The Madman Theory from Nixon to Trump
Episode description
Is Donald Trump mad? Or is he a practitioner of the Madman Theory — and therefore not mad at all?
James D. Boys, author of U.S. Grand Strategy and the Madman Theory: From Nixon to Trump, argues that the Madman Theory is not madness, but the performance of madness: a tactic by which a sane leader feigns irrationality to make an adversary believe there is even a one percent chance of overwhelming, disproportionate force.
In this new Conflicted Conversation, Boys explains:
- What the Madman Theory means
- Donald Trump, unpredictability and Trump Derangement Syndrome
- Nuclear strategy, Eisenhower, and Cold War brinkmanship
- Barry Goldwater, the Cuban Missile Crisis and the politics of nuclear fear
- Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger and the Madman Theory in Vietnam
- Trump’s use of Madman tactics against North Korea, Iran, NATO and trade partners
- Whether Trump’s second-term grand strategy is chaos, coercion or calculated geopolitical pressure
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Conflicted is a Message Heard production.
Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren.
This episode was produced and edited by Thomas Small.
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