Always at War

Courtney Rawlings & Alex Jordan
  • 4.9 (54)
  • Politics

Why is America seemingly always at war? Join the Quincy Institute’s Courtney Rawlings and Alex Jordan as they expose the monied interests, outdated ideologies, and entrenched powers that have driven the U.S. to wage nearly 400 wars and interventions.  Each episode, they’ll be joined by journalists, advocates, and experts to uncover who profits from America’s endless conflicts, and to imagine how we can build a better, more peaceful U.S. foreign policy. Learn more about the Quincy Institute: quincyinst.org Contact the show: alwaysatwar@quincyinst.org 

  1. 2d ago

    Israel's Lobby: More Powerful and More Unpopular Than Ever

    In the latest episode of Always at War, Courtney and Alex sit down with Eli Clifton and Ian Lustick — authors of the new book Israel's Lobby: America in the Grip of a Foreign Power — to understand how a concentrated network of pro-Israel donors and organizations became the most formidable special interest in Washington, and how it helped push  the United States toward war with Iran. BUY THE BOOK:  https://bookshop.org/p/books/israel-s-lobby-america-in-the-grip-of-a-foreign-power-eli-clifton/16ed5a856e6a2af0?ean=9781668210840&affiliate=95814 Together, they trace the seismic changes since Mearsheimer and Walt's landmark 2006 book, including the emergence of a more complex, multipolar world which gives presidents little structural cover to resist lobby pressure, Citizens United, which opened the door to massive outside spending by a tiny group of plutocrats, and an Israeli government that has moved steadily further right. Eli and Ian walk through how the lobby has evolved from defending Israeli policies to suppressing American dissent: suing universities into submission, pushing to deport green card holders who criticize Israel, and enlisting the Trump administration to enforce its agenda. When Secretary of State Marco Rubio  justified the needless and costly Iran War by saying the US "identified that the Israelis were gonna do it... so we figured we had to do it" — that's the lobby's vision of American foreign policy made plain. Buy Israel's Lobby: America in the Grip of a Foreign Power: https://bookshop.org/p/books/israel-s-lobby-america-in-the-grip-of-a-foreign-power-eli-clifton/16ed5a856e6a2af0?ean=9781668210840&affiliate=95814  Track pro-Israel super PAC spending in real time: israelslobby.com ### Why is America always at war? Join the Quincy Institute’s Courtney Rawlings and Alex Jordan as they expose the monied interests, outdated ideologies, and entrenched powers that have driven the U.S. to wage nearly 400 wars and interventions.  They’ll be joined by journalists, advocates, and experts to uncover who profits from America’s endless conflicts, and to imagine how we can build a better, more peaceful U.S. foreign policy. Learn more about the Quincy Institute: quincyinst.org Contact the show: alwaysatwar@quincyinst.org Show art by Justin Hantz ### Quincy Institute is an independent, nonprofit think tank.  Help fund our research: https://quincyinst.org/donations/ Read our reporting: https://ResponsibleStatecraft.org    Twitter: https://x.com/QuincyInst TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/quincyinst    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quincyinst   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com//quincyinst   Website: https://quincyinst.org

  2. Aug 7

    How America Rigged the Israel-Palestine Peace Process | GOING DEEP with Khaled Elgindy

