Trump Threatens Iran's "Whole Civilization." DHS Shutdown Winners and Losers (With Kirk Bado)

About this episode

The episode discusses Trump's aggressive rhetoric towards Iran and its implications for civilization amidst escalating tensions.

Trump’s borderline-genocidal threats towards Iran from Tuesday morning are no doubt unsettling — and depending on whether this war keeps escalating after this episode is published, “unsettling” could be an understatement. The idea that civilization might be over feels hyperbolic, but it captures the uncertainty of the moment. We are sitting here waiting on a deadline tied to Iran, and even before anything happens, the rhetoric coming from Donald Trump is already at a level that feels historically aggressive. Honestly, I don’t know how else to process Trump’s post other than to take it seriously on its face. Presidents have said strong things before, but that kind of language feels different. It isn’t just tough talk or positioning. We’re talking about raising the stakes in a way that makes everything else around it feel more volatile. Even if it is meant as leverage, it is the kind of leverage that can spiral if it is misunderstood or taken literally. Part of me thinks that wording did not come out of nowhere. There was that open letter from the Iranian president talking about their country as one of the oldest continuous civilizations in history, and it feels like Trump is…

People in this episode

Host: Justin Robert Young

Guest: Kirk Bado

Topics covered

• Trump
• Iran
• DHS
• civilization
• political rhetoric
• escalation
• war

Keywords

• Trump
• Iran
• civilization
• DHS
• political rhetoric
• escalation
• war threats

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Iran, DHS

Places: Iran

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