The President’s Inbox

Dalia Dassa Kaye, senior fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles Burkle Center for International Relations, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss President Donald Trump's decision to launch a war against Iran, the prospects for regime change, and the consequences for the region.

 

Mentioned on the Episode:

 

Michael Birnbaum, John Hudson, Karen DeYoung, Natalie Allison, and Souad Mekhennet, “Push from Saudis, Israel, Helped Move Trump to Attack Iran,” Washington Post

 

Dalia Dassa Kaye, Enduring Hostility: The Making of America's Iran Policy

 

Zolan Kanno-Younge, David Sanger, and Tyler Pager, “Trump Says War Could Last Weeks and Offers Contradictory Visions of New Regime,” New York Times

 

Michael Scherer, “I Have Agreed to Talk,” The Atlantic

 

Donald Trump Truth Social Post, “HELP IS ON ITS WAY”

 

For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The President’s Inbox at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/presidents-inbox/trump-chooses-war-with-iran

Opinions expressed on The President’s Inbox are solely those of the host or our guests, not of CFR, which takes no institutional positions on matters of policy.

Michael Bustamante, Chair in Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at the University of Miami, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss the Trump administration’s maximum pressure campaign against Cuba.

 

Mentioned on the Episode:

 

Marc Caputo, “Exclusive: Rubio's Secret Squeeze on Raul Castro's Cuba,” Axios

 

For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The President’s Inbox at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/presidents-inbox/cuba-on-the-brink

 

Opinions expressed on The President’s Inbox are solely those of the host or our guests, not of CFR, which takes no institutional positions on matters of policy.

Jeremi Suri, Mack Brown Distinguished Chair for Leadership in Global Affairs and Professor of Public Affairs and History at the University of Texas at Austin, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss President Richard Nixon's historic 1972 visit to China, which ushered in a new era of U.S.-Sino relations and altered the course of world politics.

 

To mark the 250th anniversary of the U.S. declaration of independence, CFR is dedicating a year-long series of articles, videos, podcasts, events, and special projects that will reflect on two and a half centuries of U.S. foreign policy. Featuring bipartisan voices and expert contributors, the series explores the evolution of America’s role in the world and the strategic challenges that lie ahead.

 

Mentioned on the Episode:

 

James M. Lindsay, The Ten Best and Ten Worst U.S. Foreign Policy Decisions, CFR.org

 

Richard Nixon, “Asia After Vietnam,” Foreign Affairs

 

Jeremi Suri, Henry Kissinger and the American Century

 

Jeremi Suri and Zachary Suri, Democracy of Hope

 

Jeremi Suri and Zachary Suri, This Is Democracy

 

For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The President’s Inbox at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/presidents-inbox/america-250-nixon-goes-to-china

Opinions expressed on The President’s Inbox are solely those of the host or our guests, not of CFR, which takes no institutional positions on matters of policy.

F. Gregory Gause III, a leading scholar on Saudi Arabia and an associate fellow at the Middle East Institute, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss the evolution of U.S.-Saudi relations as Saudi Arabia navigates its role in a Middle East with a more assertive Israel, a weaker Iran, and a less predictable United States.

 

For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The President’s Inbox at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/presidents-inbox/the-new-saudi-strategy

Opinions expressed on The President’s Inbox are solely those of the host or our guests, not of CFR, which takes no institutional positions on matters of policy.

Jonathan Berkshire Miller, senior fellow at the Macdonald Laurier Institute, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss Canada's effort to diminish its vulnerability to U.S. economic threats and just how much middle powers like Canada can successfully hedge in a world of great power competition.

 

Mentioned on the Episode:

 

“Live From Davos: Exclusive Interview With Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent,” Human Events Daily with Jack Posobiec

 

Mark Carney, “Principled and Pragmatic: Canada’s Path,” Office of the Prime Minister of Canada

 

“Canada's Arctic Foreign Policy,” Government of Canada. Updated March 25, 2025

 

For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The President’s Inbox at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/presidents-inbox/canada-hedges-against-the-united-states

 

Opinions expressed on The President’s Inbox are solely those of the host or our guests, not of CFR, which takes no institutional positions on matters of policy.

Heather Conley, nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and Rebecca Pincus, senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, sit down with James M. Lindsay to discuss how President Trump's desire to acquire Greenland has thrown the transatlantic relationship into its latest crisis. 

