Fareed Zakaria

make sure that if there is some kind of an American or Israeli suzerainty here, we would launch an insurgency. So I don't see it as having produced anything particularly good. And it has really reinforced this very strong element within the Israeli right that believes there is a solution to the Palestinian problem. And it is largely ethnic cleansing of Gaza and the West Bank.

Look, I think that there's no question the United States had enormous power. It sort of contradicts the central premise of the Trump-Vance domestic argument, which is that America has been hollowed out and ravaged over the last 30 years by the forces of globalization and liberalism.

Look, I think that there's no question the United States had enormous power. It sort of contradicts the central premise of the Trump-Vance domestic argument, which is that America has been hollowed out and ravaged over the last 30 years by the forces of globalization and liberalism.

In fact, the real story of the last 30 years is the United States has emerged dominant among the rich countries in the world. You know, we are the Eurozone.

In fact, the real story of the last 30 years is the United States has emerged dominant among the rich countries in the world. You know, we are the Eurozone.

China doesn't have a trade deficit. And look at China, right? That's not a country you'd want to emulate the economy of. So there is a kind of weird contradiction. But I agree with you. The United States has enormous power and you can use it.

China doesn't have a trade deficit. And look at China, right? That's not a country you'd want to emulate the economy of. So there is a kind of weird contradiction. But I agree with you. The United States has enormous power and you can use it.

Look, I don't think that it is a sign of strength to go around bullying smaller countries and forcing them to say things that are often rhetorical concessions, you know, get everyone to call it the Gulf of America. The Panamanians are a good example.

Look, I don't think that it is a sign of strength to go around bullying smaller countries and forcing them to say things that are often rhetorical concessions, you know, get everyone to call it the Gulf of America. The Panamanians are a good example.

The guy who's running Panama now is a very pro-American conservative, and he's now been humiliated and made to, you know, mouth some kind of nonsense that allows Trump to claim he got a victory. Same thing happened with Canada and Mexico.

The guy who's running Panama now is a very pro-American conservative, and he's now been humiliated and made to, you know, mouth some kind of nonsense that allows Trump to claim he got a victory. Same thing happened with Canada and Mexico.

So you could tactically say there are some cases where they didn't handle it well. I, for many, many months, was criticizing the Biden administration on the Russia-Ukraine front. I mean, I thought that it was important to get more realistic. On Israel, it's a particular dynamic that you well know.

So you could tactically say there are some cases where they didn't handle it well. I, for many, many months, was criticizing the Biden administration on the Russia-Ukraine front. I mean, I thought that it was important to get more realistic. On Israel, it's a particular dynamic that you well know.

Which is that for a Democratic president, it is very hard to push the Israelis to do anything because they know they can outflank a Democrat by going directly to Congress, by going directly to essentially to Republicans. Bibi Netanyahu did that to Barack Obama, who's a much more skilled Democrat. politician and negotiator than Joe Biden was.

Which is that for a Democratic president, it is very hard to push the Israelis to do anything because they know they can outflank a Democrat by going directly to Congress, by going directly to essentially to Republicans. Bibi Netanyahu did that to Barack Obama, who's a much more skilled Democrat. politician and negotiator than Joe Biden was.

And when Obama tried to push him on the Iran nuclear thing, Bibi just did an end run around Obama, went to Washington, got the Republicans to invite him to give a joint speech to the joint session of Congress and completely tied Obama in knots on that one. So that is a particular problem. But I agree with you that tactically, there are some places where you could push harder.

And when Obama tried to push him on the Iran nuclear thing, Bibi just did an end run around Obama, went to Washington, got the Republicans to invite him to give a joint speech to the joint session of Congress and completely tied Obama in knots on that one. So that is a particular problem. But I agree with you that tactically, there are some places where you could push harder.

But I think if you ask me which philosophy is the right one for the United States to have, I think it's the one that has built these alliance structures in the system for 80 years by not viewing this as a series of transactions, but as a relationship. Trump is a transaction guy. Think about every real estate deal he's ever done.

But I think if you ask me which philosophy is the right one for the United States to have, I think it's the one that has built these alliance structures in the system for 80 years by not viewing this as a series of transactions, but as a relationship. Trump is a transaction guy. Think about every real estate deal he's ever done.

At the end of the day, the person he does the deal with never wants to deal with him again. I mean, that is basically one of the leitmotifs of Trump's business career. He screws you in the deal and then moves on, and the next time around, screws somebody else. But that's not what American foreign policy has been built on.