Baker Briefing

Earlier this week, María Corina Machado, the Venezuelan Nobel Prize laureate and leader of the country’s political opposition, unexpectedly returned to the country after leaving late last year. 

Her reappearance could clear  a path to new elections in Venezuela. In early 2026, the country’s former leader, Nicolás Maduro, was deposed by the United States, leaving his deputy and current President Delcy Rodríguez in power. Machado has spoken unfavorably about the oil deal the Trump administration struck with Rodríguez, which saw the first barrels of crude arrive on Texas shores this week. 

In the latest episode of “Baker Briefing,” Ambassador David M. Satterfield is joined by Francisco J. Monaldi, Wallace S. Wilson Fellow in Latin American Energy Policy and director of the Latin America Energy Program, to discuss Machado’s rise to prominence and what this may mean for U.S. and international companies that wish to operate in Venezuela. 

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This conversation was recorded on Oct. 30, 2026.

You can follow @BakerInstitute on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Learn more about our data-driven, nonpartisan policy research and analysis at bakerinstitute.org.

The U.S. national debt has surpassed $40 trillion, following decades of growth and increases associated with the federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic and rising interest payments. 

Some elected officials are now turning their attention to the debt. In this special episode of “Baker Briefing,” guest host John W. Diamond, director of the Center for Tax and Budget Policy, spoke with Rep. Jodey Arrington, a Republican who represents Texas’ 19th Congressional District. Arrington served as chairman of the House Budget Committee, where he was instrumental in passing President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. 

As he prepares to retire from Congress, Arrington discusses his accomplishments, the challenges to  bipartisanship, and the need to rein in entitlement spending and identify new sources of revenue to address the national debt.

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This conversation was recorded in front of a live studio audience on Oct. 26, 2026. Learn about future live recordings of the “Baker Briefing” podcast by subscribing to our “Events Digest” newsletter at https://www.bakerinstitute.org/newsletter.

You can follow @BakerInstitute on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Learn more about our data-driven, nonpartisan policy research and analysis at bakerinstitute.org.

The clock is ticking toward the U.S. midterm elections, which will determine the balance of power in Washington D.C., for the next two years. Although he is not on the ballot, President Donald Trump may be a central consideration for voters when they head to the polls.

Ambassador David M. Satterfield sits down with Mark P. Jones, fellow in political science, to discuss the competition for control of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, as well as the money backing candidates. 

They also discuss the impact of primary elections, concerns about the democratic process, and closely contested races across the country. 

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This conversation was recorded on Oct. 26, 2026.

You can follow @BakerInstitute on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Learn more about our data-driven, nonpartisan policy research and analysis at bakerinstitute.org.

Israelis will go to the polls on Oct. 27 at a consequential moment for the country and the region. Gaza, settler violence in the West Bank, and the war in Iran and Lebanon have placed new strains on relations between Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel. 

They have also raised difficult questions for Israeli Arabs about political participation, representation, identity, and the prospects for a shared society. 

Mohammad Darawshe is director of strategy at the Center for Shared Society at Givat Haviva and a visiting professor at American University. He joins host Ambassador David M. Satterfield to discuss the role Arab citizens of Israel — who make up about a fifth of the electorate — will play in determining the country’s political future. They also offer insights on the integration of Arabs into Israeli universities and politics and their position within the global Palestinian diaspora. 

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This conversation was recorded in front of a live studio audience on Oct. 19, 2026. Learn about future live recordings of the “Baker Briefing” podcast by subscribing to our “Events Digest” newsletter at https://www.bakerinstitute.org/newsletter.

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In the past decade, wealthier developed countries, particularly those in the EU, have tried a novel tactic to stem the flow of unauthorized migrants from the Global South: paying governments to prevent such individuals from leaving their own country.

Countries tend to promote these migration management deals — worth billions of U.S. dollars — as a way to address the root causes of irregular migration, including the lack of public resources and economic opportunity as well as risks from climate disasters and political instability.

Kelsey Norman, fellow for the Middle East and director of the Women’s Rights, Human Rights, and Refugees Program, and Nicholas R. Micinski, assistant professor at American University, recently published their book, “Aiding Autocrats: Migration Management, Governance, and Repression in Africa,” which examines how this funding affects state power and governance in countries on the receiving end of the aid. 

