Episode Details

Michael McFaul discusses the Mar-a-Lago meeting between Trump and Xi, supporting the concept of "peace through strength" but emphasizing that engaging autocrats should not mean abandoning democratic values. He argues that the United States must work harder to keep allies united and should explicitly advocate for human rights during high-level meetings. Raising individual cases of repression, such as that of Jimmy Lai in Hong Kong, serves to inspire "small D democrats" living under tyranny. McFaul advocates for a self-help alliance system among democracies to counter cooperation between Russia, China, and Iran. (6)