Daniel W. Drezner

Beliefs Korrents

• Korrents What they believe 25 beliefs — each backed by an exact quote.

  Each is a korrent — compiled by korrents.com, not by them: the one-line wordings are korrents', the quotes are theirs.

  Recent

  • Simultaneously holding the Secretary of State and National Security Advisor roles prevents either job from being done well.

    The most obvious problem is that Marco Rubio continues to hold both the Secretary of State and national security advisor positions. This has been going on for nearly 18 months now and it's obviously not working well at all.

    The Beclowning of the State Department Continues Apace Said 19 Sept 2026

    Full record — everyone who holds this →

  • The Trump administration's recent foreign policy failures have significantly eroded U.S. deterrent power.

    the steady accumulation of humiliating defeats that have badly eroded U.S. deterrent power.

    The Beclowning of the State Department Continues Apace Said 19 Sept 2026

    Full record — everyone who holds this →

    America

  • Trump's foreign policy and national security team is staffed with incompetent people at every level.

    Remember: when it comes to Trump's foreign policy and national security team, it's incompetents all the way down.

    The Beclowning of the State Department Continues Apace Said 19 Sept 2026

    Full record — everyone who holds this →

  Show 22 more

  • Trump is globally hated but not feared, the opposite of where Machiavelli said a prince should be.

    In Machiavellian terms, Trump is no longer feared, and he's definitely no longer liked. Instead, he is hated - which is the one thing Machiavelli stressed should be avoided at all costs.

    Donald Trump Is No Longer Feared Said 17 Sept 2026

    Full record — everyone who holds this →

  • Failed U.S. attempts to secure its preferred outcomes in the Persian Gulf will keep energy prices elevated.

    So it does not seem as though U.S. preferences in the Persian Gulf will be achieved - which means prices in general and energy prices in particular are likely to stay high.

    Donald Trump Is No Longer Feared Said 17 Sept 2026

    Full record — everyone who holds this →

    energyAmerica

  • Trump's tariffs and his war in Iran are contributing to current U.S. inflation.

    The current problem with prices might be one part AI construction boom, but it is one part Trump's tariffs and one part Trump's war in Iran as well.

    Donald Trump Is No Longer Feared Said 17 Sept 2026

    Full record — everyone who holds this →

    inflationAmerica

  • The U.S. dollar's continued global dominance is a lagging indicator, not proof that American hegemony remains intact.

    the dollar's status is not a harbinger of U.S. hegemonic decline - it's a lagging indicator.

    The Dollar Will Be the Last Pillar To Fall Said 14 Sept 2026

    Full record — everyone who holds this →

    America

  • Overusing financial statecraft, allying with overseas populists, or prolonged anti-immigrant policy will push even close U.S. allies toward alternatives to dollar- and Wall Street-centered systems.

    Excessive use of financial statecraft, alliances with overseas populists, or prolonged bouts of anti-immigrant hysteria, however, will force even close allies to start thinking about alternatives.

    The Dollar Will Be the Last Pillar To Fall Said 14 Sept 2026

    Full record — everyone who holds this →

    immigrationAmerica

  • The Trump administration is accelerating the decline and fall of American global hegemony.

    I honestly do not know if the Trump administration will be able to completely eviscerate American power over the next two year - but damn they sure seem to be accelerating the decline and fall of American hegemony.

    The Dollar Will Be the Last Pillar To Fall Said 14 Sept 2026

    Full record — everyone who holds this →

    America

  • Universities and their administrations should remain ideologically neutral toward faculty's political views

    An institution must remain neutral with regard to the ideological beliefs of its faculty.

    That’s Not How Academic Freedom Works, Vanderbilt Trustees!! Said 10 Sept 2026

    Full record — everyone who holds this →

  • Teaching that reflects political commitments is a legitimate part of intellectual diversity, not a violation of academic norms

    There is nothing wrong with promoting perspectives that have political commitments; in fact, intellectual diversity requires this, because some viewpoints include political commitments.

    That’s Not How Academic Freedom Works, Vanderbilt Trustees!! Said 10 Sept 2026

    Full record — everyone who holds this →

  • Sustaining collective action against the federal government is difficult

    a hard-earned lesson of the past few months is that mobilizing collective action against the federal government is hard.

    That’s Not How Academic Freedom Works, Vanderbilt Trustees!! Said 10 Sept 2026

    Full record — everyone who holds this →

    government

  • A leader too impatient to sustain a waiting game will undermine strategies built on economic pressure and waiting out an adversary.

