E232 - Can American Power Be Redeemed? w/ Shadi Hamid

Subscribe now to skip the ads and get all of our content. Danny and Derek welcome to the show Alice Lovejoy, professor of film and media studies at the University of Minnesota, to talk about the intersections of cinema, corporate power, and the military. They discuss how film production became entangled with military and chemical sectors; how corporate interests and state power shaped the technologies of cinema; the ways photographic film recorded and was shaped by Cold War geopolitics; and cinema as both a cultural expression and an product of industrial and geopolitical forces. Read Alice’s book Tales of Militant Chemistry: The Film Factory in a Century of War. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Subscribe now for the full episode. Danny and Derek speak with political scientist Thea Riofrancos about extraction, climate politics, and the limits of the green energy transition. They discuss why the advent of renewable energy does not mean a decline in fossil fuel use; how capitalism can generate new green industries while being unable to destroy fossil fuel infrastructure; mining, financialization, and intentional value destruction; political risks posed by dismantling fossil capital; and consumption, organizing under conditions of deindustrialization, and the challenges of building climate politics in the current political climate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Subscribe now to skip the ads. Derek welcomes Matt Lech to the show to bring you the news while an infirmed Danny convalesces. This week: Trump pushes U.S. oil companies to reenter Venezuela and outlines plans for a long-term U.S. takeover of the Venezuelan oil industry (1:34); opposition leader Maria Corina Machado presents Donald Trump with her Nobel Peace Prize medal (7:01); Southern Transitional Council leader Aidarus al-Zubaidi flees Yemen as the group fractures amid competing leadership claims (8:50); Somalia cuts ties with the United Arab Emirates following the latter’s support for Somaliland and the evacuation of Yemeni separatist leaders through Somali territory (12:05); the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire begins as Israel continues to restrict humanitarian aid (14:27); UK Palestine Action prisoners conduct hunger strikes as part of a broader campaign against repression and arms manufacturing, with Matt relaying a statement from the group (18:11); Sudan’s military government announces its return to Khartoum while preparing a major operation against the Rapid Support Forces in Darfur and Kordofan (21:22); China records a $1.2 trillion trade surplus despite U.S. tariffs (24:09); Japan’s prime minister moves toward snap elections amid high approval ratings and ongoing political instability (26:30); the UN reports 2025 as the deadliest year for Ukrainian civilians since 2022 (28:40); American, Danish, and Greenlandic officials meet in Washington as Trump continues to press claims over Greenland (31:06); the Trump administration halts immigrant visa processing for 75 countries (33:15); and the New York Times reports on possible U.S. war crimes involving the use of disguised military aircraft in “anti-smuggling” operations (34:23). Derek then speaks with Negar Mortazavi, journalist and host of The Iran Podcast, about the causes, trajectory, and implications of Iran’s recent nationwide protests (37:11). Find more of Matt’s work over at Left Reckoning, The Majority Report, and The Jacobin Show.   Here is the complete statement from UK Palestine Action. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Subscribe now to skip the ads and get all of our episodes. Danny and Derek are joined by Shadi Hamid, columnist at The Washington Post and author of The Case for American Power, to talk about American hegemony and Hamid’s argument for it as a morally preferable and potentially reformable force in international politics. They discuss Gaza and the crisis of liberal internationalism, democracy and self-correction, American decline, China and Russia, intervention and restraint, the Middle East exception, Libya and “humanitarian war,” and whether it is possible to separate the “good” uses of American power from the bad. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Subscribe now for the full episode and access to all of our bonus content. Danny and Derek are joined by Jay Caspian Kang of Time to Say Goodbye and Sam Biddle of The Intercept to discuss prediction markets, online gambling, and the effort to financialize politics, war, and social life. They talk about the history of prediction markets leading to their current role in betting on elections, coups, invasions, and humanitarian catastrophes; insider trading as a design feature rather than a bug; the erosion of legal and moral guardrails; the growing integration of gambling platforms into journalism and media ecosystems; prediction markets in the context of financialization and declining democratic legitimacy; and the normalization of openly ghoulish profit-seeking, with violence becoming a tradable asset. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Subscribe now to skip the ads and get all of our episodes. Danny and Derek return from their holiday retreat at Bohemian Grove to bring you news from around the world. This week: Delcy Rodríguez assumes Venezuela’s presidency following Nicolás Maduro’s U.S. rendition (1:31), as questions mount over the indictment (3:51) and Washington moves toward de facto control of Venezuelan oil exports (6:36); Saudi-backed forces push back Southern Transitional Council gains in southern Yemen, with STC leader Aidarous al-Zubaidi fleeing to the UAE and facing treason charges (11:10); Israel bans 37 humanitarian organizations, including Doctors Without Borders (15:33), and advances the E-1 settlement project in the West Bank (17:49); protests spread across Iran amid currency collapse and renewed sanctions (21:05); Thailand and Cambodia’s December ceasefire largely holds despite a reported accidental mortar incident (25:33); U.S. airstrikes in northwestern Nigeria raise questions about targets and objectives (27:52); Israel becomes the first country to recognize Somaliland, prompting regional backlash and speculation about military basing and Gaza resettlement plans (30:44); European leaders discuss security guarantees for Ukraine as part of potential peace negotiations with Russia (36:00); Trump escalates rhetoric and planning around annexing or purchasing Greenland (37:54); the Trump administration pushes for a $1.5 trillion U.S. military budget (42:12); and Trump orders a U.S. withdrawal from dozens of UN and international institutions, particularly those related to climate governance (44:30). Don't miss ⁠our re-posted episode on American policing with Stuart Schrader⁠. Also check out ⁠our episode on Venezuela with Greg Grandin⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Originally published August 31, 2025. Danny and Derek speak with historian Stuart Schrader about the global history of American policing and how US police power has been shaped by struggles both at home and abroad. They discuss police opposition to oversight in the 1960s, the development of the Border Patrol and ICE, Joe Biden’s “tough on crime” record, Trump’s plan to outsource detention, the ways counterterrorism blurred into immigration enforcement, and the resistance on display in Los Angeles this summer. Read Stuart’s book Badges without Borders: How Global Counterinsurgency Transformed American Policing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Subscribe now to skip the ads and get all of our episodes. Danny and Derek are joined by historian Greg Grandin to go in depth on the recent U.S. operation in Venezuela. They talk about the removal of Nicolás Maduro while leaving the existing state structure intact, implying America’s preference for coercion over governance; the role of oil in U.S. rhetoric; internal divisions within the Trump administration; comparisons to past interventions in the region; and the weakening of regional resistance to U.S. dominance. The group also looks at Venezuela amid a shifting global order with declining hegemony, rising multipolarity, and limited state capacity for the U.S. Producer’s note: This episode is out a day early given how fluid the situation is around Venezuela. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Subscribe now for the full episode and access to all of our bonuses! Danny and Derek welcome Gabriel Hetland back to the show, this time to talk about the U.S. military operation capturing Nicolás Maduro and what it says about American power in Latin America. They discuss how years of sanctions and economic warfare set the stage for direct intervention, the unresolved contradictions of the so-called Pink Tide, the role of oil and regional politics in America’s policy, the implications for the broader hemisphere, and what it means when the United States abandons even the pretense of restraint. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Subscribe now for the full episode and access to all of our specials. Danny and Derek are joined by Alex Jordan of the Quincy Institute and Always at War to discuss the U.S. seizure of President Nicolás Maduro. They discuss what we know so far about the operation, how it differs from past U.S. interventions in the region, the risks of political fragmentation inside Venezuela, the potential of prolonged U.S. involvement, and the implications about the future of American power in the Western Hemisphere. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices