What’s the Left’s Vision for Foreign Policy After Trump?
From The Ezra Klein Show by New York Times Opinion
June 9, 2026 · 1h 34m
About this episode
The episode explores the evolving foreign policy vision of the Democratic Party in the wake of Trump's presidency, focusing on the divide over Israel and Palestine.
The Democratic Party is in the middle of a rupture over foreign policy – with Israel and Palestine at the center. In recent weeks, the Democratic senators Brian Schatz and Chris Van Hollen both called for a break with the Biden administration’s policies toward Israel. Schatz said the next administration needs “a whole new crop of foreign policy staffers,” while Van Hollen went further, accusing Biden’s senior decision makers of “complicity.” And Gaza has become a central issue splitting Democrats in primaries around the country. It’s become such a profound fault line, it reminds me of how the Iraq war remade the Democratic Party years ago. And Democrats face huge foreign policy questions beyond Gaza, too. Trump has taken a wrecking ball to the rules-based order, and the American public has become increasingly cynical about U.S. interventions abroad. Do Democrats want to try to restore what came before Trump? Is that even possible? Or is there a vision for something new? Matt Duss is at the center of foreign policy thinking on the left. He’s the executive vice president at the Center for International Policy, previously served as Senator Bernie Sanders’s foreign policy adviser and…
People in this episode
Host: Ezra Klein
Guest: Matt Duss
Topics covered
- foreign policy
- Democratic Party
- Israel and Palestine
- U.S. interventions
- political divisions
- Trump administration
Keywords
- foreign policy
- Democratic Party
- Israel
- Palestine
- Gaza
- Trump
- political divisions
- Matt Duss
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Center for International Policy, Biden administration
Places: Israel, Palestine, Gaza
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