Lebanese President Aoun visits White House, seeks Trump's help for reconstruction

Also on the daily podcast: Does Red Bull still have wings and the end of trophy wives

Jul 21st 2026 | 1 min read

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Today, Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun visits the White House to ask for Donald Trump’s help rebuilding the country. Our correspondent reports from his recent trip to Lebanon on the challenges it faces. Threats to Red Bull’s magnificent marketing machine. And why the age gap between the wealthiest men and their wives is shrinking. Runtime: 22 min

Guests and Hosts

• Gregg Carlstrom, Middle East correspondent
• Vendeline von Bredow, senior Germany correspondent
• Doug Dowson, data journalist
• Rosie Blau, co-host of “The Intelligence”
• Jason Palmer, co-host of “The Intelligence”

Topics Covered

• Lebanon, Beirut, Joseph Aoun, Hizbullah
• Red Bull, energy drinks, extreme sports
• Trophy wives, age gap, misogyny

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Transcript

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Rosie Blau [00:00:10] Hello and welcome to The Intelligence from The Economist. I’m Rosie Blau.

Jason Palmer [00:00:14] And I’m Jason Palmer.

Rosie Blau [00:00:19] Today on the show, could Red Bull have its wings clipped? And trophy wives may finally be going out of fashion.

Speaker 3 [00:00:33] But first...

Rosie Blau [00:00:45] Today, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun will visit the White House. It’s the first such presidential summit in nearly two decades, and it comes at a challenging moment for Lebanon. The country faces a deep financial crisis, an ongoing power struggle against Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Shia militia, and a conflict between Hezbullah and Israel that’s wreaked enormous damage and continues to wreck lives across the whole country. Lebanon certainly needs help, but what will it get?

Gregg Carlstrom [00:01:19] The past seven years have been by far Lebanon’s worst period since the end of its civil war in 1990.

Rosie Blau [00:01:28] Greg Carlstrom is a Middle East correspondent.

Gregg Carlstrom [00:01:31] It’s been through one of the worst financial crises in modern history, an enormous explosion, and almost three years of war with Israel, just to name a few. And it endured most of that without even having a proper government in place. Now it finally has one. There’s a new president and a new prime minister, and they are trying to enlist help from Donald Trump and from other allies around the world to get Lebanon back on its feet.

Rosie Blau [00:02:00] Greg, before we get to the details, why is Lebanon so important?

Gregg Carlstrom [00:02:04] I think you can make a couple of arguments. One is geopolitical. If things go well in Lebanon, you can imagine it’s an enormous blow to Iran’s influence in the region. It’s already lost influence in Syria with the fall of the Assad regime. If it no longer had Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shia militia in Lebanon as a heavily armed cat’s paw...