As Trump vows to resume nuclear explosive testing, Hans Kristensen — Director of the Nuclear Information Project at FAS, the world’s most authoritative source on global nuclear arsenals — joins host Barry Stevens for an urgent conversation. Kristensen calls the move “chest-thumping,” with no strategic justification, warning it would likely trigger a disastrous chain reaction of testing by China and others.
In part two of this interview, historian Peter Kuznick — co-author (with Oliver Stone) of The Untold History of the United States — joins Barry Stevens to reflect on the USA’s lost chances for peace. He traces a throughline from the sidelining of VP Henry Wallace to the aggressive Cold War policies of Eisenhower and Reagan, who, while avoiding outright nuclear war, escalated militarism to unprecedented levels. Today’s panic over China, Kuznick argues, revives that same dangerous playbook — but with even fewer constraints and less public awareness.
In part one, Peter Kuznick warns that Trump 2.0 is more dangerous than the original. The generals and advisors who once called him a “moron” are gone — replaced by sycophants in what Kuznick calls a “kakistocracy,” government by the worst people. From threatening to seize Panama, Greenland, and Canada to leading the most corrupt administration in U.S. history, Trump now faces little resistance from Congress, courts, or his own party. Kuznick and Barry Stevens explore how the takeover of cultural institutions mirrors past fascist movements — and how America’s lack of historical memory leaves it vulnerable to repeating old disasters. The most urgent threat: Trump’s unpredictable stance on Ukraine could trigger the war he claims to oppose.
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