Mallen Baker: Faultlines
Episodes
Trump's Epstein Escape Plan Is Going Full Speed Ahead
27 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Nothing screams 'banana republic' more than what is going on right now with Ghislaine Maxwell. Trump's former lawyer and assistant attorney general go...
Q&A: How Can Democrats Become Relevant Again?
26 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
I asked for questions, and you delivered! A far-ranging Q&A covering the future for the Democratic Party, and why the US system is particularly brutal...
How Trump’s Chaos Hands China the Future
25 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, President Trump continued the trend he has established so many times, he pulled the United States out of UNESCO. And as he did so, China wa...
Flirting with Civil War: Trump’s Dangerous New Rhetoric
24 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The mainstream media are downplaying Trump and Tulsi Gabbard's rhetoric on former President Obama and 'treason' over Russian influence on the 2016 ele...
The Question Trump's DOJ Will Be Asking Ghislaine Maxwell
23 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Trump still can't get rid of the Epstein files obsession. Even though he is doing his best to distract the attention of his base with empty promises t...
Is Zelensky Going Too Far? Ukraine’s Democratic Dilemma
22 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Zelensky's war-torn Ukraine is being accused by many, including the European Union, of authoritarian slide. This has come to a head recently with the ...
Trump’s DOJ Targets Obama – What Comes Next Is Dangerous
21 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It was always predicted that Trump 2.0 would include a certain amount of payback - and that was particularly the case when he brought in unqualified l...
How Much Trouble Is Trump REALLY In?
19 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We had gotten used to the idea that nothing stuck to Donald Trump. Previous politicians could be brought down by the slightest indiscretion, or fumble...
Did Trump Get Stephen Colbert's Show Cancelled?
18 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
According to CBS, it was a purely financial decision. But then, that was always going to be the line because if it was actually what everybody thinks ...
Trump Just Admitted He’s Rigging the Next Election
17 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Remember all that stuff about how Trump was sure the only way he could lose an election would be if there was fraud? Well, it seems he's coming round ...
How Trump Is Wrecking The MAGA Succession
16 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When President Trump's second term started, the notable thing was just how far-reaching his actions were, just how norm-breaking and transgressive the...
Surviving Trump's Age Of Stupid
15 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Trump came to power on the back of multiple disinformation campaigns and conspiracy theories. While there's some satisfying karma to see his administr...
Trump’s ‘Big Threat’ To Putin – A 50 Day Deadline
14 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
President Trump had trailed a 'big announcement' on Ukraine and Russia coming today - and we even had Mark Rutte, the head of NATO in the White House ...
Trump Broke the World Order — He Won't Like What Comes Next
13 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Arguably, the world has been going through the five stages of grief since Trump came back to the Presidency six months ago. And with the latest action...
Will America Really Defend Taiwan?
12 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Yesterday, it emerged that the Trump team has been asking its (former) allies Japan and Australia a very strange question - demanding clarity from the...
Trump's Word Means Nothing – Ask Canada and Vietnam
11 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Canada thought it was making good progress in negotiations with the Trump team - then he announced even higher tariffs against it. Vietnam thought it ...
Trump Uses Tariffs To Topple Brazil's Democracy
10 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The US President just announced a massive 50% tariff on Brazil. Nothing to do with the usual excuses - trade deficits - the US has a trade surplus wit...
Is Trump Finally Turning On Putin?
09 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Trump has muttered, he has grumbled, he has occasionally threatened, but never has there been the slightest sign that he would actually take action of...
“We Don’t Want an Emperor” — World Slams Trump Tariff Demands
08 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Another day, another round of tariff dramas. Trump revealed the new tariff rates he was 'granting' to various countries via letter, along with a new d...
The Real Reason the US and UK Political Systems Are Breaking
06 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
So Elon Musk is launching a new political party in the US. And former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is doing something similar in the UK, albeit with a ...
