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

Episode Overview

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. Also on the podcast: threats to Red Bull’s magnificent marketing machine, and why the age gap between the wealthiest men and their wives is shrinking.

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

Episode Highlights

Lebanon’s Presidential Summit

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun will visit the White House today — the first such presidential summit in nearly two decades. It comes at a challenging moment for Lebanon, which faces:

• A deep financial crisis
• An ongoing power struggle against Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Shia militia
• A conflict between Hezbollah and Israel that has caused enormous damage across the country

Gregg Carlstrom, Middle East correspondent, notes:

“The past seven years have been by far Lebanon’s worst period since the end of its civil war in 1990. 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.”

On Lebanon’s geopolitical significance, Carlstrom adds:

“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…”

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