676. Has America Lost the Plot?

Another war in the Middle East. A retreat from the international order. A presidency built on self-dealing and arbitrary power. It’s enough to make you think the U.S. is in a steep decline — but Fareed Zakaria thinks otherwise.

• SOURCES:

• Fareed Zakaria (fareedzakaria.com/about), journalist and author.

• RESOURCES:

• "Iran is an imperial trap. America walked right in (washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/03/13/britain…)." by Fareed Zakaria (The Washington Post, 2026).

• "‘Bomb and hope’ is not a strategy (washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/02/27/iran-re…)," by Fareed Zakaria (The Washington Post, 2026).

• Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present (amzn.to/4g6GXSa), by Fareed Zakaria (2024).

• The Accidental Superpower: The Next Generation of American Preeminence and the Coming Global Disorder (amzn.to/4oh3qOM), by Peter Zeihan (2014).

• The Affluent Society (amzn.to/49ClDAb), by Jonathan Galbraith (1958).

• EXTRAS:

• "Fareed Zakaria on What Just Happened, and What Comes Next (freakonomics.com/podcast/fareed-zakaria-on-wha…)," by Freakonomics Radio (2024).

• "Are We Living Through the Most Revolutionary Period in History? (freakonomics.com/podcast/are-we-living-through…)" by Freakonomics Radio (2024).

• "The Folly of Prediction (freakonomics.com/podcast/the-folly-of-prediction)," by Freakonomics Radio (2011).

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