EP 489: CNN's Jim Sciutto on How Trump Takes on the World

CNN's chief national security correspondent and anchor of CNN Newsroom Jim Sciutto discusses the Nixon-era origins of the so-called "Madman Theory" and how it applies to President Trump’s unpredictable approach to foreign policy. He reveals that the President’s intelligence team deliberately avoids bringing up Russia for fear of upsetting him and how this has lead to a dangerous ignorance of America’s number one geopolitical foe. Jim delves into the President’s fraught relationship with China, how Trump went from "fire and fury" to "falling in love" with Kim Jong-Un, and what the failed Hanoi summit taught him about the limits of personal diplomacy. Plus shares how the Pentagon dangled oil money to keep the President from withdrawing from Syria, one source who makes the cryptic claim that Vladimir Putin is Donald Trump’s "honeypot," and what Trump’s golf game can tell us about his approach to foreign policy.

Order Jim Sciutto's book The Madman Theory: Trump Takes On the World on Amazon, Audible or wherever books are sold. See Jim Sciutto anchor CNN Newsroom every weekday from 9 to 11AM EST, and you can follow him on Twitter at @jimsciutto.