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With the world feeling increasingly unstable, Damir and Shadi turn to foreign policy. Can the United States can back its bluster abroad, including in defense of Taiwan? 

All of this is happening as Donald Trump re-enters the national spotlight. The guys contrast the former president's manic approach to deterrence with the current and preceding administrations. Shadi is comforted the White House is staffed by vaguely smart and competent people, but thinks there may be something to Trump's saber-rattling.

Damir then challenges Shadi on the Biden Administration's democracy versus autocracy approach to foreign policy. How do we understand Brazil's democratically elected president willingly embracing China?

In the full episode (for paying subscribers only), Damir makes the case for how we might not go to war with China over Taiwan, while Shadi wonders whether Trump's madman routine may have been more effective than we dare imagine.

Required Reading:

- Tucker Carlson interview with Donald Trump.

- China After Mao: The Rise of a Superpower, by Frank Dikotter (Amazon).

- "Blinken: I press Saudis on LGBTQI issues ‘in every conversation’" (Politico).

- "The West hoped Lula would be a partner. He’s got his own plans" (WaPo).

- "When might US political support be unwelcome in Taiwan?", by Alastair Iain Johnston, Tsai Chia-hung, and George Yin (Brookings Institution).