Becoming Burnham: The Manchester Arena Call, Westminster Plotting, and Keir vs Andy
3 September 2026
516. Trump’s Iran Delusion and the Limits of American Power
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The Rest Is Politics
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1 April 2026
Why has opposition to the Iran war been so muted within Trump’s America, and how is the US uniquely insulated from the worst impacts of the war? Do American tech billionaires now pose a serious threat to British democracy – alongside Iran, Russia, and China? Should the UK follow in the footsteps of South Australia and ban political donations entirely?
Join Rory and Alastair as they answer all these questions and more.
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Social Producer: Celine Charles
Video Editor: Josh Smith, Adam Thornton, Lorcan Moullier
Assistant Producer: Daisy Alston-Horne
Producer: Evan Green
Exec Producer: Chris Sawyer
General Manager: Tom Whiter
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Thank you for the episode on President Trump’s Iran delusion.
I came as a baby refugee with my parents after World War II. We are of Ukrainian origin. But I have been becoming an American ever since even though I am very deeply engaged with Ukraine. I am a native Ukrainian speaker. I work on my Ukrainian every day and have designed a strategy to rebuild Ukraine.
I have been to forty one states. I have worked in four, and lived in seven. I have even worked in South Dakota and have lived in the South.
I am an MD who trained at an American med school but also spent time at UCH London and six years at McGill. I returned to Harvard to do health policy and management. I sensed the differences between the USA and the rest of the West. After six years at McGill and two years at Harvard (1981-83), I developed a sense of doom about this country.
After Harvard, I bicycled across the USA with thirty-five other students. I was the physician for the group. I forced myself to stay.
I am sharing your podcasts with some of the Harvard alums I bicycled across the USA with. One is a Democratic US Congressman. He seems largely frozen even though he did make a sharp short TikTok video on President Trump and Greenland
I remember the day at Harvard that I felt America was doomed.
Americans do not address their problems. Harvard has produced Pete Hegseth and Jared Kushner. But the rot goes deeper.
I have enabled sixty one Ukrainian students to earn full four year undergraduate scholarships to every Ivy, MIT, and Stanford. I even worked with Kirill Dmitriev who now represents President Putin in the USA. I have witnessed our universities through Ukrainian eyes. He first attended Stanford.
His sister earned a scholarship through our program faand worked with Harvard President Larry Summers to found the Lending Club.
America is like Spanish empire. The empire ruined Spain. The EU brought it out of the cold.
We came to the USA from war-destroyed Germany. My parents were shocked at the nature of the USA. Most Americans are blind to this country’s fault lines.
I do not see a happy ending to what is taking place. My happy ending would be no World War III.