The Mallen Baker Podcast 46f5l

We've heard about how tourists are either boycotting holiday travel to the US, or are just scared by stories of people being detained for days or weeks on the border. But now it seems that even business travellers, who you would expect to be resistant to such issues, are also worried about, and increasingly avoiding, travel to Trump's America. And when they do go, they are taking the sort of precautions they previously only worried about if they were travelling to Communist China or Putin's Russia. Let's have a look.

Poland goes to the polls to elect its next president this weekend. And Trump's MAGA movement has been actively campaigning for the candidate it sees as most aligned with the Trumpian populist wave they want to sweep across Europe. Their manifesto is hostile to the European Union and similarly so to basic democratic institutions. Hostile as well to Donald Tusk's government, which is finding much of what it wants to do blocked by the Trump-friendly incumbent. And the opinion polling shows the vote is on a knife-edge. So how is MAGA getting involved, and what is really at stake in this election? Let's discuss.

Everything seems to have settled down with President Trump's America and China now that they'd climbed down from their maximalist tariff barrage. But Trump doesn't do quiet and settled, and so he exploded the peace with a range of new measures targeting China, along with an explosive tweet where he accused them of breaking the 'agreement' they had previously reached. What caused it - and does this mean we're back into the spiralling world of consequences? Let's discuss.

President Trump has been having SO much fun, slapping tariffs on the EU, hitting China, randomly spraying charges on everybody including the penguins. But now it has been pointed out, not unreasonably, that maybe one person shouldn't have the power to single-handedly reduce global economic growth on the basis of fringe ideas about how trade and the economy work. Will this be the start of the slide for Trump's presidency - or the inciting incident for his istration finally crossing the Rubicon into full-on authoritarian mode? Let's discuss.

We all know that President Trump has taken the decision to end climate action previously being taken by the United States - that is very much his prerogative, albeit that it makes sense only if you can pretend that climate change doesn't exist. But it doesn't stop there. Because the istration is taking an active, blocking campaign out to the wider world to see to punish those who remain committed to climate action, and to remove any barriers to a new patently suicidal age of fossil fuels. What is Trump doing - and will it work? Let's discuss.

Having told the Middle East, that America wouldn't be telling the world 'how to live their lives', the Trump istration is launching a very active campaign against democratic guardrails in Europe. It is doing so under the name of 'free speech'. On this channel, I am a great champion of free speech, but the Trump version is not all that it seems. Let's discuss.

Fiona Hill was President Trump's Russia advisor in his first term - back when he had advisors who actually knew their subject. In an interview today with the Telegraph, she talked about the moment where she saw how Trump was literally terrified by Putin, and understood how this affected the way that he dealt with him then, and likely still does in how he deals with him today. We could consider this against the backdrop of Putin's casting aside Trump's hopes for a ceasefire, his pummelling of Ukraine with a fierce attack over the weekend, and Ukraine's President Zelensky's prod for a reaction. Let's discuss.

A remarkable feature of the 2024 presidential election was just how much Gen Z voters swung towards Trump, particularly young men. There's a popular narrative as to why that happened, which right now is the one that best fits the facts - and which becomes all the more intriguing because recent polls have suggested that this is a process that is now starting to reverse itself. It's early days, perhaps, but having won Gen Z, Trump is now losing them. Whether the Democrats can actively win them while the opportunity is there is another thing altogether. Let's discuss.

Just when it seemed that things might be stabilising just a bit, Trump posted onto social media and suddenly we're right back into the throes of new trade chaos. A 50% tariff against the European Union. A 25% tariff against Apple iphones that are manufactured in India. The reasoning behind the moves is as fantastical as all the tariff stuff has been so far - so now it's the EU's turn to decide whether to fight or concede, and Apple has to work out what it does with the impossible dilemma it's been presented with. And in the mean time, it is yet more self-harm from the US which continues to send out the message that you expose yourself to high risk if you engage with it. Let's discuss.

Books have been landing in recent weeks opening up windows into the behind-the-scenes action around the cognitive decline of US president Joe Biden, and how the messy events of his nomination, and then withdrawal, in the 2024 campaign played out. We're left with a disturbing outcome. We could all see that Biden was not in great shape all the way back to the start of his 2020 election campaign. And yet experts, informed as they were by insiders talking his condition up, failed to believe it. And we're left looking at a process that - in multiple ways - contributed to America's democratic decline, and opened the door to Trump 2.0. Let's discuss.

