RELAUNCH - EP:1 Trump's Diplomacy Disaster w/ Branko Marcetic

RELAUNCH - EP:1 Trump's Diplomacy Disaster w/ Branko Marcetic

From Trip the Beltway Fantastic With Kelley Vlahos and Friends by Distributed by: OMG Media Partners, LLC

March 24, 2026 · 35 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the failures of Trump's diplomacy regarding Iran and the implications of limited media scrutiny on foreign policy.

War doesn’t just start with missiles. Sometimes it starts with who gets picked to “do the talks” and what they tell the president afterward. We sit down with Branko Marcetic , staff writer at Jacobin and a contributor to Responsible Statecraft, to unpack his reporting on Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner and their outsized role in the diplomatic track that collapsed into the Iran war. We get specific about why nuclear negotiations demand technical fluency, why gaps in expertise can be fatal, and how public messaging can harden a pro-war storyline before anyone can challenge it. We also pull the camera back to the bigger US foreign policy machine. If the same small circle is juggling Iran, Ukraine, and Gaza, what happens to preparation, credibility, and outcomes? We talk about the stalled “Board of Peace,” the pressure campaigns that reward escalation, and the eerie disconnect between Trump’s claims of “strong talks” and Iran’s denial that talks even happened. Along the way, we ask why major media scrutiny has been so limited when the stakes include a regional fire and a shattered negotiating channel. Then we follow the consequences: the Strait of Hormuz disruption, oil prices…

People in this episode

Host: Kelley Vlahos

Guest: Branko Marcetic

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Jacobin, Responsible Statecraft

Places: Iran, Ukraine, Gaza, Strait of Hormuz

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