Ben Rhodes
Writer and former Deputy National Security Advisor of the United StatesWikipedia
160
MENTIONS
58
EPISODES
46
PODCASTS
Search complete. 160 mentions across 58 episodes found for "Ben Rhodes".
Nov 6, 2026
Mark LeonardHOST
What's on your bookshelf at the moment, Ellie?
Ellie GeranmayehGUEST
Yeah, so I just read a piece in the New York Review of Books by Ben Rhodes, looking at a new book that's coming out, Crossing the Red Line, that examines what happened in the Biden White House, according to Ahmad, the journalist, over Israel's war in Gaza.
Ellie GeranmayehGUEST
And the reason I point to this is because I do think that when it comes to looking at the Democratic primaries for their nominees for president, this issue alongside with the Iran war is going to play a central role, at least when it comes to foreign policy issues.
Ellie GeranmayehGUEST
And that there is likely to be a lot of, I think, tension within the Democratic Party over some of these issues that are entailed in the book.
Van JacksonHOST
Where are the boundaries? Are there criteria that we can use to identify like indicators or attributes of the foreign policy blob? Everybody knows that the blob is a thing and that it's a problem.
Van JacksonHOST
But just like how do you make sense of the blob conceptually, especially since it's like This thing that's existed for a long time and the term only came into being in a random musing from Ben Rhodes in 2016.
Van JacksonHOST
So there's a lot there to talk about.
Van JacksonHOST
And this is very much my shit because as I write in the newsletter, I was part of the blob.
20 MINS LATER
Jonathan GuyerGUEST
General Eisenhower had a fellowship like this at the Council on Foreign Relations before he became president.
Jonathan GuyerGUEST
So it is not a new phenomenon is what I'm trying to say.
Jonathan GuyerGUEST
This is something that is sort of how this has worked long before Ben Rhodes coined the term the blob, which I think some people might be surprised.
Jonathan GuyerGUEST
To learn that was a very recent coinage, you know, around the time of the Iran deal in 2016.
Michael WeissHOST
I mean, they're considered enablers of genocide.
Michael WeissHOST
You know, Ben Rhodes wrote an essay in the New York Review of Books.
Michael WeissHOST
I don't have much time for Ben Rhodes because everything in that essay seemed an act of projection because it could apply to Ben Rhodes when he was in Obama's administration dealing with Syria, which was the worst humanitarian catastrophe of the 21st century.
Michael WeissHOST
Which they
Marc PolymeropoulosHOST
did.
Victor Davis HansonGUEST
And I'm sitting here with pen and phone.
Victor Davis HansonGUEST
And then he said, he got together with Ben Rhodes and the rest of that crowd, John Kerry.
Victor Davis HansonGUEST
And he said, I'm a constitutional lawyer, but I'm not a constitutional lawyer the next two years.
Victor Davis HansonGUEST
So you know what we're going to do? We're going to go do a Rand deal.
Eric EdelmanHOST
The one really powerful speech he gave as president on national security affairs was when he came back and said, I'm a Zionist and I support Israel.
Eric EdelmanHOST
Now, some of his supporters are being stabbed in the front by Ben Rhodes and people like that for having supported genocide, all this other nonsense.
Eric EdelmanHOST
So that debate is playing out in terms of what happens in 2028.
Eric EdelmanHOST
But Biden really – I think it's very hard to look back on that and imagine – you know, a president.
Adam MocklerHOST
Listen to this.
Adam MocklerHOST
Ben Rhodes says, when everyone was on their back foot in 2025, the entire Democratic Party didn't know what to do.
Adam MocklerHOST
Zoran Mamdani changed the energy and found a formula for politics that was joyful, disciplined, and unafraid.
Adam MocklerHOST
It completely changed the game.
Victor Davis HansonSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
And I'm sitting here with pen and phone.
Victor Davis HansonSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
And then he said, he got together with Ben Rhodes and the rest of that crowd, John Kerry.
Victor Davis HansonSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
And he said, I'm a constitutional lawyer, but I'm not a constitutional lawyer the next two years.
Victor Davis HansonSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
So you know what we're going to do? We're going to go do a Rand deal.
Keith EdwardsHOST
Yeah.
Keith EdwardsHOST
As Ben Rhodes says, impeach, impeach.
Keith EdwardsHOST
Morgan Freeman says, yeah, yeah, we did.
Keith EdwardsHOST
We ready to be subpoenaed about blowing up a girl's elementary school and fishing boats and pitching a live stream execution.
Nicolle WallaceHOST
It's been a feature from the earliest days of his time in politics.
Nicolle WallaceHOST
How central is that to what Ben Rhodes described earlier this hour as a political realignment in our country?
Maya WileyGUEST
It's central.
Maya WileyGUEST
I just want to share a few stories.
Ravi GuptaHOST
And so that's the argument on one side.
Ravi GuptaHOST
On the other side are people like Ben Rhodes.
Ravi GuptaHOST
These are the people who have been supporting Plattner and Abdullah and these types of guys.
Ravi GuptaHOST
He said, it's not just Democrats winning.
48 more episodes mention Ben Rhodes.
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