China Just Stunned Europe and Ukraine - ‘We Won’t Let Russia Lose’
05 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
China has had a public line on Ukraine for the last three years - studied neutrality that didn't entirely fool anybody. Well, yesterday it blew that u...
How Free Speech Is Dying In Trump's America
04 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For an administration that talks a lot about free speech, President Trump sure seems to sue a lot of news media companies for reporting on things he w...
Trump Blindsides Allies, Stops Ukraine Weapons — Then Calls Putin
03 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It came out of the blue, with all the NATO allies of Ukraine having thought they'd done a great job of keeping Trump on side at last week's NATO summi...
Why Trump’s Mega-Bill Could Blow Up on MAGA
02 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The controversial Trump Budget Mega-Bill squeaked its way through the Senate, thanks to the casting vote of JD Vance. And now it has come back to the ...
Why Global Population Collapse Is Coming Sooner Than We Thought
01 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We know that big changes are happening in the world. Some of them are well known as cycles in history, and affect the current geopolitical order. But ...
How Elon Musk Sabotaged His Own Legacy
30 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Musk has largely gone back to focusing on his own businesses - but he couldn't help making a last public stab at President Trump's big budget bill whi...
What Are The REAL Lessons From Zohran Mamdani's New York Win?
29 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Lots of people have gotten excited about an upset win for an old-fashioned socialist candidate in the New York Mayoral race. Notwithstanding the impli...
Trump’s Massive Canada Tantrum – The Trade War Is Back On
28 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Suddenly, Trump had a moment and called off the ongoing trade talks with Canada. The reason - or, at least, the excuse - was the incoming Digital Serv...
Quackery at the Top: How RFK Jr. Is Rewriting Vaccine Policy
27 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We heard all the promises during the confirmation hearing for Robert F Kennedy Jr. He was not anti-vax. He was not promoting conspiracy theories. He w...
How China Is Exploiting Trump’s Global Blunders
26 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Trump's use of military force in Iran has made his enemies and rivals sit up and take notice - especially those in China who have been evaluating the ...
Why THIS Is The Dumbest Thing Trump Does
25 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The NATO Summit came to a relatively successful conclusion, given the rather limited ambition it had set for itself. But throughout the event, Trump i...
Trump Floats Regime Change As Iran Strikes Back
23 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
All of Trump's team were on message - the US bombing of Iranian nuclear sites was a one-off strike, not a declaration of war, and certainly not direct...
Trump Bombs Iran – Desperately Hopes That’s the End of It
22 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
So the President Trump's United States just dropped a bunch of its 'bunker buster' bombs on the nuclear enrichment sites in Iran. Technically, that me...
Trump Enrages Key Ally Japan – Just As China Unveils A Game Changer
21 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Trump Administration's trademark abrupt bullying has just led to key regional ally Japan cancelling an annual security summit. Between America's s...
Trump ‘Not Ruling Out’ Dropping A Nuke On Iran
20 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
You read that right - The Fordow nuclear enrichment site in Iran, located as it is beneath a mountain, is considered by some in the Pentagon to be so ...
It’s Official - The World Hates Trump’s America
19 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
New research by the Pew Research Centre has looked at worldwide attitudes to President Trump, and as a consequence Trump's America. Some of it won't b...
Trump Broke The World Order - So Is War With Iran Next?
18 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The G7 Summit of 2025 may come to represent the last gasp of the old rules-based world order, condemned to impotence and irrelevance as President Trum...
How Trump Is Breaking the Last Barrier to Dictatorship
17 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The most frequent setbacks to the Trump Administration have been in the courts, up to and including the Supreme Court with its Trump-appointed judges ...
Why Ukraine Made The Iran War Inevitable
16 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The G7 summit is under way in Canada, and the biggest agenda item by far is the war between Israel and Iran. Almost certainly, nothing said or done th...
The Alarming Rise of Political Violence in America
15 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This weekend, we saw the tragic eruption once again of political violence in America. Unfortunately, this is just the extreme end of a growing wave of...