    In the latest episode of Always at War, Courtney and Alex sit down with QI Senior Research Fellow Khaled Elgindy — former adviser to the Palestinian leadership on permanent status negotiations with Israel and author of Blind Spot: America and the Palestinians, from Balfour to Trump — to understand why America's constant interventions in the Israel-Palestine peace process have been doomed to failure.  Khaled walks Courtney and Alex through decades of US-brokered peace processes from Oslo to Annapolis — when the US consistently avoided the hard questions on settlements, occupation, and Jerusalem, bent the rules for Israel, put the pressure on Palestinians, and called it diplomacy. Today, that blind spot has only grown: the current administration just reneged on its own Gaza ceasefire deal rather than hold Israel to a reciprocal agreement, while settler violence in the West Bank hits its worst levels since 1967 and settlement expansion reaches record highs. Read Khaled's latest piece in Responsible Statecraft: "Bored of Peace: Why Is Trump Undermining His Own Gaza Plan?" — https://responsiblestatecraft.org/hamas-disarmament/ Pick up his book, Blind Spot: America and the Palestinians, from Balfour to Trump: https://bookshop.org/p/books/blind-spot-america-and-the-palestinians-from-balfour-to-trump-khaled-elgindy/db594b89289c62a1?ean=9780815731559&bkshp-astro=t  ### Why is America always at war? Join the Quincy Institute’s Courtney Rawlings and Alex Jordan as they expose the monied interests, outdated ideologies, and entrenched powers that have driven the U.S. to wage nearly 400 wars and interventions.  They’ll be joined by journalists, advocates, and experts to uncover who profits from America’s endless conflicts, and to imagine how we can build a better, more peaceful U.S. foreign policy. Learn more about the Quincy Institute: quincyinst.org Contact the show: alwaysatwar@quincyinst.org Show art by Justin Hantz ### Quincy Institute is an independent, nonprofit think tank.  Help fund our research: https://quincyinst.org/donations/ Read our reporting: https://ResponsibleStatecraft.org    Twitter: https://x.com/QuincyInst TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/quincyinst    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quincyinst   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com//quincyinst   Website: https://quincyinst.org

  3. Jul 24

    Israel's War for American Hearts and Minds with Nick Cleveland-Stout

    In the latest episode of Always at War, Courtney and Alex examine Israel's $1 billion campaign to shape global opinion and policy toward Israel with the researcher who's done the work to expose it: QI Fellow Nick Cleveland-Stout. Nick's new paper, "The Eighth Front: Inside Israel's $1 Billion Influence Campaign," is the most detailed accounting yet of Israel's changing approach to winning hearts and minds after the genocide in Gaza. Nick walks Courtney and Alex through his new research, and traces how hundreds of millions of dollars flow from Israel's Foreign Ministry through a network of American firms to influence operations that target you. For decades, the Israeli government relied on AIPAC and allied American organizations to advance its interests in America. After Gaza, even the formidable Israel Lobby can't stop the erosion in US support for Israel — so Israel's hasbara budget for 2026 now tops $750 million. Nick explains how Clock Tower X — the firm run by Trump's former digital campaign director Brad Parscale — won the largest active Israeli foreign agent contract in the United States ($46.5 million) to run a nationwide texting campaign, buy into Salem Media's Christian conservative programming, and even build a network of fake websites designed to manipulate training data for AI chatbots. But can this investment in winning our hearts and minds actually overcome the what's driven a sea-change in US opinion on Israel — Americans actually seeing what happens when our government underwrites Israeli war crimes and military aggression?  READ NICK'S NEW RESEARCH: https://quincyinst.org/research/the-eighth-front-inside-israels-1-billion-influence-campaign/ ### Why is America seemingly always at war? Join the Quincy Institute’s Courtney Rawlings and Alex Jordan as they expose the monied interests, outdated ideologies, and entrenched powers that have driven the U.S. to wage nearly 400 wars and interventions.  They’ll be joined by journalists, advocates, and experts to uncover who profits from America’s endless conflicts, and to imagine how we can build a better, more peaceful U.S. foreign policy. Learn more about the Quincy Institute: quincyinst.org Contact the show: alwaysatwar@quincyinst.org Show art by Justin Hantz ### Quincy Institute is an independent, nonprofit think tank.  Help fund our research: https://quincyinst.org/donations/ Read our reporting: https://ResponsibleStatecraft.org    Twitter: https://x.com/QuincyInst TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/quincyinst    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quincyinst   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com//quincyinst   Website: https://quincyinst.org ### Why is America always at war? Join the Quincy Institute’s Courtney Rawlings and Alex Jordan as they expose the monied interests, outdated ideologies, and entrenched powers that have driven the U.S. to wage nearly 400 wars and interventions.  They’ll be joined by journalists, advocates, and experts to uncover who profits from America’s endless conflicts, and to imagine how we can build a better, more peaceful U.S. foreign policy. Learn more about the Quincy Institute: quincyinst.org Contact the show: alwaysatwar@quincyinst.org Show art by Justin Hantz ### Quincy Institute is an independent, nonprofit think tank.  Help fund our research: https://quincyinst.org/donations/ Read our reporting: https://ResponsibleStatecraft.org    Twitter: https://x.com/QuincyInst TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/quincyinst    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quincyinst   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com//quincyinst   Website: https://quincyinst.org

