American Prestige

Daniel Bessner & Derek Davison

A podcast from Daniel Bessner and Derek Davison that provides listeners with everything they need to know about what’s going on in the world.

  • 43 minutes 31 seconds
    AP x Nonzero - Will Trump Go Full-On Authoritarian? w/ Robert Wright

    It's another edition of the bi-monthly collaboration between AP and Nonzero Newsletter continues! For the full version of this episode, subscribe now at Supporting Cast, where you'll also get a discounted subscription for Nonzero Newsletter!


    Part one video

    0:00 Another high-synergy, brilliant collaboration

    1:15 Is Elon our first true oligarch? 

    9:57 Trump assembles his Justice League of hawks

    16:29 Biden’s awful foreign policy team

    21:25 Trump’s plan to purge the military 

    33:06 Will Trump go full-on authoritarian?

    40:21 Left-wing capitalists—and a discount offer

    15 November 2024, 7:29 pm
  • 40 minutes 26 seconds
    News - UN Petrol State Climate Summit, Israel Ready to Annex Palestinian Territories, Japanese PM Remains in Power

    Your weekly news roundup from two happy warriors. This week: struggles at the UN COP29 climate change conference (1:48), not the least of which is the incoming climate denier president of the US (5:45); in Israel-Palestine, the US shockingly doesn't follow through on its 30-day humanitarian aid deadline (7:57), Trump appointments signal imminent formal annexation of Palestinian territories (12:24), and Qatar withdraws from ceasefire talks (16:48); in Lebanon, Israel is working on a ceasefire as a "gift" for Trump (18:33); Xi and Biden to meet in China (21:35); the Japanese government survives a confirmation vote (23: 45); a new report on horrifying death toll figures in the Sudan war (25:48); in Russia-Ukraine, Russia pushers to retake Kursk (28:01) while Europe and Ukraine show new flexibility to exchange land for a peace deal (30:25); Germany prepares for a snap election in February in the wake of the government coalition collapsing (32:38); in Haiti, the transitional council fires the PM (34:44) while the US bans flights there (36:15); and Trump announces a number of new appointments for his second term (37:35).

    Subscribe now at Supporting Cast for more content like our election-related specials:



    15 November 2024, 10:00 am
  • 4 minutes 14 seconds
    Special - What Would Secretary of State Marco Rubio Look Like? w/ Steven Cohen (Preview)

    Danny and Derek speak with Steven Cohen, PhD candidate in history, working on drug war political economy in the Americas, about what we might see if, as expected, Marco Rubio is named as secretary of state in the new Trump administration.

    Subscribe now for the full episode!

    13 November 2024, 4:35 pm
  • 50 minutes 15 seconds
    E184 - Studying the Far Right w/ Benji Rolsky

    Historian Benji Rolsky speaks with Danny about how others in their profession have thought about the far right, a subset of history which has expanded greatly in the last decade or so. They explore how the study of the far right might be "broken", anti-fundamentalism, Christian nationalism, the episodic nature of this field, and how Trump might have changed the historiography.

    Read Benji's piece "Why the Study of the Right is Broken": Part 1 and Part 2.

    Also check out his book The Rise and Fall of the Religious Left: Politics, Television, and Popular Culture in the 1970s and Beyond.

    Subscribe to the show for more episodes and content!

    12 November 2024, 10:00 am
  • 55 minutes 51 seconds
    Special - The 2024 US Presidential Election (Unlocked)

    This is a re-post of an special episode we did for subscribers on Wednesday, November 6. Subscribe now for immediate access to breaking news specials and much more content.

    Danny and Derek jump on the mic to break down Donald Trump's decisive election victory. Topics include the crisis of liberalism, the end of the road for the Democrats' status quo, what Trump and Vance mean for American foreign policy, the Boomers and members of the Silent Generation holding onto power, and the profound alienation of our time.

    10 November 2024, 5:21 pm
  • 8 minutes 12 seconds
    Bonus - The CIA and Time Magazine w/ Simon Willmetts (Preview)

    Danny and Derek chat with Simon Willmetts, associate professor of intelligence studies at Leiden University, about his recent piece for Diplomatic History, "The CIA and Time Magazine: Journalistic Ethics and Newsroom Dissent". The group discusses the subfield of intelligence history, public awareness of intelligence organizations, why the scope Time and Life magazines in the mid-20th century and why the CIA would want to collude with such publications, the development of journalistic ethics in light of journalistic connections with the national security state, and more.