Trump’s Quiet Immigration U-Turn Just Exposed His Weakness
14 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Something happened almost, but not quite, unnoticed. Trump admitted that his administration's approach to its mass deportation project was having a ma...
Israel’s Iran Attack Just Exposed Trump’s Biggest Weakness
13 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Israel has transformed the world geopolitical stage again by launching a direct and sustained assault on Iran. It wrongfooted President Trump by doing...
Trump’s America vs the World: AUKUS, NATO, G7 at Risk
12 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A period of extreme stress has begun for many of the leaders of the free world. Beginning with the announcement from the US that it is throwing the Au...
China Just Taught Trump’s America A Hard Lesson
11 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
China and the US just wrapped up two days of trade talks in London. But the fascinating thing is what they are NOT saying about what was agreed. There...
The Real Reason Trump Sent in the Troops — And What It Sets Up Next
10 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The crisis in LA has deepened since we discussed it two days ago. President Trump doubled the number of National Guard, and added 700 US marines for g...
Why Trump’s Golden Dome Makes The World LESS SAFE
09 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It's a great idea in theory - an impregnable missile defence shield to protect the country from any attack from its numerous enemies around the world....
Trump Sends National Guard To LA - Why It’s Just The Beginning
08 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The use of the National Guard to quell violent protests / riots in LA obviously crosses a line, but it's only the start of a journey that was mapped o...
Leaked Russian Spy Memo Says China Is The Enemy
07 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A leaked FSB briefing document has been revealed - and it is fascinating for what it shows about Russia's REAL attitude to its supposed close ally Chi...
The Musk vs Trump Civil War - Why It’s Bigger Than You Think
06 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Yes, Elon Musk vs Donald Trump - it's very entertaining. The memes are flowing in industrial quantities. But a lot of people are missing just how impo...
China and Germany Manage Trump Like A Toddler
05 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We got a surprise today, when it was suddenly announced that China's President Xi Jinping and President Trump had spoken directly on the phone. And th...
Why The Trump And Musk Explosion Was Inevitable
04 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Everyone - even me - was saying that sooner or later a huge falling out between President Trump and Elon Musk would have to happen. Just when we thoug...
Trump's Ambassador Tells Canada To Quit Moaning!
03 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Trump's Canada ambassador Pete Hoekstra already got noticed by scolding Canadians for boycotting American products in their stores. Now, he's back to ...
Ukraine’s Bold Attack Exposes Trump’s Impotence on Russia
02 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ukraine sat down for more direct talks with Russia today - and that managed not to remotely be the story. More important was Ukraine's dramatic strike...
Even Business Travellers Are Scared Of Trump's America
01 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We've heard about how tourists are either boycotting holiday travel to the US, or are just scared by stories of people being detained for days or week...
Why Trump’s MAGA Is Interfering In Poland Elections
31 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Poland goes to the polls to elect its next president this weekend. And Trump's MAGA movement has been actively campaigning for the candidate it sees a...
Why Did Trump Suddenly Turn On China Again?
30 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Everything seems to have settled down with President Trump's America and China now that they'd climbed down from their maximalist tariff barrage. But ...
Trump’s Tariffs In Disarray - Why This Could Be A Dangerous Moment
29 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
President Trump has been having SO much fun, slapping tariffs on the EU, hitting China, randomly spraying charges on everybody including the penguins....
Will Trump Succeed In Killing Climate Action Worldwide?
28 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We all know that President Trump has taken the decision to end climate action previously being taken by the United States - that is very much his prer...
Trump Quietly Launching Attack On European Democracy
27 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Having told the Middle East, that America wouldn't be telling the world 'how to live their lives', the Trump Administration is launching a very active...
Why Trump is Terrified Of ‘Crazy’ Putin
26 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Fiona Hill was President Trump's Russia advisor in his first term - back when he had advisors who actually knew their subject. In an interview today w...
