Pod Save the World

Tommy and Ben talk about the historic protests in Iran and reports of the regime’s brutal crackdown with potentially tens of thousands dead, President Trump’s threats of military intervention (and why they’re a bad idea), and Iranian exiles vying for power as regime replacements from the safety of Washington, DC. They also talk about the next steps in Venezuela, including opposition leader María Corina Machado’s tricky positioning,...

Tommy and Ben discuss: the fallout from the Trump administration’s strikes on Venezuela and kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro, why President Trump chose Maduro’s VP Delcy Rodríguez to run the country instead of opposition leader María Corina Machado, how the DOJ’s new indictment of Maduro shows that the administration has been lying about him being the head of a drug cartel, and the comparisons between the Venezuela operation ...

Tommy and Ben respond to the breaking news that the Trump administration launched strikes on Venezuela and arrested Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a special forces raid. They talk about President Trump’s claims that the US will now “run” the country, the illegality of this regime change operation, the plan to let American oil companies cash in, and the many other global implications of this shocking move.

For a closed-captio...

Tommy and Ben discuss the horrific Bondi Beach terror attack, the rise of antisemitism in Australia, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bad-faith attempt to connect Australia’s recognition of a Palestinian state to this violence, and the perpetrators potentially training in the Philippines. They also talk about the US seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker and how it fits into President Trump’s creep towards regime change, Chi...

Tommy and Ben explain how President Trump forfeited our advantage in the artificial intelligence race by allowing Nvidia to sell advanced AI chips to China, break down the new White House National Security Strategy document and debate whether it matters, and explain how fighting between Thailand and Cambodia and between the DRC and Rwanda has exposed Trump's “peacemaker” image as a sham. They also talk about the lack of progress on...

Tommy and Ben discuss a blockbuster Washington Post report alleging that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth personally ordered a “double tap” airstrike that was a textbook example of a war crime, the latest on Trump’s slow-moving regime change policy in Venezuela, Trump’s shocking pardon of Juan Orlando Hernández, the former President of Honduras who was convicted of conspiring to import 400+ tons of cocaine into the United States, and ...

Tommy and Ben unpack Trump’s rapidly changing “peace deal” to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. They explain how the plan has changed since the first draft leaked last week, the confusion over where the plan came from and why many people believe the Russians authored it, what it tells us about which Trump officials are actually driving the policy, and why Russia seems poised to reject Trump’s plan even though it’s wildly tilt...

Tommy and Ben discuss Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to Washington, his request for F-35 fighter jets and a NATO-like security guarantee, the real estate deals the Trump family might get in return, and how corruption is driving US foreign policy, including in the case of a gold-bar bribe from the Swiss. Then they talk about new reports on embattled (and embarrassing) FBI Director Kash Patel, what leaked emails tell ...

Tommy and Ben discuss Syrian transitional President Ahmed Al-Shaara’s historic and improbable visit to the White House, Trump’s sanctions waiver and special favors for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban ahead of his election, why the US is boycotting the G20 in South Africa, and how a sham election in Tanzania that’s led to mass protests and potentially thousands dead. Then they talk about how Trump could bring an end to bloodsh...

Live from Crooked Con, Tommy and Ben look back at the last year since Trump was re-elected and unpack the worst and most surprising moments of Trump 2.0 foreign policy, including the president’s bogus claims that he’s a “peacemaker,” the continuing horrors of Russia’s war on Ukraine, the administration’s incoherence on China, and the catastrophic gutting of USAID. Then the guys are joined by Representatives Yassamin Ansari and Ro K...

Ben and Tommy discuss President Trump’s threat to invade Nigeria to stop a (nonexistent) genocide against Christians and the international community’s total failure to stop an actual genocide happening in Sudan. Also covered: why Trump’s pitch to restart testing of nuclear weapons might be his worst (and scariest) foreign policy idea to date, why FBI Director Kash Patel’s trip to visit his girlfriend is getting slammed by right-win...

Tommy and Ben discuss President Trump’s visit to Asia: the weird dancing, his meetings with the new prime minister of Japan and Chinese President Xi Jinping, and his annoying victory laps when Trump “solves” problems he himself created. They also unpack two recent examples of blatant government corruption, including Trump’s pardon of a crypto billionaire and an Army contract to purchase drones from a company “advised” by Donald Tru...

Being an American right now is a wild ride. Every day brings a new controversy, with breathless media narratives and the same loud voices rushing in to score political points. Then another Truth Social post drops and the circus moves on. But all that noise is drowning out the actual story. On Crooked Media’s new podcast Runaway Country, veteran journalist Alex Wagner talks to the voices at the center of the headlines: from the frin...

Tommy and Ben discuss reports that Trump’s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was a disaster, and that his summit in Hungary with Russian President Vladimir Putin may be canceled. They also cover the administration's threats to punish Colombia and Venezuela, including authorization of the CIA to conduct covert action in Venezuela, and other warning signs that the administration is pushing for regime change. They al...

Tommy & Ben break down the deal between Israel and Hamas–how we got here, who deserves credit (and who doesn’t), why the hell it took so long, and then dig into the many questions still to be resolved: Will Hamas disarm? How will Gaza be run? And who might make up the proposed “International Stabilisation Force”? They also talk about Trump’s victory lap in Israel and Egypt (including a quick pit stop for some corruption with Indone...

Tommy & Ben sound the alarm about how Trump is laying the foundation for war with Venezuela—breaking down the administration’s justifications, what escalation could look like, and why attacking Venezuela won’t solve America’s drug problem. Then, they discuss the latest negotiations between Israel and Hamas over Trump’s Gaza “peace plan,” Israel's treatment of activists arrested from the Gaza-bound Global Sumud Flotilla, an update f...

Tommy & Ben react to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump's bizarre and alarming gathering of top military officials, including Trump's fascistic rhetoric about the "enemy within", wildly inappropriate partisan rants, and Hegseth's anti-DEI, pro-war-crimes lecture that could have been an email. They also talk about Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's announcement of a 20-point plan to end the war bet...

Tommy & Ben grit their teeth and dive into Trump’s rambling, insulting address at the United Nations and fact-check his ridiculous claim that he solved seven wars. They cover Trump’s proposed bank bailout for Argentina, his threat to re-invade Afghanistan, Pete Hegseth’s crackdown on journalists’ access to the Pentagon, and Russia’s continuing incursions into NATO airspace. They also discuss a trio of immigration stories: the admin...

Tommy & Ben start with Gaza: the UN Human Rights Council’s finding that Israel has committed genocide, and Israel’s ground operation into Gaza City. They discuss how Marco Rubio signaled that Trump has given up on brokering a peace deal in Gaza, and why the Netanyahu government is telling the press that Trump is lying about his knowledge of the IDF airstrike in Qatar. Also covered: Kash Patel’s combative Senate hearing about the ra...