Intelligence Squared

According to Anthony Scaramucci, former White House Communications Director, outspoken Trump critic and co-host of The Rest Is Politics: US, President Trump represents one of the greatest challenges America has ever faced.

During the first half of his second presidency, Trump has waged war on Iran, threatened the future of NATO and clashed with allies. At home he jokes about cancelling elections, threatens the free press and tests the limits of executive power. With inflation biting and his approval ratings falling, November’s pivotal midterm elections will offer the first major verdict on his second term and the future of America.

Is Trump politically vulnerable? Can Democrats capitalise on his mistakes? Is MAGA bigger than Trump—or will the battle to succeed him define the future of the Republican Party? How has Trump transformed American society, and how does he continue to threaten democracy at home and abroad? And after a decade of Trump, what does the next chapter look like for America and the world?

In September 2026 Scaramucci came to the Intelligence Squared stage, where he was in conversation with former editor in chief of Tatler, Vanity Fair, and The New Yorker, Tina Brown. Drawing on his forthcoming book All The Wrong Moves, they discussed how decades of mistakes by both Republicans and Democrats paved the way for Trump’s rise, and explained how America could chart a different course.

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Kevin Fong has spent his working life in high-risk, high-performance teams. He flies as a Helicopter Emergency Medical Service doctor, has worked on NASA’s human spaceflight programme, and was part of the UK’s frontline response to major incidents and terror attacks.

In this episode, he joins Professor of Environment and Society, Helen Czerski, to discuss some of the most challenging and high-pressure emergencies he’s witnessed across his varied career and to offer some crucial, counter-intuitive insights into how the best teams and organisations succeed against the odds, learn from failure and go again.

Fong suggests that decisions in the face of irreducible uncertainty are the ultimate team sport and their success depends wholly on the wider systems that support them. The ultimate lessons are these: never lose sight of the humans in the loop, and when it comes to managing fast-moving threats in the face of the unknown, the edge of chaos is exactly where you need to be.

Kevin Fong Kevin Fong is a medical doctor specialising in anaesthesia and intensive-care medicine and is departmental lead for major-incident planning at UCL Hospitals. He also flies as a doctor with a Helicopter Emergency Medical Service, has worked with NASA’s human spaceflight programme. In 2020 he was seconded as National Clinical Adviser to NHS England's Covid-19 Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response Team.

Helen Czerski is Professor of the Environment and Society at UCL’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. Her research focus is the physics of breaking waves and bubbles at the ocean surface. She has been a regular presenter on the BBC since 2011, where she stands out for her enthusiasm, insight and storytelling ability. She is the co-host of BBC Radio 4’s flagship climate and environment show Rare Earth.

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The internet was once imagined as a place that would bring us closer together – a shared space for curiosity, creativity and connection. So how did it become a machine for capturing our attention, amplifying division and shaping what billions of people see and believe?

In this episode of Intelligence Squared, Conor Boyle speaks to journalist and technology entrepreneur Mark Little about the themes of his new book, The Last Good Day on the Internet: Finding Hope and Humanity in a Superhuman World. A former RTÉ foreign correspondent who went on to found the social news agency Storyful and online safety company Kinzen, as well as working with Twitter and Spotify, Little has witnessed the transformation of the internet from both inside the newsroom and inside the technology industry.

Together they explore how the attention economy changed the web, why algorithms optimised for engagement have contributed to misinformation and polarisation, and what the rapid development of artificial intelligence could mean for our relationship with technology. But Little’s argument is not simply one of technological decline. He believes we have an opportunity to move from an age of attention to an “age of intention” – reclaiming control of our feeds, rebuilding genuine online communities and putting human agency back at the centre of the digital world.

Can we take back the internet? And in an age of increasingly superhuman technology, how do we make sure we don't lose what makes us human?

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The post-war international order is under increasing strain. The principle that borders cannot be changed by force is being challenged –not only by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but by Donald Trump’s threats to seize Greenland, his undermining of longstanding alliances and his willingness to use military force abroad.In his new book, Betrayal, Guardian foreign correspondent Luke Harding argues that today’s world resembles not a new Cold War, defined by ideological rivalry, but a return to ‘Great Power’ politics, driven by military strength and national self-interest.In September 2026, Harding joined former Downing Street Director of Communications Alastair Campbell to examine how Trump and Putin are reshaping global politics. Drawing on Harding’s reporting from Ukraine and conversations with leaders including Volodymyr Zelensky, they explored how an era defined by liberal democracy, international cooperation and the rule of law is giving way to one increasingly defined by power, coercion and nationalism.Join two of the UK’s leading voices on politics and foreign affairs for an essential conversation on the forces reshaping the world –and what they mean for the future of democracy, security and the international order.

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The post-war international order is under increasing strain. The principle that borders cannot be changed by force is being challenged –not only by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but by Donald Trump’s threats to seize Greenland, his undermining of longstanding alliances and his willingness to use military force abroad.In his new book, Betrayal, Guardian foreign correspondent Luke Harding argues that today’s world resembles not a new Cold War, defined by ideological rivalry, but a return to ‘Great Power’ politics, driven by military strength and national self-interest.In September 2026, Harding joined former Downing Street Director of Communications Alastair Campbell to examine how Trump and Putin are reshaping global politics. Drawing on Harding’s reporting from Ukraine and conversations with leaders including Volodymyr Zelensky, they explored how an era defined by liberal democracy, international cooperation and the rule of law is giving way to one increasingly defined by power, coercion and nationalism.Join two of the UK’s leading voices on politics and foreign affairs for an essential conversation on the forces reshaping the world –and what they mean for the future of democracy, security and the international order.

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This is the first instalment of a two-part episode. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full ad free conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more.

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