Gen Z Is ABANDONING Trump
25 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A remarkable feature of the 2024 presidential election was just how much Gen Z voters swung towards Trump, particularly young men. There's a popular n...
Why Insane Trump Tariffs Against EU And Apple Will Backfire
24 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Just when it seemed that things might be stabilising just a bit, Trump posted onto social media and suddenly we're right back into the throes of new t...
The Crucial Lessons From Biden's Decline America Needs To Learn
23 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Books have been landing in recent weeks opening up windows into the behind-the-scenes action around the cognitive decline of US president Joe Biden, a...
Trump Is CLUELESS On What He Just Did To Himself
22 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
So we had another White House Struggle Session this week, this time with Cyril Ramaphosa, the President of South Africa. President Trump's ambush, wat...
Elon Musk Admits It’s Over – No More Political Money
21 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We've known Elon Musk was on his way out for several weeks, but yesterday he added the final straw - he said he was going to cut any political spendin...
The Truth About Trump and Putin's Big Phone Call
20 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
US President Trump and Russian President Putin held their direct call - the one that was supposed to see Trump pushing Putin into embracing a 30-day c...
The UK EU Brexit Reset Deal - Did It Blow Up UK Politics?
19 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The UK and the EU announced a big post-Brexit trade deal today. For some, it was a common sense shift from the original terms of the Brexit deal to ma...
Former US Ambassador To Ukraine SLAMS Trump Betrayal
18 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Bridget Brink was the US Ambassador to Ukraine during the three years post-invasion where the United States was standing relatively firm alongside its...
Trump Ambassador Attacks Canada For Being Mean To America
17 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
So Trump's attempted interference in Canada backfired, and the Liberals' Mark Carney won the recent election. The question is - now what? Can Canada n...
Trump’s Insane Bid To Put Ex FBI Director In Jail - For Free Speech
16 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Every relevant senior member of the Trump cabinet has come out with an attack on former FBI Director James Comey - a truly astonishing exercise in gas...
Why Trump REALLY Lifted Sanctions On Syria
15 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
President Trump has had perhaps his best week so far of his second term, being hosted by some of the richest countries of the world. He has also been ...
How Putin, China And The World Are Learning How To Play Trump
14 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It used to be that the United States, as the dominant world power, was the most powerful driving force behind world events, for better or for worse. I...
Why Trump’s MAGA Base Is FURIOUS With Him
13 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We've been taking it as read that Trump's MAGA base would stay unquestioningly loyal to him no matter what. But that support is starting to splinter. ...
How Trump's Lying Is Making The Whole World Stupid
12 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Yes, yes, we all know Trump lies - so what? Well, the point is that since the US is now bullying the entire world on trade, as well as using its lever...
Why Trump Is Already Panicking About The Midterms
11 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Trump only just completed his first hundred days, so it's a bit early to be thinking about it all ending, right? Except, by all reports, Trump is alre...
Why Trump LOST To China Even Before Talks Started
10 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Having created a major impasse between the US and China with mutual tariff obliteration, Trump has been trying to work out how the US can extract itse...
US Caught Spying On Greenland To Prepare For Takeover
09 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Trump may have (reluctantly) accepted that Canada is not going to fall into his embrace, but he is going full speed ahead in his quest to get Greenlan...
How Trump Bullied Tariffed Nations To Accept Musk’s Starlink
08 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On Trump's so-called 'Liberation Day', a number of countries suddenly discovered that they were to be whacked with massive tariffs from the United Sta...
Why Trump Will Fail — But What Comes After Will Be Worse
07 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Whether in his stated terms, the policy changes he aims to make, or in the Project 2025 actions he's taking to bring in an autocratic system to the US...
The Trump-Style Farage Revolution Coming To The UK?
06 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In elections in Canada and Australia, we saw figures who had been even lightly associated with Donald Trump's MAGA movement losing, whereas before Tru...