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This conversation was recorded on Sept. 30, 2026.

You can follow @BakerInstitute on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Learn more about our data-driven, nonpartisan policy research and analysis at bakerinstitute.org.

President Donald Trump will be meeting in Washington, D.C. with President Xi Jinping for their second in-person meeting this year. The summit comes against the backdrop of increasing attention on artificial intelligence, U.S. arm sales to Taiwan, and an ongoing trade dispute that dates back to Trump’s first term. Beyond policy, the meeting will likely highlight Trump’s primary approach to statecraft: prioritizing direct, personal leader-to-leader diplomacy.

In this episode of Baker Briefing, Ambassador David M. Satterfield speaks with C.V. Starr Transnational China Fellow Steven W. Lewis and nonresident scholar David H. Katz about how President Xi views the U.S., China’s strategy regarding Iran, and the role of ambiguity in diplomacy.

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This conversation was recorded on Sept. 18, 2026.

You can follow @BakerInstitute on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Learn more about our data-driven, nonpartisan policy research and analysis at bakerinstitute.org.

A growing national debt. Interest payments that constrain the outlook on the U.S. government’s other fiscal priorities. Significant investments in artificial intelligence that could reshape the American economy. These are some of the challenges, in addition to rising costs, that face legislators and the public when it comes to the country’s finances. In this episode of “Baker Briefing”, recorded in front of a live studio audience, Ambassador David M. Satterfield talks to John W. Diamond, director of the Center for Tax and Budget Policy at the Baker Institute, about America’s fiscal future and the persistent problems facing policymakers today. 

This conversation was recorded on Sept. 15, 2026. The following day, the Federal Open Market Committee voted to raise the target range for the federal funds rate by a quarter percentage point.

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Learn about future live recordings of the “Baker Briefing” podcast by subscribing to our “Events Digest” newsletter at https://www.bakerinstitute.org/newsletter.

You can follow @BakerInstitute on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Learn more about our data-driven, nonpartisan policy research and analysis at bakerinstitute.org.

A recently announced deal between the U.S. and Venezuela to produce 65 billion barrels of oil – roughly a fifth of Venezuela’s total proven oil reserves – has raised questions about its terms.

A single Latin American company, NABEP, run by Venezuelan executive Alejandro Betancourt, has been tapped to produce the oil, with part of the company being potentially owned by the U.S. Department of Defense. But it is unclear whether the oil fields covered by the contract can support the scale of production promised. And while the U.S. has an agreement to buy some of the oil produced at cost, do not expect prices at the pump to go down tomorrow.

Francisco J. Monaldi, Wallace S. Wilson Fellow in Latin American Energy Policy and director of the Latin America Energy Program, joins Ambassador David M. Satterfield to discuss what is known – and what remains unclear – about the deal, as well as the promise of a Latin American energy boom to come.

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This conversation was recorded on Sept. 1, 2026.

You can follow @BakerInstitute on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Learn more about our data-driven, nonpartisan policy research and analysis at bakerinstitute.org.

The funeral procession of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, killed in U.S.-Israeli airstrikes, wound through major holy cities across the region last week. The mourners, traditionally clad in black, carried red banners conveying a clear message: The regime is seeking vengeance.

The apparent collapse of a fledgling ceasefire and renewed hostilities between the U.S. and Iran chart a troubling course for the region. Iranian leaders are seeking to reassert leverage, and that strategy may depend less on uranium enrichment and centrifuges than on control of the narrow strip of water that has become one of the conflict’s most consequential flashpoints.

Mohammad Ayatollahi Tabaar, Baker Institute Fellow for the Middle East, joins Ambassador David M. Satterfield to discuss how one critical week could mark a turning point for Iran and the broader region.

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This conversation was recorded on July 10, 2026.

You can follow @BakerInstitute on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Learn more about our data-driven, nonpartisan policy research and analysis at bakerinstitute.org.

The U.S. Supreme Court is issuing decisions that could shape American law for years to come. In this conversation, Ambassador David M. Satterfield speaks with David W. Leebron, president emeritus of Rice University and former dean of Columbia Law School, about what the current term’s rulings reveal about the direction of the institution, how the Roberts Court has evolved over the past two decades, and what these developments could mean for public confidence in the nation’s highest court.

This conversation was recorded on June 12, 2026. 

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