Sep 18, 2026 · 1h 2m
Listen from 45:22
Listen at 45:22
Private networks reshape Trump’s foreign policy
Anne Applebaum: Globalized MAGA Kleptocracy
The episode argues that informal power brokers and opaque deals are weakening diplomatic accountability while pushing America’s allies to hedge against U.S. instability.
- 1Trump-aligned networks are turning technology, energy, cryptocurrency, and soft power into instruments of ideological influence abroad.
- 2Greenland, Brazil, and Venezuela illustrate how private actors and opaque asset control can blur foreign policy with commercial interests.
- 3Pressure on Ukraine and escalating Russian operations are accelerating Europe’s search for security and economic relationships beyond Washington.
Don't miss
Applebaum’s account of Greenland as an influence operation shows private American actors using threats, proposed data centers, and political pressure to reshape another society.
The brief
Anne Applebaum and Tim Miller examine a foreign policy increasingly shaped by billionaires, corporate interests, informal envoys, and ideological networks rather than traditional diplomatic institutions.
From Greenland and Brazil to Venezuela, the conversation follows how pressure campaigns, private projects, and unaccountable control of assets turn foreign policy into a vehicle for influence and profit.
The episode links Russian connections around Trump allies to proposed Ukraine negotiations, arguing that prospective business deals can obscure the human consequences of occupation and surrender.
Applebaum describes Russia’s expanding drone and sabotage campaign while Europe, India, and other partners hedge against an America they no longer assume will remain reliable.
The central warning is that transactional alliances and MAGA nationalism are not merely changing Washington’s style; they are prompting allies to build alternatives beyond the United States.
What was said on this episode
35 statements · 2 positive · 30 negative · 2 mixed · 1 neutral
Trump’s ballroom project changes the White House’s meaning and undermines its original architectural intentions.
“by destroying it, by building a monstrosity next door to it, Donald Trump has changed its meaning and changed the way it looks and changed that original, the original intentions of the architect.”
Listen at 3:31
Trump administration revolutionaries seek foreign allies to consolidate their domestic political project.
“they need to create a world where they lots of friends and allies who agree with them, and it will help them continue to build the revolution.”
Listen at 6:36
Trump-aligned officials seek imperial U.S. dominance across the Western Hemisphere.
“they think the US should be dominant. And I mean dominant as in, as in an imperial kind of dominance in the hemisphere”
Listen at 7:08
Trump’s political project operates with support from major technology, cryptocurrency, energy, and minerals companies.
“this revolution is taking place in conjunction with, and with the help of, a number of large companies”
Listen at 7:31
Some companies use U.S. governmental and diplomatic power to pursue profits.
“They have a group of companies who are using the power of the US government and the power of US diplomacy and maybe even other things to make money.”
Listen at 8:16
State Department ideologues aim to convert soft-power programs into MAGA nationalist instruments.
“to make them tools of this kind of MAGA nationalist international.”
Listen at 10:45
A proposed Greenland data center would probably melt permafrost.
“There's a guy who wants to build a data center in Greenland, even though it would probably melt the permafrost”
Listen at 13:08
Private companies fund a U.S. influence operation seeking to subvert Greenland’s social system.
“there's this huge US influence operation being funded by private companies trying to reach Greenlandic politicians, trying to influence the way people think, offering people huge amounts of money in a, in a place where people don't have it, um, all with the aim of subverting the existing social system in Greenland and imposing something else.”
Listen at 13:50
U.S. foreign policy is currently aimed at subverting Greenland.
“it's now really US foreign policy is to subvert Greenland.”
Listen at 14:24
The Trump administration wants the Bolsonaro family to return to power in Brazil.
“I think basically the You know, the administration would like the, the Bolsonaro family to return to power”
Listen at 17:47
The United States is overtly intervening in Brazilian politics.
“we would intervene in Brazilian politics in such an overt way”
Listen at 18:27
Venezuelan oil revenues under U.S. control lack audits tracking inflows and outflows.
“there is no audit of how much money is going in, and there is no audit of how much money comes out again and goes back to the Venezuelan government”
Listen at 23:03
Private diversion of Venezuelan revenues cannot be ruled out.