Trump’s America Declares A WORLD WAR Against Truth
05 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How do we know if the economy is doing well? There are reliable statistics for that. How do we know what's happening with the climate? There is reliab...
Will Ukraine Rain (Missiles) on Putin’s Parade?
04 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Russia's President Putin is gearing up for the annual grand military parade in Moscow. This year is a big one because it's the 80th anniversary of the...
Trump’s Deportation Blitz Is Failing Badly In The Courts - Why It Matters
03 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On day one, he declared several emergencies. Later, he backed this up by invoking the Alien Enemies Act. This has been an ongoing and deliberate push ...
The MAGA-Inspired Populist Surge That’s Changing Everything
02 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In some places, such as Canada and maybe this weekend Australia, populist-right politicians, although they clearly show the signs of being influenced ...
Ukraine’s Minerals Deal with the US: Hidden Costs, False Promises?
01 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
So Ukraine has finally signed the Minerals Deal with the Trump Administration. And news commentators are full of speculation about how much this deal ...
Tariffs Chaos Shrinks US Economy - And This Is Just The Start
30 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The news arrived today that the US economy has dramatically cratered - shrinking in the first quarter of the year, whereas it had been strongly growin...
The Trump Spoiler Move That May Be Carney's First Big Test
29 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Mark Carney's Liberal Party has won the Canadian election. It was close, but still extraordinary that he was able to turn around the massive deficit t...
What Everyone Missed About This Iconic Moment
28 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The big story about the Pope's funeral - bigger than the event itself on some measures - was a 15 minute one-on-one conversation between Presidents Tr...
Why Trump Is Suddenly Lying About Talking To China
27 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We're used to the idea that Trump lies a lot - I mean, even his supporters know this, although they will use euphemisms to make it sound ok. But WHY h...
Why Elon Musk’s DOGE has been a dismal failure
25 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Musk's time with DOGE is coming to an end - or at least will be massively dialled back. But the fact is that the exercise, which promised so much, see...
Trump's tariff blunders blow up in his face
24 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It's official. Trump's tariffs on the world, but especially on China, are making the whole world poorer. Trump wants China to make a deal - but he set...
Trump’s Meltdown As Ukraine Surrender Plan Fails
23 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
At the start of the day, Marco Rubio and Steve Witkoff were on their way to a top-level meeting in London to discuss President Trump's seven-point "pe...
American Institutions Fight Back Against Trump Power Grab
22 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
President Trump came out of the gates quickly in his second term, testing the limits of his power in all directions at once, and assaulting numerous i...
Pentagon Chaos: Will Trump Finally Fire Pete Hegseth?
21 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Reports are coming into view about complete disarray at the Pentagon under Trump's controversial pick for secretary of defence, Pete Hegseth. He has f...
Should Denmark Throw America Out Of Its Greenland Base?
20 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Answering a question from a Patreon supporter - Should Greenland kick the US out of its one remaining Greenland base, since - if Trump were to make go...
Why Did Trump Suddenly Stop Attacking Canada?
17 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We've been witnessing something really strange over the last three weeks. Trump has been ... silent. OK, only about one thing, but even so. He's been ...
Trump Defies Courts To Lock People Up Without Due Process
15 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Supreme Court ruled decisively 9-0 that the man incorrectly removed from the USA to one of the most notorious prisons in El Salvador, Abrego Garci...
Can the West Trust China More Than Trump?
14 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Trump / China Trade War enters its third week, and the stakes are only getting higher and the measures more intense. While Trump is busy pulling v...
How Trump Is Dismantling Election Protections
13 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If the Trump administration is taking the United States in the direction of autocracy, there are certain steps that you would commonly expect to see b...
Harsh Tariff Truths Sinking In, While MAGA Celebrates Trump 'Genius'
10 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Trump reversed course, and the stock market flowered in response, and everything's now OK, right? Well, except that a lot of damage has been done, mos...