So we had another White House Struggle Session this week, this time with Cyril Ramaphosa, the President of South Africa. President Trump's ambush, watched silently by Elon Musk, unloaded a stream of accusations based on social media disinformation that made the United States look, once again, utterly foolish in the direct view of the world. By doing this a second time, and given which country he chose to do it to, Trump has harmed himself and the interests of his country a lot more than he could ever realise. Let's discuss.

We've known Elon Musk was on his way out for several weeks, but yesterday he added the final straw - he said he was going to cut any political spending right down. This is the final end of his political adventure, because it was only his potentially unlimited amounts of cash that gave him leverage over the GOP, and that kept him useful to the Trump team regardless of his personal unpopularity with the public. If that's being ruled out for the future, it gives you some idea of how wounded he is with the experience, and how much he realises it has damaged his business interests. So what does it mean - and what are the implications for Trump and the GOP? Let's discuss.

US President Trump and Russian President Putin held their direct call - the one that was supposed to see Trump pushing Putin into embracing a 30-day ceasefire in the Ukraine war. The outcome seemed not to be much in doubt - it was pretty well known that Putin was not planning to cede to such demands. The only question was whether he could play Trump so well as not to lose his and have him come out of the call in a rage. On that grounds, the victory seems hands-down one for President Putin. Indeed - when the European leaders heard Trump's of the call, insiders have leaked that they were stunned with shock. Let's discuss what it means, and what happens next.

The UK and the EU announced a big post-Brexit trade deal today. For some, it was a common sense shift from the original of the Brexit deal to make trade a little easier, and to facilitate much needed defence co-operation in the face of Trump's disruption of European defence realities. For others, it was a total betrayal of Brexit, and the reason why Trump-lite Reform UK's Nigel Farage could end up becoming the next prime minister - albeit not until 2029. So what's the truth? Let's discuss.

Bridget Brink was the US Ambassador to Ukraine during the three years post-invasion where the United States was standing relatively firm alongside its allies. ing the invaded party, opposing the aggressor. A month ago, she stepped down - and now she has come out with a blistering attack on the Trump istration's policies towards Ukraine. Siding with Russia. Putting all the pressure on Ukraine. She had served under five presidents, she said, Republican and Democrat, but this now wasn't the America her grandparents would have recognised as the ideal they fought for. This attack comes as Trump prepares to make a direct call to Putin - so what happens next? Let's discuss.

So Trump's attempted interference in Canada backfired, and the Liberals' Mark Carney won the recent election. The question is - now what? Can Canada negotiate down those tariffs and establish a relationship with the US that puts Trump's annexing ambitions out of contention? And can it do that while doing what Carney said it must - diversifying its trading base to become less vulnerable to the future whims of the US? Because the Trump team have noticed that ambition, and they're pushing back against it hard. Let's discuss.

Every relevant senior member of the Trump cabinet has come out with an attack on former FBI Director James Comey - a truly astonishing exercise in gaslighting to swear that something nobody had previously suggested was the case, is self-evidently the case and it means that a pretty innocent social media post Comey put onto his Instagram feed was really a serious threat against the life of the President. It seems so ridiculous, it must be a prank. But the istration says it is launching an investigation, and numerous senior figures are saying they think Comey should be in jail. Is this the beginning of something - or just the worst example of trolling you could think of? Let's discuss.

President Trump has had perhaps his best week so far of his second term, being hosted by some of the richest countries of the world. He has also been making jaws drop with bold moves, particularly in meeting the new leader of Syria Ahmed al-Sharaa, regardless of his recent status as a jihadist, and also announcing that he would be lifting sanctions against Syria, crediting as he did so the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia for the initiative. Even some of Trump's fiercest critics have welcomed the move. Others have expressed confusion that he did so without even asking for any concessions from the Syrians. They are missing the point of what is going on. Let's discuss.

It used to be that the United States, as the dominant world power, was the most powerful driving force behind world events, for better or for worse. It made mistakes sometimes, but it was a player. Now, with Trump in charge, the world has been learning that it has to manipulate him in order to get what it wants. Through flattery, or offering a deal, or refusing to budge until he inevitably backs down. This has changed the whole dynamic in ways you don't spot immediately. Although all the noise and bluster makes you think that the US is pushing everyone else to respond, actually, it has made itself into a piece on the board, rather than a player in its own right. Let's discuss.

We've been taking it as read that Trump's MAGA base would stay unquestioningly loyal to him no matter what. But that is starting to splinter. One half are noticing the blatant corruption, and they aren't happy because they believed in 'draining the swamp'. The other half are caught in a purity spiral that nobody can survive, and they are most furious this week with RFK Jr's pick of Casey Means for Surgeon General. It's early days, but it gives us a preview of how it may all start to disintegrate later in Trump's term. Let's discuss.