Trump’s explosive start to 2026 - will Starmer find a backbone?
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hi, this is Pod Safety UK. I'm Nish Kumar. And I'm Coco Karn. Happy New Year, everyone. You know, Nish, I had quite the crestfallen moment earlier this year. Right. Earlier this year. It's the 7th of January as we record. Next week, we're going to do a review of the year podcast. All I'm saying is at the beginning of the year, and it's the hope that always kills you. And I had this feeling of hope. And I think partly I was hungover. So there's that. And I'd been to this. You might be the first person to have feelings of hope on a hangover. I don't get hungover much these days. It's very thrilling for me. And then, you know, I'm at home. I'm in my little bubble watching Stranger Things and see all those pictures of Zora and Mamdani.
That was in the Stranger Things finale. That is confusing. No wonder people on the internet were baffled. They were two separate incidents in my life. Oh, right, fine. I just thought, like, halfway through, they just suddenly cut in some pictures of Mamdani. Anyway, look, I had hope, OK? I had it. I looked at my phone and then I saw the story about the kidnapping of a president by Donald Trump. And in that moment, I was like, oh, here it is. Here's my Joker moment. Never expect things to go well, kids. Listen, we're going to be discussing the latest Trump madness and Starmer's lacklustre response to it with Tommy Beetle from our sister podcast, Pod Save America and Pod Save the World. And on that terrifying note, what other political madness will the new year hold?
Political satirist Cody Darla is here to look ahead at what is going to be a pivotal year in British politics. Now listen, this should not have been a shock. A US president taking military action to influence events in South America is nothing new. Venezuela has been a target for Donald Trump for months now as he dialed up political pressure along with airstrikes on so-called drug smuggling boats and a significant increase of naval power in the region. but somehow he still managed to stun the Prime Minister as he escalated to the kidnap of a president. Because all we've had from Keir Starmer so far is a pretty weak response to Nicolas Maduro's de facto removal from power. Now, listen, we're sort of obliged to make these comments, but this is not to celebrate Nicolas Maduro.
A 2018 Amnesty International report accused his government of committing some of the worst human rights violations in Venezuela's history, and his authoritarian rule has continued unabated since then, His most recent election victory is widely considered to have been a massive fraud. The new Venezuelan government, which is essentially the old government with interim president and Maduro ally Delcy Rodriguez in charge, has put armed police and army on the streets to quash any protest. There's been a huge amount of sort of moralising in the press, but the tone of it is deeply strange. There is this element of the conversation where people are saying, this is not how we do things, OK? This is not how you institute regime change if you're the president of America.
What you do is you embed the CIA in the country for several years and engage in a campaign of disinformation and destabilisation that eventually leads to... the leader being assassinated, or you make wild claims in a dossier that you take to the United Nations. That is how we do things, not this. There's been an element of people sort of deeming it a bit uncouth in the methodology, not the actual actions itself. I guess the question on everybody's lips is what is going to happen next, because this isn't obviously just about Venezuela, though what has happened in Venezuela is absolutely appalling. It's about Greenland, which looks to be the next likely Trump takeover target, with the White House statement repeating that acquiring the country is a national security priority and that using the military is always an option.
It's also about Ukraine, where a peace deal seems closer than it's ever been. And it's about how the UK stands on the world stage at a time where three global superpowers are flexing their muscles and we absolutely are not one of those three powers.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:02–3:49
2
What recent actions has Trump taken regarding Venezuela?
3:49–14:33
3
How does Trump's approach impact NATO and international relations?
14:33–26:20
4
What are the implications of Trump's interest in Greenland?
26:20–39:16
5
What is Keir Starmer's response to Trump's actions?
39:16–55:45
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