  4. Jul 10

    America’s Soft Power Machine | GOING DEEP with Almut Rochowanski

    In the latest episode of Always at War, Courtney and Alex sit down with Almut Rochowanski, a non-resident fellow at the Quincy Institute and longtime grassroots activist who spent nearly two decades working with civil society organizers across Russia, Ukraine, and the former Soviet Union. Almut walks Courtney and Alex through the "NGO-industrial complex": how grant cycles, donor priorities, and Western funding structures can hollow out genuine grassroots organizing and replace it with a top-down relationship between funders and "beneficiaries." She traces this history back to the suffragists and anti-militarist reformers of the nineteenth century, whose organic, mass-membership movements look almost nothing like some of the professionalized, donor-dependent NGO sector of today. Along the way, the conversation covers both the real possibilities and promises of foreign aid and why some funding is well-intentioned but structurally corrosive. The episode closes with an excellent look at why, in her view, no country has a monopoly on militarism — it's a story that's played out across empires throughout history, and right now America is the one with its hand on the rudder.  CHECK OUT ALMUT'S SUBSTACK, DISCOMFORT ZONE: https://discomfortzone.substack.com/ SUPPORT QI'S FIRST AMENDMENT FUND: https://givingtools.com/give/939 ### Why is America always at war? Join the Quincy Institute’s Courtney Rawlings and Alex Jordan as they expose the monied interests, outdated ideologies, and entrenched powers that have driven the U.S. to wage nearly 400 wars and interventions.  They’ll be joined by journalists, advocates, and experts to uncover who profits from America’s endless conflicts, and to imagine how we can build a better, more peaceful U.S. foreign policy. Learn more about the Quincy Institute: quincyinst.org Contact the show: alwaysatwar@quincyinst.org Show art by Justin Hantz ### Quincy Institute is an independent, nonprofit think tank.  Help fund our research: https://quincyinst.org/donations/ Read our reporting: https://ResponsibleStatecraft.org    Twitter: https://x.com/QuincyInst TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/quincyinst    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quincyinst   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com//quincyinst   Website: https://quincyinst.org

