On this week’s episode of “The David Frum Show,” The Atlantic’s David Frum examines one of the most consequential deceptions of the Trump presidency: the insistence that grocery prices are falling when Americans know from lived experience that they are not. David explains how tariffs and trade policy are deliberately driving food costs higher, why Trump keeps lying about it, and how breaking this promise strikes at the core of the fragile trust between voters and government.
Then David is joined by Fiona Hill, a former adviser to three U.S. presidents and a key witness in Trump’s first impeachment, to analyze how Vladimir Putin sees the world and why Trump remains so drawn to strongman power. Frum and Hill discuss Putin’s long game in Ukraine, Trump’s archaic and backward worldview, and how Trump’s presidency has been a gift to Putin while steadily eroding American credibility abroad.
Finally, David closes the episode with a discussion of “Among the Believers,” by V. S. Naipaul, reflecting on the Iranian Revolution and why authoritarian regimes repeatedly fail at modernity.
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00:00 Introduction
00:45 Trump's Food Affordability Dishonesty
07:38 Conversation with Fiona Hill
08:35 Putin's Worldview
13:32 Putin's Strategic Patience and Global Maneuvering
28:01 Trump's Affinity for Putin and Power Dynamics
30:38 Putin's Manipulative Tactics
32:53 Trump's Vanity
35:28 Trump's Misguided Perception of Russia
37:20 Trump's Envy of Zelensky
44:00 Russia's Influence on the American Right
48:12 The Future of Putin's Power
50:24 “Among the Believers,” by V. S. Naipaul
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