{"podcast":{"title":"School of War","slug":"school-of-war-4485553","podcast_index_feed_id":4485553,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/school-of-war","website_url":null,"image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/e7539186-26e3-11ec-8093-d77d6bdef305/image/b1fa56a68d8727cd9fba08793d37de34.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"The Free Press","episode_count":319,"summary":"In School of War, CBS News National Security Analyst and Free Press columnist Aaron MacLean sits down with secretaries of state, top military historians, war planners, and key political decision-makers to help understand the lessons of war. Tune in as School of War takes you to the front lines. Aaron MacLean is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute. He has worked as a foreign policy advisor and legislative director to Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and spent seven years in the U.S. Marine Corps. Visit our Substack for episode transcripts Follow along on Instagram","last_synced_at":"2026-06-19T18:21:00.710717+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/school-of-war-4485553"},"episode":{"title":"Trump Heads to China: Who Has the Upper Hand? With Dan Blumenthal","slug":"trump-heads-to-china-who-has-the-upper-hand-with-dan-blumenthal","published_at":"2026-05-12T09:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/school-of-war-4485553/trump-heads-to-china-who-has-the-upper-hand-with-dan-blumenthal","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/school-of-war-4485553","url":"https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/tracking.swap.fm/track/VOdNgcECFk0maZgOJbmx/traffic.megaphone.fm/CBS4532807469.mp3?updated=1778560558","audio_url":"https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/tracking.swap.fm/track/VOdNgcECFk0maZgOJbmx/traffic.megaphone.fm/CBS4532807469.mp3?updated=1778560558","summary":"Dan Blumenthal, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, joins the show to discuss the president’s upcoming summit in Beijing with President Xi Jinping. What are President Trump’s goals? How will war with Iran affect the meeting? And what do these discussions mean for the future of conflict in the Indo-Pacific? 02:12 Trump’s summit with Xi Jinping 03:38 Trump’s goals at summit 04:48 China’s leverage over Iran 05:57 China’s principal interest in the Middle East 08:14 U.S. sanctions on Iran and China 10:22 China’s diversified energy imports 13:05 American-Chinese competition 15:34 Defense industrial base issues 16:03 AI factor 16:34 China’s industrial leverage 19:05 Economic showdown 24:43 The Taiwan issue 26:22 Global conflict lessons for Taiwan 28:46 Division of Taiwanese politics 31:46 Stakes for the future Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast Find more at The Free Press. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices","meta_description":"Dan Blumenthal, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, joins the show to discuss the president’s upcoming summit in Beijing with President Xi…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2268,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/school-of-war-4485553/episodes/trump-heads-to-china-who-has-the-upper-hand-with-dan-blumenthal/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/school-of-war-4485553/trump-heads-to-china-who-has-the-upper-hand-with-dan-blumenthal.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}