Source: Radio New Zealand
America has pulled out of the World Health Organisation as Donald Trump continues to reshape the world order.
It comes as he threatens to slap Canada with a 100 percent tariff if it does a trade deal with China and as NATO still reels from his demands to take Greenland.
Barack Obama’s former speechwriter and host of the podcast Pod Save America Jon Favreau, told RNZ that Trump’s actions were now driven by a desire to leave a legacy.
Favreau told Midday Report’s Guyon Espiner that he had been surprised by how easily Trump had disrupted the world order, as very few people stood up to him.
“I think the framers of the Constitution, the one thing they didn’t really count on was this sort of extreme polarisation and the idea that one party would just decide to give up on providing any kind of check on the president’s power,” he said.
“I think if we were to ascribe some kind of strategy to Trump – and again, I hesitate to do that – I do think he’s someone who he wants to dominate other people. He wants more land, more money, more everything.
“You can tell now he’s sort of looking for this legacy, and he believes his legacy is, how much territory he has and, how many people can be made to respect him and bow down to him.
“It’s not dissimilar to other authoritarian leaders, both around the world right now and throughout history. It is the same mindset that also becomes a political programme, whether it is conscious or not.”
Favreau also said he was concerned that the Five Eyes intelligence sharing network – which New Zealand is part of – was at risk under Trump’s second term in power.
This White House handout photo shows US President Barack Obama meeting with Director of Speechwriting Jon Favreau in the Oval Office of the White House to review a speech, on April 14, 2009. PETE SOUZA / AFP / WHITE HOUSE
However, he believed that within US agencies, there were people who were not beholden to Trump.
“I think that once you get a couple levels down in the administration and the federal government here, you still have career people.
“I think especially in the intelligence agencies and the Defence Department and the State Department, if they haven’t been purged yet, who are professionals.
“I do worry about… we have a national intelligence director and a CIA director and a secretary of state… who are all very, very loyal to Trump and would never cross him. But I do think once you get a couple levels down, you do have people who are still more loyal to the Constitution and the global order than they are to the personal whims of one president.”
US President Donald Trump. Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images via CNN Newsource
Regarding the 2026 mid-term elections in the United States, Favreau was confident they were not under threat.
“I think they will happen, partly because in our system, the federal government does not run or control the elections. They are controlled by the states that they’re in.
“But my concern is less that the midterm elections won’t happen. It is that the midterm elections do happen. It is a polarised environment. We have close elections here already. And if control of the House or control of the Senate comes down to a couple districts or a state or two where it’s very close, then you see the federal government potentially stepping in and trying to say, the vote was rigged or this or that.
“So I worry more about what happens after the election than whether the election occurs. I think that if the Democrats do win the House, then Trump never passes another law again. So that is one way to check his power.
“I also think they can start to not just hold hearings, but and subpoena Trump officials to come testify, but also subpoena documents. So I think that could check his power and hold the Trump administration accountable in some way.”
If the Democrats win the Senate, Favreau said, they could prevent the President from nominating and confirming more judges.
“You can slow him down, I think, in the midterms if Democrats are successful in the midterms. And I actually do think that is, it’s quite meaningful and quite necessary. So, but I don’t think it’s a cure-all. I think that comes in 2028. And we have to win that election for sure.”
Favreau’s podcast, Pod Save America, reaches more than 1.5 million listeners per episode on average.
He said the conversational format was what attracted audiences.
“You have more time. There’s more time for nuance and subtlety, and to sort of dissect complex issues and to have sort of complex views on different issues.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