“I don't know whether money is disappearing into private bank accounts or elsewhere, but I also don't know that that's not happening.”
Listen at 23:25
Donald Trump appointed Delcy Rodriguez rather than her being elected.
“Delcy Rodriguez was not elected by anybody. She was appointed by Donald Trump.”
Listen at 23:49
The Venezuelan oil deal appears to be entrenching the existing regime.
“it looks like the regime is being cemented into place.”
Listen at 26:42
Venezuela’s repressive apparatus remains largely intact.
“everybody knows that this repressive apparatus is still in place.”
Listen at 27:31
The Russian-funded wedding event would trigger a major FBI investigation under another administration.
“in any other administration, any other country, this would be a huge scandal and the FBI would be investigating.”
Listen at 31:32
The FBI is unlikely to investigate Kremlev’s wedding-event funding under this administration.
“But will that happen in this administration? I don't think so.”
Listen at 31:39
Russian occupation brings killings, arrests, language suppression, and child abductions in Ukraine.
“the leaders are killed, there are mass arrests, the Russian language is imposed on everybody, Ukrainian is banned, people who have Ukrainian flags or, or symbols can be arrested in the street, and children are kidnapped and taken to Russia where they're trained to be in the Russian army.”
Listen at 33:49
Russia may seek Ukrainian withdrawal followed by another invasion.
“what it looks like the Russians want is for the Ukrainians to, you know, give up something, withdraw, and then they wait a little while and then they invade again.”
Listen at 34:38
Russia has manipulated Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff through negotiations.
“the Russians have played them like a fiddle.”
Listen at 35:38
Russia has dangled lucrative business deals before Kushner and Witkoff during negotiations.
“the Russians have dangled these supposedly lucrative deals in front of them.”
Listen at 35:41
Kushner and Witkoff appear willing to trade Ukrainian safety for Russian business benefits.
“they are, you know, prepared to believe that they can get all this stuff if they just get the Ukrainians to, you know, allow more of their people to be murdered and more, uh, more children kidnapped.”
Listen at 36:42
The United States risks becoming an untrustworthy partner to Gulf states.
“the US proves to be an untrustworthy partner even to the Gulf states.”
Listen at 41:56
U.S. unreliability would permanently alter regional perceptions of America.
“Then that will change the way people think about the US in the region forever.”
Listen at 42:04
Russia is conducting frequent drone attacks openly targeting civilians in Ukraine.
“they're, they're now very, very frequent. So they're these constant drone attacks, and they're not really hiding anymore that these are on civilian targets.”
Listen at 42:59
Russia is not currently winning on Ukraine’s front line.
“the Russians are not winning on the front line.”
Listen at 43:52
The Russia-Ukraine war is accelerating.
“The war is actually accelerating.”
Listen at 44:07
Putin is accelerating and escalating the war despite discussing territorial concessions.
“he's accelerating and escalating.”
Listen at 44:20
Russian drone and sabotage activity in Europe is escalating.
“that's all escalating as well.”
Listen at 44:35
Most European populist parties are pro-Russian.
“not all the populist parties, but most of them are pro-Russian.”
Listen at 51:03
Elements of the Trump administration and far-right technology figures support the AfD.
“the AfD is also supported by elements of the Trump administration and by the, and by the far-right tech guys.”
Listen at 51:40
U.S. allies are hedging by seeking alternative international deals.
“everybody I talked to is hedging. Like, everybody's looking for who can we do deals with.”
Listen at 55:28
India and Europe have established a trade deal amid broader geopolitical hedging.
“there's now an India-Europe trade deal, for example, which nobody really cared enough about 5 years ago to bother with.”
Listen at 55:35
Leaders of longstanding U.S. allies are considering ways to distance themselves from America.
“there is no leader of any long-standing American ally who doesn't right now spend a lot of time thinking about how to, you know, put a brake, you know, or how to distance, you know, himself or herself from the United States.”
Listen at 56:02
Statements are attributed to the speaker as said on the episode and reflect their view at the time, not PodLume's. They are not advice.
