Day: July 29, 2026

The Increasing Likelihood Trump Will Escalate His War on Iran

We begin with the increasing likelihood Trump will escalate the war on Iran after Iran struck U.S. targets in Jordan and after his meeting yesterday with PM Netanyahu who undoubtedly wants Trump to finish the job. Joining us is Paul Pillar who served for 30 years as an analyst at the CIA, in which his last position was National Intelligence Officer for the Near East and South Asia. Previously, he served as chief of analytic units at the CIA covering portions of the Near East, the Persian Gulf, and South Asia. He has also headed the Assessments and Information Group of the DCI Counterterrorist Center, and was deputy chief of the center. Paul Pillar is currently a nonresident senior fellow of the Center for Security Studies at Georgetown University and an Associate Fellow at the Geneva Center for Security Policy and a nonresident fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. His latest book is Beyond the Water’s Edge How Partisanship Corrupts U.S. Foreign Policy and he has an article at Responsible Statecraft, “With Trump distracted by Iran, Netanyahu is squeezing Gaza”

Where Refugees From the MAGA Movement Which Has Captured the GOP Can Find a Home

Then with some MAGA figures like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Laura Loomer changing or modifying their political positions, we look into where refugees from the MAGA movement which has captured the GOP might find a home and speak with Rich Logis who spent seven years as a devoted MAGA activist, pundit and podcaster. He left the movement in 2022 after becoming disillusioned with its extremism and negative impact on American democracy. Not content to simply walk away, Rich founded Leaving MAGA in 2024. Through public speaking, writing, and media appearances, he works fervently to support those seeking a path out of radicalization. Rich refers to himself as a born-again human being, and believes that empathy and understanding are necessary to reduce political polarization. He is the author of One Betrayal Too Many: Why I Left MAGA.

Dr. Fauci Takes the 5th at Senator’s Paul’s Ambush Designed to Feed Red Meat to the Anti-Vaxxer, Conspiracy Theorists, Quacks and Crackpots

Then finally we will assess whether Dr. Fauci’s taking the 5th in response to Senator Rand Paul’s ambush of him today will work in the scientist’s favor or be red meat for the anti-vaxxers, conspiracy theorists, quacks and crackpots. Joining us is Thomas Bollyky, the Bloomberg Chair in Global Health and Senior Fellow for International Economics Law and Development at the Council on Foreign Relations and senior consultant for the Coalition for Epidemic preparedness Innovations. He is the author of Plagues and the Paradox of Progress: Why the World is Getting Healthier in Worrisome Ways and the founder and managing editor of Think Global Health, an online magazine that examines the ways health shapes economies, societies, and everyday lives around the world. He has a recent article at the Council on Foreign Relations, “The Biotech Race: Can America Stay Ahead of China?”