What’s the Left’s Vision for Foreign Policy After Trump? | The Ezra Klein Show

The Democratic Party is in the middle of a rupture over foreign policy – with Israel and Palestine at the center. In recent weeks, the Democratic senators Brian Schatz and Chris Van Hollen both called for a break with the Biden administration’s policies toward Israel. Schatz said the next administration needs “a whole new crop of foreign policy staffers,” while Van Hollen went further, accusing Biden’s senior decision makers of “complicity.” And Gaza has become a central issue splitting Democrats in primaries around the country. It’s become such a profound fault line, it reminds me of how the Iraq war remade the Democratic Party years ago. And Democrats face huge foreign policy questions beyond Gaza, too. Trump has taken a wrecking ball to the rules-based order, and the American public has become increasingly cynical about U.S. interventions abroad. Do Democrats want to try to restore what came before Trump? Is that even possible? Or is there a vision for something new? Matt Duss is at the center of foreign policy thinking on the left. He’s the executive vice president at the Center for International Policy, previously served as Senator Bernie Sanders’s foreign policy adviser and is currently advising Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. So I thought he’d be the perfect person to ask: What would a left foreign policy actually look like? What would it try to do in the world? 00:00:00 Intro 00:04:25 Gaza, Biden and the left’s foreign policy 00:11:09 What should Democrats do in Israel? 00:21:13 Trump and the anti-war vote 00:29:43 Biden, Ukraine and American responsibility 00:44:08 Is American military hegemony worth it? 00:50:47 Can a rules-based order be saved? 01:02:03 A foreign policy for the middle class 01:16:51 Immigration and left solidarity 01:21:49 Anti-corruption as foreign policy agenda 01:29:14 Book recommendations Read the full transcript here: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/09/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-matt-duss.html Watch more on @EzraKleinShow Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com. You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.html