516. Trump’s Iran Delusion and the Limits of American Power

  • The Rest Is Politics

  • 1 April 2026

  • Posted by Alastair Campbell

  • 1

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.

__________


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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

One response to “516. Trump’s Iran Delusion and the Limits of American Power”

  1. 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.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

502 campbel conway scaled

Alastair Campbell’s diary: My truly deranged encounter with Trump apologist Kellyanne Conway

The godmother of ‘alternative facts’ assured me the president loved Zelensky – just as he was stabbing him in the back with Putin... Continue

14 October 2026

579. Trump’s Public Execution Order and Burnham’s Brexit Intervention

How does Marco Rubio’s Parthenon speech fit the Trump administration’s ideas on European “civilisational erasure” – and how does it depart from traditional Republican rhetoric? With Pete Heg... Continue

14 October 2026

210. Andy Burnham: My Relationship With Starmer, Brexit Lies and Emotion in Politics

How will he change Britain’s relationship with the EU? Why has he agreed to publish details of meetings following the Manchester City scandal? With the Trump administration planning to livestream a ... Continue

12 October 2026

Alastair Campbell and Mishal Husain with the book Persevilience, The New World

Oct

22

2026

Alastair Campbell and Mishal Husain live at Cadogan Hall

He’s invented a word. He says it’s the word the world needs now. She’s going to make him explain why. Alastair joins acclaimed broadcaster Mishal Husain on stage to discuss his new book, Per... Continue

578. Alastair and Michael Gove Disagree Agreeably on Brexit and Israel

Will there be another EU referendum, despite Andy Burnham promising not to re-run old Brexit arguments? Will Michael Gove ever criticise Israel's actions in Palestine, and if not, why not? What do the... Continue

8 October 2026

577. Is Badenoch Finally Stopping Farage and Why Are French Schools on Fire?

With Reform bogged down in scandal, and Kemi Badenoch setting out her political vision at Conservative Party conference, have the Tories finally wrestled momentum on the right of British politics away... Continue

7 October 2026

501 cover for web

Alastair Campbell’s diary: The door that leads back to the EU is finally open. Now let’s walk through it

How fitting that new talk of joining again coincided with the 500th issue of The New World, originally founded to oppose Brexit... Continue

6 October 2026

209. Shabana Mahmood: Palestine Action, Faith and What I Told Starmer

Is the government's ban on Palestine Action lawful, or overreaching? Why can't Britain just send small boats straight back to France? Can faith and public duty coexist in modern British politics? Ro... Continue

5 October 2026