    Further reading:


    Subscribe now for the full episode!

    10 November 2024, 2:23 pm
  • 54 minutes 2 seconds
    News - Ethnic Cleansing in Northern Gaza, German Government Collapses, Potential End to Ukraine War

    Heads of state come and go, but not all of them make the news roundup with Danny and Derek. This week: in Palestine-Israel, Netanyahu fires defense minister Gallant (0:57), a leak scandal involving Netanyahu's office (6:36), an update on the humanitarian situation in northern Gaza (8:52), and the IDF appears to admit to committing ethnic cleansing (13:05); in Lebanon, the ceasefire push collapses (15:39), the IDF looks to create a "buffer zone" (17:46), and the Washington Post reports that Israeli evacuation warnings are misleading civilians (19:31); in Iran, Supreme Leader Khamenei threatens an attack on Israel (27:19); a new report details the mistreatment of migrant workers in Arabian Gulf states (30:35); the DPRK/North Korea conducts a new ICBM test (33:09); new RSF massacres in Sudan (36:41); in Russia-Ukraine, North Korean soldiers join combat operations (38:35), future concerns in the US about how the war will be conducted under Trump (41:38), and Russia floats the possibility of ending the war (44:36); the German government collapses (46:59); and in Bolivia, protesters supporting former president Evo Morales pause roadblocks amid clashes with the police (49:54).

    Subscribe now for more content, including our two post-election specials:


    8 November 2024, 2:21 pm
  • 9 minutes 25 seconds
    Special - The U.S. Presidential Election, the Latino Vote, and the Deportation Regime w/ Alexander Aviña (Preview)

    Alexander Aviña, associate professor of history at Arizona State University, joins Danny and Derek to talk about narratives forming around the election regarding a Latino shift to the right, Biden and Trump's respective records on the border, whether Trump will be able to carry out his threats of mass deportation, right-wing anti-migrant rhetoric vs. businesses that depend on that labor force, and more.

    Subscribe now for the full episode!

    8 November 2024, 1:49 am
  • 11 minutes 5 seconds
    Special - The 2024 US Presidential Election (Preview)

    Danny and Derek jump on the mic to break down Donald Trump's decisive election victory. Topics include the crisis of liberalism, the end of the road for the Democrats' status quo, what Trump and Vance mean for American foreign policy, the Boomers and members of the Silent Generation holding onto power, and the profound alienation of our time.

    Subscribe now for the full episode!

    When you subscribe now, you'll get access to the AP Discord to connect with fellow subscribers and members of the AP team.

    6 November 2024, 6:03 pm
  • 57 minutes 26 seconds
    E183 - Foreign Policy and the 2024 US Presidential Election w/ Eli Clifton

    Danny and Derek welcome back to the program Eli Clifton, senior advisor and investigative journalist at large at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, to talk about the role of foreign policy in US presidential elections (namely tomorrow's). They talk about chatter on the ground regarding Palestine/Lebanon, whether the Democrats are capable of "learning lessons" from a loss, how to once again make FP relevant to American voters, the broken discourse around China, how money in politics defines the parameters of FP discussion in Washington, and more.

    Subscribe now at Supporting Cast

    Subscribers can check out our 2022 episode with Eli on think tanks.

    4 November 2024, 8:01 pm
  • 10 minutes 22 seconds
    Bonus - Trump, Isolationism, and a Democrat-Led "America First" Agenda w/ Charles Kupchan (Preview)

    Danny and Derek speak with Charles Kupchan, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and professor of international affairs at Georgetown University, about his essay for Foreign Affairs "The Deep Roots of Trump’s Isolationism". They define "isolationism" and whether Trump even knows what that is, then discuss the history of American intervention, the so-called rules-based order, anti-democratic liberalism, the necessity of maintaining American interests abroad, the implications of the Cold War triumph of capitalism, and more.

    Subscribe now for the full episode at Supporting Cast!


    3 November 2024, 1:42 pm
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