Ben Rhodes and the Evil Empire State of Mind (#559)

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Check out Ben Rhodes new book: All We Say: The Battle for American Identity: A History in 15 Speeches

-Ben Rhodes, wounded ’90s Knicks fan

-Are we winning in Iran yet?

-what should the President do with Iran right now?

-Sanctions suck, mostly

-Cuba and the Obama opening

-Libya and the regime-change trap

-Kosovo worked-ish

-Responsibility to protect yourself from over-learning lessons

-Rhodes wants institutions, not impulse wars

-Is Ben Rhodes Tucker-adjacent?

-Soft power, hard questions

-Navalny didn’t want America’s money

-When Reagan said “Evil Empire”

-Reagan also change his mind

-Moynihan accuses Rhodes of America pessimism

-Ben says it’s because he loves America

-Private equity killed the vibes

-Nostalgia-nomics

-The left-populist temptation

-JD Vance talks pretty

-National identity without a monoculture

-Ben Franklin and the virtue of doubt

-Experts are annoying but sometimes useful

Read All We Say: The Battle for American Identity: A History in 15 Speeches

(Bookshop | Amazon)

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