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US President Donald Trump receives a nomination letter after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told him he nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize, during a bilateral dinner at the White House in Washington, D.C., USA, on July 7, 2025.
Is MAGA bailing on Bibi?
The past few days have brought an unusually firm trickle of criticism of Israel from the Trump administration and its allies.
Senior White House officials are reportedly unhappy about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s conduct in Syria, where Israel has launched a wave of airstrikes on behalf of the Druze minority there. One source even told a reporter that the Israeli leader had “acted like a madman.” This came after Israel’s shelling of a church in Gaza last week drew criticism from the right as well. And US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, normally a staunch Israel supporter, called for “harsh consequences” after Israeli settlers launched a deadly attack on a Christian Palestinian village.
This isn’t the first time that Netanyahu has irked Trump. In January 2020, the Israeli leader caught his US counterpart off guard when he suggested at a White House event that he would annex the West Bank and the Jordan Valley, contravening the peace plan that Trump was proposing. Netanyahu also angered the former “Apprentice” star when he congratulated former President Joe Biden on his election win later that year.
Still, let’s keep things in perspective. Trump remains a staunch Israel ally – his decision to join Israel in bombing Iran last month is a testament to the proximity of US-Israeli relations. What’s more, the White House has clamped down on certain pro-Palestinian voices on college campuses that they see as anti-American and anti-Israel.
And it’s not just the executive branch, either. Only six House lawmakers voted for a bill last week that would block $500 million in annual missile-defense funding to Israel; 422 voted against it. Though some might not like Netanyahu’s tactics, Republican lawmakers – and Democratic ones, too – still view Israel as a close ally.
Underneath the surface, though, there are rumblings of discontent.
A Pew Research Center survey from April found that 37% of Republicans have an unfavorable view of Israel, up 10 points from three years ago. The trend is especially pronounced among Republicans under 50, half of whom now have an unfavorable view of Israel, up 15 points over the past three years.
“Those that are new to the [MAGA] movement probably are not deeply intertwined in foreign policy and probably don’t understand why there can’t be peace [in the Middle East],” said Matthew Bartlett, a Republican strategist who was appointed to the State Department during Trump’s first term.
This swing is reflected among some of the darlings of MAGA media, like former Fox News host Tucker Carlson or premier podcasters Joe Rogan and Theo Von, who have questioned US support for Israel in the light of the war in Gaza. Von called Israel’s actions in Gaza, “one of the sickest things that has ever happened.”
To be sure, Democrats in general have shifted against Israel more swiftly than Republicans, with 69% of Democrats holding an unfavorable view of Israel, up 16 points between 2022 and 2025. Younger Democrats are particularly critical: 71% of those under 50 hold an unfavorable view of Israel. Many have even protested the existence of a Jewish state altogether.
“For older Americans, Israel’s survival is the priority,” GOP pollster Frank Luntz told GZERO. “For younger Americans, it’s support for the Palestinian people.”
These generational shifts – in both parties – may pose a bigger challenge for Israel than any of the current tactical disagreements or personal frictions between Trump and Bibi.
Epstein conspiracies divide Trump's MAGA base
In this Quick Take, Ian Bremmer unpacks the Jeffrey Epstein file controversy and the growing backlash from Donald Trump’s MAGA base.
For years, the Epstein case was seen by MAGA faithful as proof of a "deep state" conspiracy, one in which Trump promised to expose. Now, key allies are reversing course, saying no such files exist.
“This feels like a cover-up,” Ian warns, “and that’s dangerous for someone whose base is primed to believe in one.” As confusion and frustration grow, some of Trump’s most loyal followers feel betrayed signaling a potentially lasting split in his support.
Yale Law School's Emily Bazelon on Trump's showdown with the courts
Listen: President Trump has never been shy about his revolutionary ambitions. In his second term, he’s moved aggressively to consolidate power within the executive branch—signing more than 150 executive orders in just over 150 days, sidelining Congress, and pressuring the institutions that were designed to check his authority. His supporters call it common sense. Critics call it dangerous. Either way, it’s a fundamental shift in American governance—one that’s unlike anything happening in any other major democracy.