    Trump is lousy at playing a waiting game, and that's what this strategy entails

    The Trump Administration Strategy Fail Said 9 Sept 2026

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  • Governments running pressure campaigns tend to wishfully overestimate how close the adversary is to collapse.

    A second pathology is the administration's wishcasting that Iran is just days away from collapsing.

    The Trump Administration Strategy Fail Said 9 Sept 2026

    Full record — everyone who holds this →

  • A government's foreign-policy failures often stem from its policymakers' laziness rather than strategic miscalculation.

    the Trump administration's foreign policymakers are so lazy that they keep self-sabotaging.

    The Trump Administration Strategy Fail Said 9 Sept 2026

    Full record — everyone who holds this →

    government

  • The Trump administration is replacing professional bureaucracy with a corrupt, personalist system that extracts rents through force.

    In practice, Hochman's hire is another nauseating sign that the Trump administration is destroying the bureaucracy in favor of some corrupt, neo-royalist husk of an apparatus that mostly posts memes and occasionally deploys the 82nd Airborne to extract rents.

    The Devolution of the Policy Planning Staff Said 8 Sept 2026

    Full record — everyone who holds this →

  • Marco Rubio is struggling to hire talented staff and is settling for loyalists who follow his instructions instead.

    This suggests that Rubio is having some difficulties hiring anyone with talent and is settling for a putz who will do what Rubio tells him to do on Latin America.

    The Devolution of the Policy Planning Staff Said 8 Sept 2026

    Full record — everyone who holds this →

    America

  • For a mystery-box TV show to work, its world-building must be imaginative and believable and its characters compelling.

    For them to work, the world-building has to be imaginative and believable, and the characters have to be compelling.

    My Frustration With Puzzlebox Television Said 7 Sept 2026

    Full record — everyone who holds this →

  • Fully revealing a mystery-box show's central plot often disappoints viewers, flattening everything that happened before it.

    Once the entire plot is revealed in shows like this one, it can be a letdown, flattening what has happened previously.

    My Frustration With Puzzlebox Television Said 7 Sept 2026

    Full record — everyone who holds this →

  • A superpower's deferential posture toward rival great powers can alienate its allies while yielding no strategic payoff in return.

    the Trump administration's deferential posture towards Russia and China has alienated allies. But on the other hand, it has gained the United States nothing in the way of strategic stability.

    So How Is The Concert of Trump Going? Said 2 Sept 2026

    Full record — everyone who holds this →

    ChinaRussiaAmerica

  • A candidate's political success is increasingly disconnected from their actual record of accomplishment.

    Clearly the link between actual records of accomplishment and political success has been weakened just a wee bit.

    Pete Hegseth is Losing His Grip Said 31 Aug 2026

    Full record — everyone who holds this →

  • The U.S. military campaign against Iran is failing and has imposed massive strategic costs on the United States.

    the United States is not winning that war and the strategic costs have been massive.

    Pete Hegseth is Losing His Grip Said 31 Aug 2026

    Full record — everyone who holds this →

    America

  • Many professors do not write their own newspaper op-eds themselves.

    The dirty secret is that many professors do not write their own op-eds.

    The Professor and the Plutocrat and AI Said 29 Aug 2026

    Full record — everyone who holds this →

  • AI output quality is mixed at best without strong underlying critical thinking skills.

    Without a well-developed set of critical thinking skills, AI outputs will yield variegated results at best

    The Professor and the Plutocrat and AI Said 29 Aug 2026

    Full record — everyone who holds this →

  • Eliminating paper-writing as a student assignment would remove a core skill needed for most professions requiring a graduate degree.

    I am extremely concerned that this trend will eliminate paper-writing as an assignment, and that is a core function of most professions requiring a graduate degree.

    The Professor and the Plutocrat and AI Said 29 Aug 2026

    Full record — everyone who holds this →

  Beliefs others hold too

  • Trump is globally hated but not feared, the opposite of where Machiavelli said a prince should be. 2 hold this

    In Machiavellian terms, Trump is no longer feared, and he's definitely no longer liked. Instead, he is hated - which is the one thing Machiavelli stressed should be avoided at all costs.

    Donald Trump Is No Longer Feared Said 17 Sept 2026

    Full record — everyone who holds this →

  All 25 beliefs →