Michael Shellenberger

And that those characters that led the censorship, disinformation, lawfare, and other dirty tricks that they used for regime change abroad brought those tactics and strategies to the United States and weaponized them against Trump, MAGA, Republicans. And again, you play stupid games, win stupid prizes, and that's what they got.

And so when they broke open AID, suddenly it was available for all of us to see. And there's been some very good research and scholarship by some of our allies on what was going on there and making sense of it. And so we've been in a process of sense-making as a country for about whatever it's been, a week, a week and a half, about what exactly is this agency doing wrong?

And so when they broke open AID, suddenly it was available for all of us to see. And there's been some very good research and scholarship by some of our allies on what was going on there and making sense of it. And so we've been in a process of sense-making as a country for about whatever it's been, a week, a week and a half, about what exactly is this agency doing wrong?

And so when they broke open AID, suddenly it was available for all of us to see. And there's been some very good research and scholarship by some of our allies on what was going on there and making sense of it. And so we've been in a process of sense-making as a country for about whatever it's been, a week, a week and a half, about what exactly is this agency doing wrong?

How did it become so deranged that it would use the weapons of regime change against our own democratically elected president from 2016 to 2020, including, you know, many of us suspect but can't yet prove in January 6th? How did that happen? And then the subsequent question is, what do we do now?

How did it become so deranged that it would use the weapons of regime change against our own democratically elected president from 2016 to 2020, including, you know, many of us suspect but can't yet prove in January 6th? How did that happen? And then the subsequent question is, what do we do now?

How did it become so deranged that it would use the weapons of regime change against our own democratically elected president from 2016 to 2020, including, you know, many of us suspect but can't yet prove in January 6th? How did that happen? And then the subsequent question is, what do we do now?

I mean, Jordan, after we've spent billions of dollars creating this elaborate foreign policy establishment, otherwise known as the blob, which includes many academic journals, academic divisions of universities, whole think tanks, parts of the federal government. Nobody has theorized what comes now. Nobody has theorized what happens if the United States shuts down its main agency for soft power.

I mean, Jordan, after we've spent billions of dollars creating this elaborate foreign policy establishment, otherwise known as the blob, which includes many academic journals, academic divisions of universities, whole think tanks, parts of the federal government. Nobody has theorized what comes now. Nobody has theorized what happens if the United States shuts down its main agency for soft power.

I mean, Jordan, after we've spent billions of dollars creating this elaborate foreign policy establishment, otherwise known as the blob, which includes many academic journals, academic divisions of universities, whole think tanks, parts of the federal government. Nobody has theorized what comes now. Nobody has theorized what happens if the United States shuts down its main agency for soft power.

That's what USAID was, Agency for National Development. It was just a mechanism of soft power alongside the CIA. It was really supposed to be State Department, AID, CIA, all supposed to be run by the National Security Council, all supposed to be run by the President of the United States. What happens when that's not there anymore? And I think there's some real questions.

That's what USAID was, Agency for National Development. It was just a mechanism of soft power alongside the CIA. It was really supposed to be State Department, AID, CIA, all supposed to be run by the National Security Council, all supposed to be run by the President of the United States. What happens when that's not there anymore? And I think there's some real questions.

That's what USAID was, Agency for National Development. It was just a mechanism of soft power alongside the CIA. It was really supposed to be State Department, AID, CIA, all supposed to be run by the National Security Council, all supposed to be run by the President of the United States. What happens when that's not there anymore? And I think there's some real questions.

I mean, I'm fairly anti-interventionist, anti-imperialist, have been really for all my adult life. But there's a real vacuum that does get created. The critics of what they've done are not wrong in being concerned about, well, what happens when Russia and China... move into those places. And maybe that's fine. I mean, let the Chinese get involved in trying to build nations in Africa.

I mean, I'm fairly anti-interventionist, anti-imperialist, have been really for all my adult life. But there's a real vacuum that does get created. The critics of what they've done are not wrong in being concerned about, well, what happens when Russia and China... move into those places. And maybe that's fine. I mean, let the Chinese get involved in trying to build nations in Africa.

I mean, I'm fairly anti-interventionist, anti-imperialist, have been really for all my adult life. But there's a real vacuum that does get created. The critics of what they've done are not wrong in being concerned about, well, what happens when Russia and China... move into those places. And maybe that's fine. I mean, let the Chinese get involved in trying to build nations in Africa.

But I do think it raises some existential questions about what is the United States? What is the United States in the world? Because we are entering, as you mentioned, 75 to 80 years of Pax Americana, where the United States has been holding together a global system. And people talk about multipolarity, but China and Russia are not the United States. I mean, we are still the center of action.

But I do think it raises some existential questions about what is the United States? What is the United States in the world? Because we are entering, as you mentioned, 75 to 80 years of Pax Americana, where the United States has been holding together a global system. And people talk about multipolarity, but China and Russia are not the United States. I mean, we are still the center of action.

But I do think it raises some existential questions about what is the United States? What is the United States in the world? Because we are entering, as you mentioned, 75 to 80 years of Pax Americana, where the United States has been holding together a global system. And people talk about multipolarity, but China and Russia are not the United States. I mean, we are still the center of action.

We have all the talent. We have the AI. We have all the energy. We remain the most secure country in the world, not just because of our nuclear weapons and military, but also because we're protected on both coastlines by huge bodies of water. So, I mean, the United States is still arguably the big superpower. Obviously, China's a superpower, but it's not...