While Congress has largely collapsed into partisan submission, and the DOJ and other power ministries face political purges, one institution still stands: the courts. In this episode, Ian Bremmer speaks with New York Times Magazine staff writer and Yale Law School’s Emily Bazelon about how the judiciary is holding up under pressure, what rulings to watch, and whether the rule of law can survive the Trump revolution.
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Where Trump-Musk bromance goes from here, with Semafor’s Ben Smith
It was an extraordinary public fight between two billionaires—President Donald Trump, the world’s most powerful man, and Elon Musk, the world’s richest. On a special bonus episode of the GZERO World Podcast, Ian Bremmer sits down with Semafor co-founder and editor-in-chief Ben Smith to talk about Trump and Musk’s messy breakup, what led to the explosive public fallout, and whether there’s any chance of reconciliation.
Though their feud appears to be cooling down, there’s still a lot at stake for both men: namely, Musk’s political funding for the GOP ahead of the 2026 midterms and billions in government contracts and subsidies for his companies, which Trump has threatened to cancel. In the battle between politicians and tech oligarchs, who holds more power? Will President Trump’s ability to punish his enemies in consequential ways have long-term consequences for Musk? And how does a fight like this change the nature of political journalism when everything is happening in real time in full view of the public? Smith and Bremmer break down the end of the bromance that has defined President Trump’s second term and where the administration’s relationship with Silicon Valley goes from here.
Subscribe to the GZERO World Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or your preferred podcast platform, to receive new episodes as soon as they're published
What’s behind Trump & Musk’s public feud?
Elon Musk and President Donald’s Trump’s White House bromance imploded in spectacular fashion last week in a feud that played out in full view of the public, with the two billionaires trading insults in real-time on social media. That fight appears to be cooling down, at least for now, but President Trump has made it clear he has no intention of mending the relationship any time soon. On a special edition of GZERO World, Semafor Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith joins Ian Bremmer to discuss what led to the breakup and where the Trump administration’s relationship with Silicon Valley goes from here.
There’s a lot at stake: for Trump, Musk’s political funding ahead of the 2026 midterms; for Musk, billions in government contracts and subsidies for his companies. Smith and Bremmer discuss Trump and Musk’s alliance of convenience, where it all broke down, the role of political journalism in covering such a public conflict, and who ultimately has the upper hand in the battle between political leaders and tech oligarchs.
“[President] Trump's power to reward his friends and punish his enemies in the very short term, in very consequential and permanent ways is totally unprecedented,” Smith says, “Business leaders, civil society and the media can be intimidated and Trump knows it. He usually wins that game of chicken.”
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, the award-winning weekly global affairs series, airs nationwide on US public television stations (check local listings).
New digital episodes of GZERO World are released every Monday on YouTube. Don't miss an episode: subscribe to GZERO's YouTube channel and turn on notifications (🔔).
Albanian opposition leader Sali Berisha casts his vote at a polling station during parliamentary elections in Tirana, Albania, on May 11, 2025.
Can the MAGA message work in the Balkans?
For all the talk of a US-Europe split, US President Donald Trump’s supporters are rather invested in elections on the continent. Tesla owner Elon Musk advocated for Alternative for Germany (AfD) ahead of that country’s election in February. Donald Trump Jr. met one of the nationalist presidential candidates ahead of Romania’s election, while favorite George Simion now actively courts his father.
Now it’s Albania’s turn. Trump’s former co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita has been boosting former Prime Minister Sali Berisha’s bid to return to power on the Adriatic Sea. LaCivita got a hand from the Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank behind Project 2025. The group “has been instrumental in helping Albania’s Democratic Party reshape its electoral program and platform,” according to Sokol Lleshi, a politics professor at the University of New York, Tirana, pitching traditional family values with a familiar slogan to match: “Make Albania Great Again.”
