
Israel Bombs Hamas Leaders in Qatar
Tommy & Ben react to Israel’s shocking strike on Hamas leadership in Qatar. They cover how this closes the door on ceasefire negotiations, how the attacks humiliate the Arab world and make...
Trump Is Humiliated by China
Tommy & Ben discuss China’s summit in Tianjin, which brought together leaders from 20 countries, including India, Iran, Russia, and North Korea, and how it signals a major shift in global alliances....
Trump's Military and Intelligence Purge
Tommy & Ben dig into the FBI’s raid on John Bolton and how Pete Hegseth’s firing of the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency fits into Trump’s ongoing ideological purges of the US intelligence...
How Putin Dominated Trump, and Can Ukraine Survive
Tommy & Ben sift through the week’s flurry of meetings on Ukraine, including Putin and Trump’s Alaska summit and Zelensky’s White House visit. They discuss how territory and security guarantees factor...
Trump's Strongman Summit Is a Gift to Putin
Ben and guest co-host Yalda Hakim, Sky News’ Lead World News Presenter, discuss Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin’s upcoming Alaska summit, previewing what might unfold, Ukraine's predicament, and how...
Trump Torches Every Ally
Tommy and Ben kick off the show by digging into Trump and Netanyahu’s incompatible visions for the war in Gaza: a comprehensive peace deal vs. more fighting and annexation. They also discuss the...
Netanyahu Gaslights While Gaza Starves
Tommy and Ben start by breaking down the devastating scale of the famine in Gaza, how Israeli policy drove Gaza to this point, and how the world is responding. They also discuss Israeli PM Bibi...
Trump Accuses Obama of Treason
Tommy and Ben respond to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s baseless accusation that the Obama administration masterminded a “treasonous conspiracy” against Trump and Trump’s subsequent...
Was Jeffrey Epstein an Israeli Asset?
Tommy and Ben discuss Trump’s Ukraine policy announcement and try to unpack how much of it is style vs. substance. They also talk about the massive layoffs at the State Department, Trump’s...
Trump’s Shocking Ukraine Reversal
Tommy and Ben take a break from impersonating Marco Rubio to cover Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington to kiss Trump’s ass, the ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas in...
Trump’s Peace Prize Pipe Dream
Tommy and Ben lament Trump’s travesty of a spending bill and the death of USAID, and how both will cost lives and further tank America’s global reputation. They unpack the fallout from Israel and the...
Trump Fails To Destroy Iran’s Nuclear Program
Tommy and Ben grapple with the fallout from Trump and Netanyahu’s war with Iran. They talk about how America’s massive bunker buster bombs didn't solve the problem of Iran’s nuclear program, why the...
Trump Goes to War With Iran
Tommy and Ben react to Trump’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities. They break down the many horrifying ways Iran could retaliate in the short and long term, how the conflict could snowball across...
Will Trump Drag Us Into War With Iran?
Tommy and Ben tackle the big question: will Trump be stupid enough to drag the United States into another war in the Middle East? They dig into the various right-wing forces arguing for and against US...
Israel Launches Massive Strike on Iran
Tommy and Ben discuss Israel’s ongoing military assault on Iran–breaking down who and what got hit, why the timing was a surprise, and what the Trump administration knew ahead of time. They also talk...
Trump’s MAGA Militia
Tommy and Ben unpack Trump’s cruel and incoherent travel bans, the administration’s callous stranding of migrants and ICE agents in Djibouti, the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the US and his...
Ukraine's Surprise Attack on Russia
Ben and guest co-host Ali Velshi kick off the show with a conversation about how Trump’s policies are accelerating US brain drain, Tulsi Gabbard’s Fox News-style overhaul of the Presidential Daily...
Tracking Trump's Global Grift
Tommy and Ben are on the Trump corruption beat, including Vietnam’s fast-tracking of a Trump golf project for favorable treatment, the administration pushing Elon Musk’s Starlink on foreign countries,...
A Trauma Surgeon's Story From Gaza
Tommy and Ben discuss President Trump’s policy changes on Syria and his man-crush on its president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, what lifting sanctions on Syria could (and should) look like, more details on how...
Con Man Air: Trump’s Middle East Cash Grab
Tommy and Ben discuss how President Trump’s first official foreign trip is a blatant extraction of money from the Middle East, his announcement that the US will lift sanctions on Syria, the widening...
Israel’s Plan to Flatten and Occupy Gaza
Tommy and Ben discuss President Trump’s firing of National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and the dangers that come along with consolidating responsibilities into fewer hands, Canadian Prime Minister...
Canada Elects the Anti-Trump
Ben and Tommy discuss the Liberal Party’s shocking come-from-behind victory in the Canadian election and why it was a rebuke of Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Trump’s meeting...
Chaos at the Pentagon
Tommy and Ben discuss the latest scandal engulfing Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and why even his defenders say the Pentagon is in chaos, a report about the FBI Director’s jet-setting lifestyle,...
World’s Lamest Dictator Goes to Washington
Tommy and Ben discuss El Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele’s White House meeting with Trump and their coordinated assault on due process in America, the terrifying prospect of Trump sending American...
Trump Tariffs Create Global Chaos
Tommy and Ben discuss the disastrous impact of Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs, how a fringe right-wing conspiracy theorist got Trump to fire top national security officials, Israeli PM Benjamin...
Happy "Liberation Day" to All Who Celebrate
Tommy and Ben discuss French far-right leader Marine Le Pen’s embezzlement conviction and what it could mean for France’s political future, reactions from world leaders to Trump’s promised “Liberation...
