In the latest Always at War, Courtney and Alex are joined again by historian and Quincy Institute non-resident fellow Daniel Bessner to talk about his new book, Imperialist Realism.

Daniel walks us through what the American empire actually looks like today and the three-part psychological structure — cynicism, "missionism," and what he calls tragic guilt — that makes empire always seem like the "best" choice for American policymakers. Along the way, the trio dissects the many cultural reflections of Americans' begrudging acceptance of our empire, including the Marvel movies, and discuss what it might actually take for a future president to take on the national security state.

Links
Imperialist Realism (book): https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Imperialist-Realism/Daniel-Bessner/9781803414805
Danny's Substack: https://imperialistrealism.substack.com
American Prestige (Danny's podcast with Derek Davison): https://americanprestigepod.com

Timestamps
0:00 – Intro
2:58 – Daniel Bessner joins + his new book, Imperialist Realism
5:21 – Do Americans actually think of the US as an empire?
9:18 – What the US empire looks like
12:42 – Is this really a moment of imperial retrenchment?
17:28 – Why hasn't the Iran war escalated
23:48 – Structure of feeling vs. ideology
26:31 – The three pillars of imperialist realism
29:21 – Reckoning with US hegemony in pop culture: the Marvel movies and Captain America
33:12 – Is this a post-9/11 phenomenon, or older than that?
35:53 – How Trump breaks the mold
44:01 – Has the empire become self-perpetuating?
46:43 – Can someone use the imperial presidency to end the empire?
54:51 – Why is the United States always at war?

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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 Join the Quincy Institute’s Courtney Rawlings and Alex Jordan as they expose the monied interests, outdated ideologies, and entrenched powers that have driven the U.S. to wage nearly 400 wars and interventions.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
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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com//quincyinst
Website: https://quincyinst.org

Anthropic's Claude has been used in Pentagon targeting — including the Iran strike that killed more than 150 civilians. Non-state actors like the Houthis have used Claude to help build guided weapons. And the AI industry is racing to embed itself deeper into the military-industrial complex, with no sign of slowing down.

At the same time, the same executives warning that AI could wipe out humanity within a decade — echoed by Anthropic's own safety lead — are lobbying against regulation so their companies can "win" the AI race against China. Courtney and Alex dig into what's actually driving the extinction-panic op-eds flooding the discourse, and why the doomsday framing conveniently never seems to slow down deployment.

That same "national security" logic doesn't stop at the water's edge. It's the justification behind warrantless AI license-plate tracking at home, and behind Anthropic's own hiring push for a "pre-crime" role built to flag activists. Are we prepared for the kind of danger this actually creates — like the AI chatbot error that nearly triggered a US-China crisis this spring?

###
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

In the latest episode of Always at War, Courtney and Alex sit down with Tori Bateman, the Quincy Institute's Director of Advocacy, to talk about her work trying to end Washington's addiction to endless war.

Tori splits her time between two audiences that need almost opposite treatment. Grassroots constituents already know what they want: fewer wars and lower costs for Americans. Capitol Hill staffers are buried in acronyms and process fights and need to be pulled back to the bigger question of whether U.S. grand strategy is even working. Her job is translating between the two. Her two-person team turns dense research and reporting into something a member of Congress can act on and something a constituent can call about.

We get into the machine she's up against — the military-industrial complex — and how they've made it very difficult for members of Congress to vote against war spending in their backyards. We trace why the War Powers Resolution, a Nixon-era tool meant to let Congress pull troops back from unauthorized wars, has produced more than twenty votes over the past year without ending a single conflict. Most have failed outright, and the one that passed was dismissed by the administration as non-binding. Tori walks us through why political timing, not conviction, often decides how war powers votes shake out.

We also get into the outsized power of a single phone call. Tori describes a Hill staffer who had fifty constituents ask about Section 219, the U.S.-Israel Defense Cooperation Initiative buried inside the NDAA, before he even knew what it was — proof that constituents have more power than most people assume.

The episode closes on the show's classic question: why is the United States always at war? Tori's answer sounds right to me: "It's easier to break stuff than it is to build things."

###
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