Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein, the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths, Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates.

Rudyard and Janice start the show with Israel's spectacular strike on Iran that targeted ballistic missiles, nuclear sites, and top military leaders. Janice argues that while this was a successful attack it is far from a devastating blow, and Iran still has the means to retaliate. In the second half of the show Rudyard and Janice discuss what this means for global stability and the future of warfare. The US is no longer willing to play the world's policeman and regional powers are freer to do what they want. The attack also demonstrated the destabilizing effects of cheap technology, as Israel was able to decapitate the regime's senior leadership with drones lying in wait from inside Iran. And finally, will the Iranian people - the majority of which do not support the regime - seize on this rare moment to rise up against a weakened and brutal theocracy and forge a new path forward?

To support the Friday Focus podcast consider becoming a donor to the Munk Debates for as little as $25 annually, or $.50 per episode. Canadian donors receive a charitable tax receipt.

This podcast is a project of the Munk Debates, a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to fostering civil and substantive public dialogue.

More information at www.munkdebates.com.

On this special podcast episode we are sharing the opening statements from the Munk Debate on Trump’s America, which took place on May 29th in front of a sold out crowd of 3,000 people at Toronto’s Roy Thomson Hall.

The debate resolution was: Be it resolved, this is America’s golden age

Arguing in favour of the motion was the political consultant, pollster and senior counselor to President Trump during his first term in office, Kellyanne Conway. Her debate partner was the President of the right-wing think tank the Heritage Foundation, and the architect of Project 2025, Kevin D. Roberts.

Opposing the motion was the New York Times columnist, podcaster, bestselling author, and one of America’s most influential commentators, Ezra Klein. His debate partner was Ben Rhodes, who served as President Obama’s senior advisor and is the co-host of the popular podcast Pod Save the World.

To watch the full Munk Debate on Trump's America go to our website www.munkdebates.com

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein, the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths, Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates.

Rudyard and Janice start the show talking about the blowup of the bromance between Donald Trump and Elon Musk which took place in spectacular fashion over twitter. Was Elon's performance a genuine show of dismay at a congressional spending bill that flies in the face of all the cost cutting initiatives he was pursuing with DOGE? Or Is this a man having a nervous breakdown in public? And how will this breakup affect support from other tech billionaires and fracture the MAGA coalition? In the second half of the show Rudyard and Janice turn to the surprise Ukrainian drone attack that targeted Russian air bases hosting nuclear-capable strategic bombers thousands of km away from the border of Ukraine. What will Putin's response be to this brazen attack? How will the use of cheap weapons to destroy expensive weapons change the face of warfare? And finally, how will the loss of some of its military capacity affect Russia's war with Ukraine and its relationship with NATO?

To support the Friday Focus podcast consider becoming a donor to the Munk Debates for as little as $25 annually, or $.50 per episode. Canadian donors receive a charitable tax receipt.

This podcast is a project of the Munk Debates, a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to fostering civil and substantive public dialogue.

More information at www.munkdebates.com.