‘With Trump, it’s not madman theory – it’s madman practice’

WorldPolitics
14 Apr 2026 • 8:14 PM MYT
The Independent
The Independent

The world’s most free-thinking newspaper

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Is Trump’s erratic and unprecedented behaviour part of a ‘madman theory’?

Madman theory (associated most, after Trump, with Ronald Reagan’s presidency) proposes that unpredictable behaviour can help disarm and confuse other governments or systems of power, reducing the threat of attack.

Helen MacNamara and Cleo Watson saw the ‘mad man’ for themselves when the UK government scrambled to react to Trump’s false claim of electoral fraud after the 2020 election. In this clip from In The Room, they tell the story of Trump’s ravings and how his behaviour back then relates to the current Iran war.

New episodes of In The Room drop every Friday. You can listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or watch on YouTube.

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