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<p>Ben and guest cohost Alyona Minkovski, PSTW's senior producer, try to make sense of the many contradictions and threats coming from President Trump and his administration on Iran, like reports that he wants to make the Strait of Hormuz everyone else’s problem to solve, and claims that regime change has already happened. Then they juxtapose the incoherence with the very real consequences of the war on people's lives, from American troops being deployed to the Middle East, to the normalization of targeting civilian infrastructure. They also defend spring breakers featured in a Fox News segment, call out Pete Hegseth for personally interfering in the military promotions of women and Black soldiers, ask how the increasingly spotty internet connection in Moscow could affect support for Putin, question the US policy towards Cuba, and do a special reading from former French President Nicolas Sarkozy.</p><p>At the end of the show, Ben speaks with Nika Kovač, Slovenian activist and founding director of<a href="https://www.instagram.com/myvoicemychoiceorg/"> My Voice My Choice</a>, about private intelligence agency Blackcube’s interference in Slovenia’s election, the outlook for the government following very close results, and what she’s learned from years of opposing authoritarianism.</p><p>For a closed-captioned version of this episode, <a href="https://youtu.be/hzn2-yo7fM8">click here</a>. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.</p><p>Preorder Ben’s book <a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/all-we-say-the-battle-for-american-identity-a-history-in-15-speeches-ben-rhodes/c9d9b22b61e6fd44?ean=9780593595121&next=t">All We Say: The Battle for American Identity: A History in 15 Speeches</a> and subscribe to his Substack <a href="https://benrhodes1.substack.com/p/notes-on-the-stories-we-tell?r=7jalf&utm_medium=ios&shareImageVariant=overlay&utm_source=ig&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMjU2MjgxMDQwNTU4AAGnk2XQpGCmzcvVGkeFlK9dqpiOZOtrjYa6vZNZOGIUYKNGWNuwRdTS-TcWTxc_aem_CO-34uPQ7U7nZXxTI-IbdQ&triedRedirect=true">here</a>. (edited) </p></div>

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