But will MAGA find a following in Albania? We’ll know by Tuesday, when the results of Sunday’s national election are expected.
Who’s in the race? Berisha, who leads the center-right Democratic Party (PD), ran against three-term incumbent Prime Minister Edi Rama, head of the center-left Socialist Party (PS). While the opposition leader recycled the MAGA message, Rama’s campaign centered on achieving accession to the European Union by 2030. Several other smaller parties hope to win some of the 140 parliamentary seats to gain influence.
Who’s going to win? With roughly 30% of the ballots counted, Rama is running away with it – the PS has garnered 53% of the vote thus far, while PD flounders on 34% – raising questions over the salience of the MAGA message in this Eastern European enclave. Hard-right parties have enjoyed success in Italy, Germany, Hungary and Romania, but plugging and playing this strategy into Albania isn’t as straightforward, in part because the country wants to join the EU.
“The Democratic Party has relied a lot on some of the ideological messages of the MAGA movement and Donald Trump,” said Lleshi. “So they are not talking too much or sufficiently enough, in my understanding, about EU integration.”
The Battering Ram-a. The current global conditions may make Tirana’s EU accession possible: With the White House distancing itself from Europe, the 27-member bloc is looking to strengthen its position, and its ranks. This underscores why the eccentric and artistic Rama is favorite to win a 4th term.
Just one problem. Corruption has tarnished Albanian politics ever since the country regained independence in 1991. This has stymied Tirana’s efforts to join the EU, since rooting out graft is a precondition for membership. Many of Rama’s allies have been found guilty of corruption, and several political leaders from other parties, including Berisha, face corruption allegations.
SPAK, Albania’s anti-graft body formed in 2019, is trying to root out this problem – it is one of the most trusted institutions in Albania.The opposition leader’s disdain for SPAK thus puts him out of sync with much of the electorate.
Middling MAGA. If Rama wins, this will mark the third recent foreign election where MAGA opponents have won. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney rode a wave of anti-American sentiment to win last month’s election, while Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese roared to victory over his MAGA-lite opponent last weekend. Though Rama’s message hasn’t been explicitly anti-American – the country has pro-American roots, dating back to President Woodrow Wilson’s support for Albanian independence after World War I – his expected victory suggests there are limits to transplanting the MAGA message abroad.
Outside of politics, what’s interesting about Albania? First of all, it has a rather distinctive flag, featuring a double-headed eagle on a sharp, red background (an inspiration for the Durmstrang Institute of Harry Potter fame). Its most renowned citizen is pop star Dua Lipa, although she was born and raised in London.
Dua could vote, too. A change in the voting rules means that everyone in the Albanian diaspora — which comprises over a million people — was able to draw a ballot for this election. However, only 245,000 of them requested a mail-in vote, of which 181,000 had been returned as of Sunday morning, per Lleshi. The professor says that gauging how the diaspora voted, however, is a fool’s errand.
MAGA, the American Dream and immigration
Ian Bremmer's Quick Take: A Quick Take in this holiday season on the back of the biggest fight in the United States that we have seen among Trump supporters since his election win.
Started off when Vivek Ramaswamy, the billionaire, the co-director of this new Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE as they're calling it, writing that we have to bring in lots of high-talent immigrants, complaining that American culture isn't getting it right for the people that they need to hire in order to make the United States win and more competitive. We hear it all the time. You need to staple a green card to every STEM PhD that's being awarded to non-Americans in the US so they can stay. You need to keep those students here. You need to bring in far more talented legal immigrants in larger numbers to address the talent gap in the United States, and if Americans want to win, that's what you need to do.