  5. Jun 26

    The Middle East After the Iran War | GOING DEEP with Trita Parsi

    SUPPORT QI'S FIRST AMENDMENT FUND: https://givingtools.com/give/939 CHECK OUT TRITA'S SUBSTACK: https://tritaparsi.substack.com/ In the latest episode of Always at War, Courtney and Alex sit down with Quincy Institute co-founder and Executive Vice President Trita Parsi, an expert on Iran and US-Iranian relations. Trita has spent years warning Washington against a disastrous war with Iran — and now, he's speaking out in favor of the US diplomatic efforts to end it.  Trita's effective advocacy has made him a target of very same neoconservative voices who pushed for this war in the first place — he explains to Courtney and Alex why Laura Loomer, the Free Press, and other hawkish voices are pushing for his deportation, and why Washington's war party sees the Quincy Institute as such a threat. Trita also breaks down why he's increasingly bullish the US-Iran MOU can hold, what makes the Trump team's efforts to restrain Israel different from Biden's, and why a new Middle East security architecture percolating right now — without America at the center — is a massive vindication of the restraint approach to the Middle East. After the interview, Courtney and Alex take a quick look at the Wall Street Journal editorial board's latest pro-war screed, and explain why the op-ed class is getting more desperate (hint: it's because they're losing!) ### Why is America always at war? Join the Quincy Institute’s Courtney Rawlings and Alex Jordan as they expose the monied interests, outdated ideologies, and entrenched powers that have driven the U.S. to wage nearly 400 wars and interventions.  They’ll be joined by journalists, advocates, and experts to uncover who profits from America’s endless conflicts, and to imagine how we can build a better, more peaceful U.S. foreign policy. Learn more about the Quincy Institute: quincyinst.org Contact the show: alwaysatwar@quincyinst.org Show art by Justin Hantz ### Quincy Institute is an independent, nonprofit think tank.  Help fund our research: https://quincyinst.org/donations/ Read our reporting: https://ResponsibleStatecraft.org    Twitter: https://x.com/QuincyInst TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/quincyinst    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quincyinst   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com//quincyinst   Website: https://quincyinst.org

  6. Jun 12

    They're Not Ending Aid to Israel. They're Hiding It.

    On this episode of Always at War, Courtney and Alex expose the secret plan to end US military grant aid to Israel while permanently shielding US military support for Israel from congressional oversight — and from you. First, they break down Section 224, a provision buried in the annual defense spending bill that would fuse US and Israeli military sectors — weapons procurement, production, AI, biotech, and more — replacing transparent military aid with an unprecedented military-to-military partnership that Congress and the public can no longer scrutinize or stop. Next, they follow the money: from a Washington Post op-ed written by a VC investor with millions at stake in Israeli military startups, to AIPAC's bad-faith attacks on critics, to the neoconservative blueprint — traced back to the Iraq War-era "Clean Break" memo — that has been quietly driving this merger for decades. Finally, they reveal Section 622, a companion bill introduced by Senator Tom Cotton that would legally require the president to share US intelligence with Israel — even as the Defense Department has raised its counterintelligence threat assessment of Israel to its highest level ever. ### Why is America always at war? Join the Quincy Institute’s Courtney Rawlings and Alex Jordan as they expose the monied interests, outdated ideologies, and entrenched powers that have driven the U.S. to wage nearly 400 wars and interventions.  They’ll be joined by journalists, advocates, and experts to uncover who profits from America’s endless conflicts, and to imagine how we can build a better, more peaceful U.S. foreign policy. Learn more about the Quincy Institute: quincyinst.org Contact the show: alwaysatwar@quincyinst.org Show art by Justin Hantz ### Quincy Institute is an independent, nonprofit think tank.  Help fund our research: https://quincyinst.org/donations/ Read our reporting: https://ResponsibleStatecraft.org    Twitter: https://x.com/QuincyInst TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/quincyinst    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quincyinst   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com//quincyinst   Website: https://quincyinst.org

  7. May 29

    Trump's Iran deal: Will they, won't they? | ALWAYS AT WAR x TRIP THE BELTWAY FANTASTIC

