Amb. Susan Rice on Trump’s “Grand Theft Larceny"
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What insights does Susan Rice share about Trump's leadership style?
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The American people are basically telling the president that they are not okay with any of this.
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We have in the White House somebody who feels unconstrained by law, by the Constitution, and by anything. And as long as that persists, we're going to be in great peril domestically, but internationally as well. We are, Nicole, doing what I have called committing superpower suicide.
Hi, everyone, and welcome to the best people podcast. This week's guest is a woman in Florida for she served as the United States ambassador to the United Nations. She served as President Barack Obama's national security adviser. She served as President Joe Biden's head of the Domestic Policy Council. She's written about her personal journey to all those powerful places. in a way that shares more humanity than most people in public life. Without any further ado, this is The Best People Podcast, and this is Susan Rice. Thank you for being here. It's great to be with you, Nicole. Thank you. I think of you as sort of the proverbial badass who's done it all and seen it all. But I also think of you as someone who has written about what it feels like to be in a position of power and what it feels like to have a family divided by our politics and someone who really doesn't just observe our polarization, but is sort of seeing what it's doing to every corner and facet of American life.
And before we get to your thoughts and your counsel and your wisdom, what are you feeling in this moment?
Honestly, like many people, I'm feeling angry. I'm feeling despair. And I'm feeling deep, deep concern about the direction of our country and our role in the world. At the same time, I really do believe that we've been through very, very difficult times in our past. And we are an incredibly resilient country. And nobody has ever won. over the long term, betting against the United States' ability to renew and grow. But we are testing that proposition now, I think, more than any other time in my lifetime. The problem is, and this is what distinguishes this moment from the past, is we now have leadership in the White House that is hell-bent and determined to exercise power in a way that bears no relationship to the Constitution and to the rule of law, and that is about pure power accumulation and wealth accumulation for a very narrow elite few, and at the expense of the basic rights and liberties of American citizens.
How does Susan Rice describe the current state of American democracy?
And so it's a very, very serious moment, and we're not going to get through it simply by, you know, Watching the news and complaining to our friends, we're going to have to stand up together across the political spectrum, people of all backgrounds who believe in the Constitution and believe in the rule of law and insist that they be upheld.
You write in your memoir about polarization being a national security vulnerability for our country. Will you explain?
Yeah, what I was saying, and this was now almost seven years ago, that a country that is so bitterly divided on political lines, on geographic lines, on so many other dimensions, and has leaders that are willing to exploit those divides rather than try to define common ground, makes us a country far less capable of exercising our interests and defending and advancing our interests on the global stage. It's very hard to... Stand up against an adversary like Russia, for example, if we've got leadership and the whole segment of our society that has lionized Vladimir Putin and turned him into some great upholder of Christian values and masculine identity. and therefore creating the illusion that somehow we should be acting in a way that is consonant with the interests of Russia and against the interests of our traditional allies who share our values.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What insights does Susan Rice share about Trump's leadership style?
0:01–3:11
2
How does Susan Rice describe the current state of American democracy?
3:11–7:00
3
What examples does Rice provide of Trump's foreign policy decisions?
7:00–10:07
4
How does polarization affect national security according to Susan Rice?
10:07–12:58
5
What concerns does Rice express about Trump's relationship with NATO?
12:58–15:28
6
How does Susan Rice view the implications of Trump's actions on civil liberties?
15:28–18:28
7
What are the potential consequences of Trump's foreign policy on global alliances?
18:28–21:34
8
What actions does Susan Rice recommend for Americans to protect their rights?
21:34–52:27
Speakers
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Marc Elias: We’re Not Heading Towards the Precipice — “We’re There”
Brian Driscoll on the Hollowing Out of the FBI: "It's Devastating”