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Trump's Iran Obsession

58:57 recording · EN · 2 speakers

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Brief overview

Haberman says Trump isn't out of steam but colliding with a reality he himself created.

  1. Trump is responding to events he createdYuval Levin's rhythm: administrations start as masters of events, then react — and Trump now reacts to his own Iran war and trade war.
  2. A government run by six people in the roomThe interagency process and National Security Council barely function; senior officials outside the room learn of major decisions after the fact.
  3. Accountability machinery is gone, not just ignoredInspectors general were fired, congressional investigation is tribal, and Trump's method is to wait everyone out through the courts.
Executive Summary AI
  • Ezra Klein opens with Maggie Haberman on Regime Change, the book she wrote with Jonathan Swan about the first 14 months of Trump's second term, and asks whether the early ferocity has run out of steam.0:00
  • Haberman answers that Doge "didn't do anything close to what it was supposed to do" but proved Trump would govern by fiat: Elon Musk shut down USAID, and Trump fired a batch of inspectors general without the 30-day notice to Congress he owed.1:46
  • On the Iran war she reports Netanyahu pitched regime change to Trump on February 11th, that CIA director John Radcliffe called the scenario farcical and Marco Rubio called it bullshit, and that Trump went ahead saying regime change would be "their problem".8:46
  • She dates the first real cracks in Trump's coalition not to Iran but to Epstein, with MAGA leaders who had demanded transparency turning on him and enough Republicans crossing over to pass the Epstein Transparency Act against his open instruction.12:46
  • The piece she says is still underdiscussed is the self-dealing: Trump is wealthier in liquid assets than ever from an industry he regulates, with Republicans in Congress silent, and voters reacting less to the money than to visible monuments like the demolished East Wing, the ballroom and the planned arch.23:23
Key Quote
“It's running into Trump reality.”
— Maggie Haberman3:11
Key Quote
“John Radcliffe, the CIA director, called it farcical.”
— Maggie Haberman8:46
Key Quote
“But if you want to track a moment that Trump started losing his own base, it was then.”
— Maggie Haberman13:44