The average American has heard this before, and they've heard it for a long time. To be clear, it is not like the US economy isn't winning right now. You look at the stock market, you look at corporate profits, you look at Elon Musk, the dude is worth nearly half a trillion dollars, and that's with a very strong dollar. Look at how the United States' economy has performed since the pandemic, while Europe, and Japan, and South Korea, and Canada, and others just are not, and they're not innovating, and they don't have the big companies. I've heard this about other issues. I've heard about tariffs. I've heard about even free trade. You hear it about investments and capital flows around the world and need to make things work more effectively for the big money in the United States. And working-class and middle-class Americans know that when elites in the US say that the US is going to win, that it doesn't mean 'em. The United States, for so many Americans, is a country of second-class healthcare, and second-class education, and second-class opportunities. And if the American dream doesn't work for the average American citizen, then you're telling them we should be bringing in really much more talented Indians? Good luck with that argument for them.
And those of you that know me, know that that's not my personal perspective. I grew up in the projects with a mother though that did absolutely everything for her kids. And I had opportunities. We had opportunities. I feel very lucky to have been born in America, not better than anyone else, not having any more intrinsic worth, just super, super fortunate. So the American Dream absolutely worked for me. Capitalism in the US and the ability to be an entrepreneur absolutely worked for me. But most of the kids that grew up in my neighborhood don't feel that way today, along with far too many working and middle-class Americans.
And if the United States felt like the land of opportunity instead of a two-tier system where you buy your way into privilege, and you buy your way into opportunity, and then you make sure you do that for your kids, and the best indicator of how well an American is going to do is how fortunate your parents are compared to other advanced industrial democracies, rich democracies around the world, well, that is not a country that's going to say, "Yeah, we need to do more to help the wealthiest win." Because the wealthiest have already figured out how to win for themselves, and there are lobbying dollars, and their access to the best that the world has to offer for them in the United States. If the average American felt that way and felt that applied to them, then Trump wouldn't be president today. You wouldn't have "America First" resonating for so many people that want to undermine globalism because globalism wasn't about the globe and it wasn't about all Americans. It was about just getting it done for that small, small group of people with access to capital.
This is the failure of globalism, and this is why the United States doesn't want to take the lead on global security, or global trade, or even global democracy anymore. You have to be a leader at home before you can effectively lead anybody, nevermind everybody else. This is what we're facing come January 20th. I think it's a useful fight to see play out publicly because there's a very big difference between those that have access to decision-making, power and authority in the United States and those that turned out and actually voted, the masses that voted against the establishment. And to the extent that they continue to be hard done by and every expectation for the last 40 years in the US is that that will be the case, whether it's a Democrat or Republican running the country, this situation is only going to get more toxic.
That's it for me. I wish everyone Happy holidays. Hope you had a merry Christmas. Looking forward to the new Year. I'll talk to you all real soon.
Trump 2.0 cabinet picks: "Loyalty is the currency of the moment"
2020 is not 2016, and when it comes to the second Trump term, the sequel is going to be quite different from the first go-round. Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks already mark a sharp departure from the team he put together during his first term, says New York Times national security and White House Correspondent, David Sanger. Sanger joins Ian Bremmer on the episode of GZERO World.
Based on some of Trump's picks so far, new administration, Sanger explains, Trump's cabinet will likely be filled with a mix of hardline politicians, TV personalities, and some high-profile figures, many of whom have already left Democrats and Republicans in shock. Ideology doesn't matter anymore, Sanger explains, because “loyalty is the currency of the moment” in Trump’s world. And Trump’s "revenge nominees" signal his desire to dismantle government bureaucracy. A change that Sanger says "is exactly what the supporters of President Trump were looking for." Against the backdrop of two global wars and a looming trade war, Trump’s incoming administration could reshape the global world order like never before.
Watch the full episode: Trump foreign policy in a MAGA, MAGA world
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, the award-winning weekly global affairs series, airs nationwide on US public television stations (check local listings).
New digital episodes of GZERO World are released every Monday on YouTube. Don't miss an episode: subscribe to GZERO's YouTube channel and turn on notifications (🔔).