    This week, we're bringing you a special episode in collaboration with our friends at Trip the Beltway Fantastic! Your hosts Courtney and Alex joined Kelley Vlahos, Editor-in-Chief of Responsible Statecraft, on her podcast to break down the recent will-they/won't-they diplomacy between Washington and Tehran. The trio dissects the rhetoric pushed by prominent pro-war figures—particularly the dangerous notion that America should "negotiate while fighting"—and examines how this mindset transforms diplomacy into a tool for escalation rather than an off-ramp for peace. They also explore the partisan dynamics that complicate peace efforts, noting prominent Democratic critiques of diplomacy to end this and other wars, as well as the entrenched culture of the Washington foreign policy "blob" recently showcased at the Munk debate. Finally, the conversation returns to the central theme of Always at War: uncovering the specific incentives, myths, and financial interests that keep the United States trapped in a cycle of endless conflict ### Why is America always at war? Join the Quincy Institute’s Courtney Rawlings and Alex Jordan as they expose the monied interests, outdated ideologies, and entrenched powers that have driven the U.S. to wage nearly 400 wars and interventions.  They’ll be joined by journalists, advocates, and experts to uncover who profits from America’s endless conflicts, and to imagine how we can build a better, more peaceful U.S. foreign policy. Learn more about the Quincy Institute: quincyinst.org Contact the show: alwaysatwar@quincyinst.org Show art by Justin Hantz ### Quincy Institute is an independent, nonprofit think tank.  Help fund our research: https://quincyinst.org/donations/ Read our reporting: https://ResponsibleStatecraft.org    Twitter: https://x.com/QuincyInst TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/quincyinst    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quincyinst   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com//quincyinst   Website: https://quincyinst.org

  8. May 15

    China Bad? | GOING DEEP with Jake Werner

    On this latest episode of Always at War, Courtney and Alex sit down with Jake Werner, head of the Quincy Institute’s East Asia program, to find out the answer to the question on everyone's lips in Washington: China bad? First, the three discuss the pervasive, bipartisan myth that Beijing wants to supplant America's role as the global military hegemony, tracing how the US foreign policy establishment systematically moved China from an economic partner to an existential enemy to shield itself from its own domestic and foreign policy blunders. Next, they explore the economic consequences of the neoliberal free-trade regime and the great recession, and how these crises left Washington casting about for anyone to blame but themselves. Finally, they examine why Washington is embracing the very tendencies it attacks China for — like ramping up McCarthyite surveillance and state-directed militarism — while largely ignoring the diplomatic opportunities to build a stable, mutually beneficial global system.  Make sure to check out some of Jake's research:  A Program for Progressive China Policy https://quincyinst.org/research/a-program-for-progressive-china-policy/ An Opening for a New US–China Economic Relationship  https://quincyinst.org/research/an-opening-for-a-new-us-china-economic-relationship/ Competition Versus Exclusion in U.S.–China Relations: A Choice Between Stability and Conflict https://quincyinst.org/research/competition-versus-exclusion-in-u-s-china-relations-a-choice-between-stability-and-conflict/# ### Why is America always at war? Join the Quincy Institute’s Courtney Rawlings and Alex Jordan as they expose the monied interests, outdated ideologies, and entrenched powers that have driven the U.S. to wage nearly 400 wars and interventions.  They’ll be joined by journalists, advocates, and experts to uncover who profits from America’s endless conflicts, and to imagine how we can build a better, more peaceful U.S. foreign policy. Learn more about the Quincy Institute: quincyinst.org Contact the show: alwaysatwar@quincyinst.org Show art by Justin Hantz ### Quincy Institute is an independent, nonprofit think tank.  Help fund our research: https://quincyinst.org/donations/ Read our reporting: https://ResponsibleStatecraft.org    Twitter: https://x.com/QuincyInst TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/quincyinst    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quincyinst   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com//quincyinst   Website: https://quincyinst.org

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4.9
out of 5
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Why is America seemingly always at war? Join the Quincy Institute’s Courtney Rawlings and Alex Jordan as they expose the monied interests, outdated ideologies, and entrenched powers that have driven the U.S. to wage nearly 400 wars and interventions.  Each episode, they’ll be joined by journalists, advocates, and experts to uncover who profits from America’s endless conflicts, and to imagine how we can build a better, more peaceful U.S. foreign policy. Learn more about the Quincy Institute: quincyinst.org Contact the show: alwaysatwar@quincyinst.org 

Information

  • Creator
    Courtney Rawlings & Alex Jordan
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    34
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Always at War
  • Show Website
    Always at War

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