On Wednesday, Donald Trump attacked the US intelligence agencies that he nominally leads, upset that their assessment undercut his self-proclaimed successes in foreign policy.

I spoke last night with Monocle 24’s Emma Nelson about the significance of Trump’s latest assault, in the context of his two-year campaign against the CIA, the FBI, and other services. We chat about the damage to US foreign policy, including to effective operations and to long-standing American alliances.

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Listen from 1:17:

You have competing American foreign and military policies.

There is one policy, which is represented in the intelligence assessment, which considers the maneuvers of states from Russia to North Korea to Iran to Syria.

There is another policy which is ego-driven. Donald Trump, whether or not he is compromised by Russia over the 2016 election, would like to be Vladimir Putin. Kim Jong-un become Donald Trump’s good friend because he offers a summit.