Podcasts · The David Frum Show

Trump’s War With Iran and a New Danger at Home

4 Mar 2026 · 53 min · Episode 49

On this week’s episode of “The David Frum Show,” The Atlantic’s David Frum discusses the recent shooting in Austin. David warns that the shooting is an example of how Trump could use the threat of terror from Iran to crack down on American freedoms.

Then David is joined by The Atlantic’s Tom Nichols to discuss the outbreak of war between the United States and Iran. David and Tom discuss Trump’s motives for launching another regime-change war and assess the competence of the administration to achieve its goals. They discuss the mistakes that were made in Iraq by the Bush administration and how, 23 years later, none of those lessons seems to have been learned. David and Tom wonder if the Trump administration has any plan for an end game in Iran, and discuss how not having one could lead to suffering among the Iranian people and turmoil in the region. Frum and Nichols observe that the United States has embarked on a costly state-building project— but the question of whether the Trump administration realizes that is a different matter.

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