Call of Duty: Dumbass Group Chat
Tommy and Ben discuss the fallout from Trump's national security team accidentally sending top secret war plans to a journalist, Turkey's backsliding democracy as a result of Erdoğan arresting his top...
Trump Reignites the Forever Wars
Tommy and Ben discuss Bibi Netanyahu restarting the war in Gaza as he creates a new domestic political crisis, why Trump's airstrikes against the Houthi rebels in Yemen are likely to fail, and the...
A true story of money, Mafia & the Vatican (Shadow Kingdom Episode 1)
Today we're excited to bring you the first episode of Shadow Kingdom: God's Banker. In the summer of 1982, the Vatican’s top money man was found dead. Roberto Calvi was at the center of a prolific...
Ceasefire in Ukraine?
Tommy and Ben discuss late-breaking news that Russia and Ukraine may agree to a 30-day ceasefire, Canada’s new Prime Minister and the rapidly escalating trade war with the United States that he’ll...
Can Ukraine Survive Trump?
Tommy and Ben discuss the continued fallout from President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s disastrous White House meeting, including Europe’s attempt to come up with an alternative...
Trump and Zelensky's Disastrous Meeting
Tommy and Ben discuss Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s disastrous meeting at the White House that erupted in a yelling match and resulted in Zelensky being told to leave. They...
The US and Europe’s Conscious Uncoupling
Tommy and Ben discuss the increasing divide between the US and Europe on the issue of the war in Ukraine just as the world marks the three year anniversary, including a mineral reserves deal and...
Putin’s Wildest Dreams Come True
Tommy and Ben discuss the seismic shift in US foreign policy that happened this past week after Trump announced that the US and Russia would directly negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine through...
Trump’s Insane Plan To “Own” Gaza
Tommy and Ben discuss how Trump’s insane plan to ethnically cleanse and “own” the Gaza strip is destabilizing governments in Egypt and Jordan, and why Trump keeps undermining the Gaza ceasefire deal...
Elon Musk’s DOGE Dorks Gut USAID
Tommy and Ben discuss the assault on USAID by Trump and Elon Musk, how Democrats can best make the argument to support it, and why putting it under the purview of the State Department is a bad idea....
Trump's New MAGA Deep State
Tommy and Ben discuss Trump’s freeze on foreign aid and the deadly consequences of stopping programs like clearing unexploded bombing and HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention, Trump’s move to revoke...
Trump the “Peacemaker”
Tommy and Ben discuss Trump’s inauguration, the tech oligarchy that was on display, foreign leaders in attendance, some of the most damaging and far-reaching executive orders from pulling out of the...
Biden’s Foreign Policy Farewell
Tommy and Ben discuss Pete Hegseth’s confirmation hearing for Secretary of Defense, President Biden’s final foreign policy speech, and the many global challenges Donald Trump will be inheriting on his...
Elon Musk’s Quest For Global Domination
Tommy and Ben discuss Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s resignation, South Korea’s growing political crisis after President Yoon Suk Yeol barricaded himself in his home and refused arrest, and...
Introducing: Assembly Required with Stacey Abrams
The Pod Save The Word team is off this week, but we're excited to bring you an episode of Assembly Required with Stacey Abrams. In this episode, Stacey speaks to Dr. Céline Gounder, an infectious...
Assad Spins His Surrender From Moscow
Tommy and Ben discuss the latest developments out of Syria, including the rebel leadership’s promises to disband and focus on building the state, international delegations and journalists making trips...
What’s Next for Syria?
Tommy and Ben discuss the latest developments in Syria after the fall of the Assad regime, including the debate in Washington and European capitals about whether to talk with the new Syrian...
Breaking: Assad Regime Falls
Tommy and Ben discuss the breaking news that Bashar al-Assad has fled Syria after rebel factions took over Damascus in a stunning sweep after 13 years of Civil War. They talk about the speed with...
South Korean President Declares Martial Law
Tommy and Ben discuss President Yoon Suk Yeol’s sudden declaration of martial law in South Korea, how Trump and his team will approach the Syrian civil war, and why Kash Patel, Trump’s pick to lead...
Israel and Hezbollah Reach Ceasefire Deal
Tommy and Ben discuss the announcement of a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, the latest additions to Trump’s national security team, and his threat to impose tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China...
Trump’s Looming MAGA Military Purge
Tommy and Ben discuss how Trump’s nomination of Pete Hegseth and Tulsi Gabbard could reshape and politicize the US military and intelligence community, and how Trump’s choice to lead the FBI will...
Trump’s National Security Team Takes Shape
Tommy and Ben process Trump’s reelection and the role foreign policy played in the outcome, highlight some awkward reactions from global leaders, and walk through what we know about Trump’s choices...
Russian Interference Won’t Stop After Election Day
Tommy and Ben discuss the normalization of foreign interference in US elections, the Chinese hack of US telecoms that could be putting millions of Americans’ communications at risk, concerns around...
Election 2024: The Stark Choice on Climate Change?
In this special episode of Pod Save the World, Ben looks at the most existential issue of our time, and one that gets little attention on the campaign trail: climate change. He examines both Harris...
North Korean “Storm Corps” Deploys to Russia
Tommy and Ben discuss why North Korea deployed 10,000 special forces troops to Russia, reports that Elon Musk likes to chat on the phone with Vladimir Putin, and a Trump campaign memo suggesting that...
Election 2024: Cooperation, Competition, or War with China?
In this special episode of Pod Save the World, Ben looks at the most important bilateral relationship in the world today: the new era of competition between the U.S. and China. Will the U.S. drift...
About this Podcast
Copyright
© Crooked Media. All Rights Reserved.
Language
en
Categories
News, Politics