Robert Kagan: We’re Transitioning to a Post-American World

In this pivotal episode of The Bulwark Podcast, host Tim Miller engages in a sobering conversation with foreign policy expert Robert Kagan about the geopolitical fallout of Donald Trump's aggressive military campaign against Iran. Kagan argues that the U.S. is not only failing to achieve its strategic objectives but is actively dismantling the post-World War II international order it once helped build. He warns that the war has accelerated America's isolation, undermined NATO, and emboldened adversaries like China and Russia. Despite overwhelming military superiority, the U.S. cannot finish the war without a costly ground invasion, which it refuses to undertake—leaving Iran intact and the Strait of Hormuz under Iranian influence. Kagan emphasizes that the war was not driven by national security interests but by Trump’s transactional politics, personal ego, and a reckless desire for glory. He also highlights how the U.S. has alienated allies in Europe and Asia, with South Korea and Japan now considering nuclear armament and strategic realignment. The episode concludes with a chilling warning: the U.S. may now be on the brink of a post-American world, where its credibility is shattered and the risk of nuclear escalation—especially under a mentally declining Trump—has dramatically increased.