Right Now With Perry Bacon

President Trump has sometimes been described as antiwar or isolationist. That’s totally wrong, says Matt Duss, executive vice president for the Center for International Policy. He was also a top foreign policy aide to Senator Bernie Sanders during his 2020 presidential campaign. What Trump really opposes is long wars, Duss argues. Trump is fine with overthrowing the Venezuelan government and making threats against Colombia, Greenland, Mexico, and numerous other countries, but likely wouldn’t try to do nation-building in any of those places. Trump’s foreign policy approach is akin to a “global mafia,” says Duss. Democrats should offer a clear alternative vision for foreign policy, Duss argues. That vision should be rooted in “rules” that all countries follow and an emphasis on the United States cooperating with other nations on challenges like climate change. The Biden administration failed this test, says Duss, by ignoring human rights violations by the Israeli government during its military campaign in Gaza.

Senator Elizabeth Warren says Democrats need to be a “big tent” party that includes more working-class voters. But that tent should not be expanded to billionaires, she argues, unless the super-wealthy support higher taxes on the rich and corporations and expanded social programs. She also says the party must be careful, in embracing the concept of “abundance,” to remember the biggest barriers to implementing progressive policies often are the wealthy. Ultra-rich people often use their political power to stall anything that threatens their money or power. Warren said that Democrats across the country should embrace practical, concrete economic proposals, citing both New York Mayor’s Zohran Mandami’s promise of universal childcare and New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill’s proposed freeze on utility rate increases. Warren strongly defends the idea of wealth taxes and says California Gov. Gavin Newsom is wrong in his opposition to a proposed one-time 5 percent tax on the assets of Bay State billionaires.

By the end of last year, President Trump was declining politically, with his poll numbers plunging and members of the Republican Party increasingly distancing themselves from him. But Trump isn’t chastened. His moves early in 2026 are as authoritarian as ever, overthrowing the Venezuelan government, launching a virtual siege of Minneapolis, and trying to force Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to resign. On the latest edition of Right Now, University of Denver political scientist Seth Masket explains why many of Trump’s actions are worrisome violations of core democratic norms and values, not simply partisan and ideological disagreements with Democrats and the left. Masket, an expert on political parties, also discusses the early campaigning for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination. Neither the candidates who are running nor the issues they might focus on are that clear yet, Masket argues, in part because the party hasn’t totally settled on why it lost in 2024.

By the end of last year, President Trump was declining politically, with his poll numbers plunging and members of the Republican Party increasingly distancing themselves from him. But Trump isn’t chastened. His moves early in 2026 are as authoritarian as ever, overthrowing the Venezuelan government, launching a virtual siege of Minneapolis, and trying to force Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to resign. On the latest edition of Right Now, University of Denver political scientist Seth Masket explains why many of Trump’s actions are worrisome violations of core democratic norms and values, not simply partisan and ideological disagreements with Democrats and the left. Masket, an expert on political parties, also discusses the early campaigning for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination. Neither the candidates who are running nor the issues they might focus on are that clear yet, Masket argues, in part because the party hasn’t totally settled on why it lost in 2024.

Democrats in Congress and the broader public must signal their opposition to the Trump administration overthrowing the Venezuelan government or the president will feel emboldened to take other such radical acts, says Leah Greenberg, co-executive director of Indivisible. In the latest edition of Right Now, Greenberg says a major public backlash against Trump is essential to preventing him from taking unilateral action in Greenland, Mexico, or other places he seems obsessed with. Greenberg also discussed Indivisible’s plans to get more involved in Democratic primaries this year. Local Indivisible groups will be looking to endorse candidates who are “fighters” and oppose Democrats, possibly including incumbents, who the group feels aren’t up to taking on Trump.

Democrats in Congress and the broader public must signal their opposition to the Trump administration overthrowing the Venezuelan government or the president will feel emboldened to take other such radical acts, says Leah Greenberg, co-executive director of Indivisible. In the latest edition of Right Now, Greenberg says a major public backlash against Trump is essential to preventing him from taking unilateral action in Greenland, Mexico, or other places he seems obsessed with. Greenberg also discussed Indivisible’s plans to get more involved in Democratic primaries this year. Local Indivisible groups will be looking to endorse candidates who are “fighters” and oppose Democrats, possibly including incumbents, who the group feels aren’t up to taking on Trump.

President Trump’s decision to have U.S forces attack Venezuela and capture President Nicolás Maduro was one of the most radical of his administration, says Elizabeth Saunders, a Columbia University political science professor who specializes in American foreign policy. While the U.S. has deposed leaders abroad before, particularly in Latin America, Saunders argues that Trump’s actions in Venezuela are alarming because the president does not appear to be taking much guidance from Congress, the American public, or even his own advisers. Saunders says she was surprised by the decision to capture Maduro and even more so by Trump declaring that the U.S. would now essentially run Venezuela. Saunders argues that this invasion was driven more by the individual goals and priorities of Trump senior adviser Stephen Miller, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and the president himself, than simply a U.S. desire to grab Venezuela’s oil reserves.

President Trump’s decision to have U.S forces attack Venezuela and capture President Nicolás Maduro was one of the most radical of his administration, says Elizabeth Saunders, a Columbia University political science professor who specializes in American foreign policy. While the U.S. has deposed leaders abroad before, particularly in Latin America, Saunders argues that Trump’s actions in Venezuela are alarming because the president does not appear to be taking much guidance from Congress, the American public, or even his own advisers. Saunders says she was surprised by the decision to capture Maduro and even more so by Trump declaring that the U.S. would now essentially run Venezuela. Saunders argues that this invasion was driven more by the individual goals and priorities of Trump senior adviser Stephen Miller, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and the president himself, than simply a U.S. desire to grab Venezuela’s oil reserves.