In this episode of Always at War, hosts Courtney Rawlings and Alex Jordan are joined by American Prestige's Daniel Bessner to discuss how Americans have come to understand — and however begrudgingly, accept — the costs and consequences of our nation’s military empire. 

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Why is America seemingly always at war? Join the Quincy Institute’s Courtney Rawlings and Alex Jordan as they expose the monied interests, outdated ideologies, and entrenched powers that have driven the U.S. to wage nearly 400 wars and interventions. 

They’ll be joined by journalists, advocates, and experts to uncover who profits from America’s endless conflicts, and to imagine how we can build a better, more peaceful U.S. foreign policy.

Learn more about the Quincy Institute: quincyinst.org
Contact the show: [email protected]

Show art by Justin Hantz

###
Quincy Institute is an independent, nonprofit think tank. 
Help fund our research: https://quincyinst.org/donations/
Read our reporting: https://ResponsibleStatecraft.org   
Twitter: https://x.com/QuincyInst
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/quincyinst   
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quincyinst  
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com//quincyinst  
Website: https://quincyinst.org

Courtney and Alex discuss America's long and sordid history of pursuing regime change around the world in light of the recent U.S. airstrikes on Iran, which triggered bipartisan calls from Washington for the Trump administration to try and topple the government in Tehran.

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Why is America seemingly always at war? Join the Quincy Institute’s Courtney Rawlings and Alex Jordan as they expose the monied interests, outdated ideologies, and entrenched powers that have driven the U.S. to wage nearly 400 wars and interventions. 

They’ll be joined by journalists, advocates, and experts to uncover who profits from America’s endless conflicts, and to imagine how we can build a better, more peaceful U.S. foreign policy.

Learn more about the Quincy Institute: quincyinst.org
Contact the show: [email protected]

Show art by Justin Hantz

###
Quincy Institute is an independent, nonprofit think tank. 
Help fund our research: https://quincyinst.org/donations/
Read our reporting: https://ResponsibleStatecraft.org   
Twitter: https://x.com/QuincyInst
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/quincyinst   
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quincyinst  
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com//quincyinst  
Website: https://quincyinst.org

Courtney and Alex speak with national security legal scholar Elizabeth Beavers about how the U.S. government defines terrorism and discuss whether America's terrorist designations and counterterrorism wars prolong conflict and advance political agendas, rather than make Americans safer. 

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Why is America seemingly always at war? Join the Quincy Institute’s Courtney Rawlings and Alex Jordan as they expose the monied interests, outdated ideologies, and entrenched powers that have driven the U.S. to wage nearly 400 wars and interventions. 

They’ll be joined by journalists, advocates, and experts to uncover who profits from America’s endless conflicts, and to imagine how we can build a better, more peaceful U.S. foreign policy.

Learn more about the Quincy Institute: quincyinst.org
Contact the show: [email protected]

Show art by Justin Hantz

###
Quincy Institute is an independent, nonprofit think tank. 
Help fund our research: https://quincyinst.org/donations/
Read our reporting: https://ResponsibleStatecraft.org   
Twitter: https://x.com/QuincyInst
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/quincyinst   
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quincyinst  
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com//quincyinst  
Website: https://quincyinst.org

Courtney and Alex join Robert Wright's Nonzero podcast to discuss America's addiction to war in light of Trump's airstrikes on Iran.

This episode is a special collaboration between Always at War and Nonzero. To access the full "Overtime" conversation, go to: https://www.nonzero.org/p/the-eternal-causes-of-war-robert

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Why is America seemingly always at war? Join the Quincy Institute’s Courtney Rawlings and Alex Jordan as they expose the monied interests, outdated ideologies, and entrenched powers that have driven the U.S. to wage nearly 400 wars and interventions. 

They’ll be joined by journalists, advocates, and experts to uncover who profits from America’s endless conflicts, and to imagine how we can build a better, more peaceful U.S. foreign policy.

Learn more about the Quincy Institute: quincyinst.org
Contact the show: [email protected]

Show art by Justin Hantz

###
Quincy Institute is an independent, nonprofit think tank. 
Help fund our research: https://quincyinst.org/donations/
Read our reporting: https://ResponsibleStatecraft.org   
Twitter: https://x.com/QuincyInst
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/quincyinst   
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quincyinst  
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com//quincyinst  
Website: https://quincyinst.org

In this episode of "Always at War," hosts Courtney Rawlings and Alex Jordan explore how congressional stock trading enables U.S. policymakers to profit off of America’s constant wars and interventions , and speak with Public Citizen’s Savannah Wooten about how the military-industrial complex works to push U.S. military spending higher and higher — now approaching $1 trillion a year.
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Take a deep dive into Congressional war stock trading: https://readsludge.com/2024/09/12/here-are-the-members-of-congress-invested-in-war/ 
More on the Pelosi Tracker and Autopilot: https://www.salon.com/2025/03/17/pelosi-tracker-shows-us-how-to-trade-stocks-like-politicians/ 
How does Congress figure into the Military-Industrial Complex? Here’s a great breakdown: https://www.corporatecrimereporter.com/news/200/julia-gledhill-on-the-military-congressional-industrial-complex/ 
Who are Congress’ top military stock traders? Check it out: https://responsiblestatecraft.org/congress-defense-stocks/
Learn more about Rep. Tlaib’s efforts to ban members of Congress from owning military stocks: https://tlaib.house.gov/posts/tlaib-introduces-bill-to-ban-members-of-congress-from-owning-defense-stocks

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Why is America seemingly always at war? Join the Quincy Institute’s Courtney Rawlings and Alex Jordan as they expose the monied interests, outdated ideologies, and entrenched powers that have driven the U.S. to wage nearly 400 wars and interventions. 

