Ukraine's comedian cabinet. As Russia threatens to invade, Ukraine's president is looking to defend his homeland... with a bit of humor. In recent months Volodymyr Zelenskiy — who was a famous comedian before he entered politics, and even played the role of president in a TV series before his 2019 election — has hired members of his old comedy troupe to occupy top positions in his government, including intelligence chief. Zelenskiy is known to crack jokes in moments of extreme tension, and last summer mocked Vladimir Putin for writing a long essay describing Russia and Ukraine as a fraternal single nation. While supporters say Ukraine's president wants his former buddies because they'll be loyal, critics argue that the bad optics of a government being run by comedians who may be out of their depth when faced with a master political strategist like Vladimir Putin. With 100,000 Russian troops at their border, the last thing the Ukrainians need is a bad joke, or even worse an amateur mistake that Putin can use to his advantage.
As America Turns 250, Ian explains why the country's current divisions aren't as unprecedented as they may seem.
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer is returning to your screens this week, kicking off Season 9 in a summer of sweltering global tensions. The United States is celebrating its 250th birthday, a war has reshaped the Middle East, AI is forcing humanity to confront profound ethical choices, and democracies around the world are bracing for what comes next. Host Ian Bremmer is here to make sense of it all.
The US president still has most of his term left and no shortage of disruptive fervor. But the fallout of the Liberation Day tariffs and the Iran war show that his power is limited – and it will be for the rest of his term.
Bill Maher says Donald Trump has pushed the limits of presidential power, but America's system of checks and balances is still holding.