 

For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The President’s Inbox at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/presidents-inbox/trumps-greenland-ambitions

 

Opinions expressed on The President’s Inbox are solely those of the host or our guests, not of CFR, which takes no institutional positions on matters of policy.

Mary Dudziak, Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law at Emory University, and Christopher Nichols, Wayne Woodrow Hayes Chair in National Security Studies and Professor of History at the Ohio State University, sit down with James M. Lindsay to unpack a new CFR survey of historians on the best and worst foreign policy decisions in U.S. history.

 

To mark the 250th anniversary of the U.S. declaration of independence, CFR is dedicating a year-long series of articles, videos, podcasts, events, and special projects that will reflect on two and a half centuries of U.S. foreign policy. Featuring bipartisan voices and expert contributors, the series explores the evolution of America’s role in the world and the strategic challenges that lie ahead.

 

Mentioned on the Episode:

 

Christopher McKnight Nichols, Promise and Peril: America at the Dawn of a Global Age

 

Joshua Kurlantzick, A Great Place to Have a War

 

CFR.org, The Ten Best and Ten Worst U.S. Foreign Policy Decisions

 

For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The President’s Inbox at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/presidents-inbox/america-250-best-worst-us-foreign-policy-decisions

 

Opinions expressed on The President’s Inbox are solely those of the host or our guests, not of CFR, which takes no institutional positions on matters of policy.

Matthew Kroenig, Vice President and Senior Director of the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security at the Atlantic Council, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss how President Trump has approached foreign policy since returning to the Oval Office last January.

 

Mentioned on the Episode:

 

Matthew Kroenig, “To Get to Peace in Ukraine, Trump Should Play the Nuclear Card,” Foreign Policy

 

Matthew Kroenig, “Trump Has a Strategy for Venezuela,” Foreign Policy

 

Matthew Kroenig, “Trump Should Oust Maduro,” Foreign Policy

 

Matthew Kroenig, “Trump Was Right to Oust Maduro,” New York Times

 

Matthew Kroenig, “Two Cheers for the National Security Strategy,” Foreign Policy

 

For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The President’s Inbox at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/presidents-inbox/trump-foreign-policy-at-one-year-with-matthew-kroenig

 

Opinions expressed on The President’s Inbox are solely those of the host or our guests, not of CFR, which takes no institutional positions on matters of policy.

Will Freeman, fellow for Latin America studies at the Council, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss the consequences of the U.S. seizure of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

 

Mentioned on the Episode:

 

Antonio Maria Delgado, ”The U.S. Gamble on Chavismo: How a Once-Unthinkable Pact Could Stabilize Venezuela,” Miami Herald

 

Will Freeman, “The Shock Waves of Venezuela: How Maduro’s Capture Could Transform Latin America,” Foreign Affairs

 

Jason Lange, ”A Third of Americans Support U.S. Strike on Venezuela, Reuters/Ipsos Poll Finds,” Reuters

 

For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The President’s Inbox at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/presidents-inbox/washingtons-venezuela-strategy-after-maduro-with-will-freeman 

Opinions expressed on The President’s Inbox are solely those of the host or our guests, not of CFR, which takes no institutional positions on matters of policy.

Carla Anne Robbins, senior fellow at the Council, and Matthias Matthijs, senior fellow for Europe at the Council, sit down with James M. Lindsay to answer listener questions about the major developments, initiatives, and changes in U.S. foreign policy over the course of 2025. 

 

Mentioned on the Episode:

 

"2025 National Security Strategy of the United States of America," The White House

 

Ivo H. Daalder and James M. Lindsay, “The Price of Trump’s Power Politics,” Foreign Affairs

 

Ivo H. Daalder and James M. Lindsay, The Empty Throne: America's Abdication of Global Leadership

 

Rebecca Lissner, “America’s Quasi Alliances,” Foreign Affairs

 

Matthias Matthijs and Nathalie Tocci, "How Europe Lost: Can the Continent Escape Its Trump Trap?" Foreign Affairs

 

Brad Setser, "How German Industry Can Survive the Second China Shock," Center for European Reform

 

For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The President’s Inbox at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/tpi/listener-mailbag-2025-review-carla-anne-robbins-and-matthias-matthijs