They’ll be joined by journalists, advocates, and experts to uncover who profits from America’s endless conflicts, and to imagine how we can build a better, more peaceful U.S. foreign policy.

Learn more about the Quincy Institute: quincyinst.org
Contact the show: [email protected]

Show art by Justin Hantz

###
Quincy Institute is an independent, nonprofit think tank. 
Help fund our research: https://quincyinst.org/donations/
Read our reporting: https://ResponsibleStatecraft.org   
Twitter: https://x.com/QuincyInst
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/quincyinst   
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quincyinst  
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com//quincyinst  
Website: https://quincyinst.org

In this episode of Always at War, we examine the Vietnam War on the 50th anniversary of its effective conclusion (April 30, 1975) and explore how it established the template for America's subsequent "forever wars."

Through powerful imagery and historical analysis, hosts Courtney Rawlings and Alex Jordan, joined by scholar Andrew Bacevich, trace the direct connections between Vietnam and the War on Terror, revealing how both conflicts shared similar patterns of mission creep, civilian casualties, unclear objectives, and inevitable American withdrawal.

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See how the iconic rooftop helicopter evacuations of Saigon and Kabul, separated by nearly 50 years, represent bookends to what Bacevich calls America's "56-year long war" [https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/01/26/a-very-long-war/]

Learn how the elimination of the draft after Vietnam was not a victory for peace but actually fulfilled Defense Secretary McNamara's disturbing vision to "go to war without the necessity of arousing the public ire" [https://peacepolicy.nd.edu/2015/05/18/vietnam-wrong-lessons-learned/]

Understand why Bacevich argues America's addiction to war stems from "overstretch, compounded by indolence" rather than from strategic necessity [https://harpers.org/archive/2020/03/the-old-normal-united-states-addiction-to-war-andrew-bacevich/]

Discover how these "wars of choice" were fought in response to threats that were "figments of fevered imaginations" with no true strategic necessity [https://voxpopulisphere.com/2020/12/28/andrew-bacevich-reflections-on-vietnam-and-iraq/]

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Why is America seemingly always at war? Join the Quincy Institute’s Courtney Rawlings and Alex Jordan as they expose the monied interests, outdated ideologies, and entrenched powers that have driven the U.S. to wage nearly 400 wars and interventions. 

They’ll be joined by journalists, advocates, and experts to uncover who profits from America’s endless conflicts, and to imagine how we can build a better, more peaceful U.S. foreign policy.

Learn more about the Quincy Institute: quincyinst.org
Contact the show: [email protected]

Show art by Justin Hantz

###
Quincy Institute is an independent, nonprofit think tank. 
Help fund our research: https://quincyinst.org/donations/
Read our reporting: https://ResponsibleStatecraft.org   
Twitter: https://x.com/QuincyInst
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/quincyinst   
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quincyinst  
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com//quincyinst  
Website: https://quincyinst.org

In this inaugural episode of "Always at War," hosts Courtney Rawlings and Alex Jordan explore America's continued investment in nuclear weapons despite their catastrophic potential. 

With the help of Quincy Institute Senior Research Fellow and military-industrial complex expert Bill Hartung, Courtney and Alex examine how defense contractors and lobbyists influence policy decisions to maintain a $315 billion nuclear program that many experts consider unnecessary and dangerous, and investigates who benefits from these massive investments.

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Explore how American politicians consistently prioritize "the strongest, most lethal fighting force" while receiving millions from the defense sector: https://www.opensecrets.org/2024-presidential-race/kamala-harris/industries?id=N00036915&src=c

Learn how American financial institutions hold $327 billion in investments in nuclear weapons producers, with U.S. spending exceeding all other nuclear powers combined: https://responsiblestatecraft.org/nuclear-weapons-budget/

Discover how the Sentinel ICBM program's costs have ballooned 81% since 2020 while its lobbyists donated to 92 senators and 413 representatives to maintain support: https://quincyinst.org/research/inside-the-icbm-lobby-special-interests-or-the-public-interest/

See how former Senator Jon Kyl lobbied for Northrop Grumman while advocating for expanded nuclear weapons programs that directly benefited his client: https://www.thenation.com/article/world/the-washington-establishment-isnt-going-to-protect-us-from-nuclear-war/

Understand how the misleading term "modernization" masks a $1.7 trillion program to completely rebuild the US nuclear weapons complex: https://inkstickmedia.com/when-it-comes-to-nuclear-weapons-tell-it-like-it-is/

Find out why military spending creates fewer jobs than almost any other government investment, with alternative expenditures creating up to 250% more jobs: https://responsiblestatecraft.org/nuclear-weapon-lobbying/

Learn why ICBMs create a dangerous "use it or lose it" pressure on presidents who have only minutes to decide whether to launch if warned of an incoming attack: https://jacobin.com/2024/06/us-nuclear-icbm-weapons-safety

###
Why is America seemingly always at war? Join the Quincy Institute’s Courtney Rawlings and Alex Jordan as they expose the monied interests, outdated ideologies, and entrenched powers that have driven the U.S. to wage nearly 400 wars and interventions. 

They’ll be joined by journalists, advocates, and experts to uncover who profits from America’s endless conflicts, and to imagine how we can build a better, more peaceful U.S. foreign policy.

Learn more about the Quincy Institute: quincyinst.org
Contact the show: [email protected]

Show art by Justin Hantz

###
Quincy Institute is an independent, nonprofit think tank. 
Help fund our research: https://quincyinst.org/donations/
Read our reporting: https://ResponsibleStatecraft.org   
Twitter: https://x.com/QuincyInst
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/quincyinst   
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quincyinst  
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com//quincyinst  
Website: https://quincyinst.org