Nation States with Yates

Iran, Russia, rising affordability concerns, and the upcoming midterm elections are dominating the headlines—but what do these challenges really mean for America's future? On this edition of Nation States with Yates, national security expert Steve Yates examines the critical foreign policy, economic, and political questions facing American voters, including the long-term consequences of decisions being made in Washington.

Steve previews upcoming deep dives into the Houthis, Saudi Arabia, and the Muslim Brotherhood, exploring the history behind these movements and why their influence extends far beyond any single election cycle. He also reflects on the show's powerful tw...

Fentanyl is more than a drug crisis. It is a family crisis, a public policy challenge, and, in Steve Yates' view, a national security issue. Drawing from the loss of his daughter after a fentanyl overdose, Steve shares hard-earned lessons about addiction, treatment, emergency decisions, grief, and the conversations families should have before a crisis arrives. He also examines border security, cartel networks, Chinese chemical precursors, law enforcement burdens, and addiction treatment policy.

Listen and share this episode with someone who may benefit from these lessons learned through tragedy.

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A personal account of the fentanyl crisis through the eyes of a father who lived it. Steve Yates shares the 12-day journey that began with an overdose call about his daughter Christina and ended with difficult decisions, hospice care, and heartbreak. Along the way, he reflects on addiction, counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl, the toll on families, and why this epidemic reaches far beyond headlines and statistics.

Listen now and prepare for Part 2, where Steve examines the family lessons and public policy questions that emerged from this devastating experience.

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America's fentanyl crisis is more than a national emergency—it's a devastating tragedy affecting families across the country. In this deeply personal edition of Nation States with Yates, host Steve Yates shares the heartbreaking story of losing his daughter in 2023 and the 12 devastating days that forever changed his family.

Steve introduces a special two-part series examining the human cost of fentanyl, the lessons families and communities can learn, and the urgent need for stronger prevention, accountability, and justice for those responsible for supplying deadly drugs. Through his family's experience, Steve hopes to raise awareness, encourage meaningful conversations, an...

President Donald Trump faces mounting foreign policy challenges as efforts to negotiate peace between Russia and Ukraine encounter new disagreements, diesel fuel prices put pressure on American families, and Houthi attacks against Saudi Arabia threaten further instability across the Middle East.

In this edition of Nation States with Yates, Steve Yates examines the latest developments in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the political and economic consequences of energy prices during a contentious election season, and growing concerns over regional security and global oil markets. He also revisits two major speeches exploring Western civilization, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio's a...

Taiwan’s National Day address was about far more than cross-strait relations. Speaking in Taipei, President William Lai framed Taiwan as a free society rooted in self-government, faith, responsibility, and democratic values. Steve Yates explains why that message matters for Americans, how it contrasts with the Chinese Communist Party’s vision, and why Taiwan’s future is tied to larger questions about freedom, deterrence, history, and the future of the Indo-Pacific. Listen now and consider how Taiwan’s story fits into America’s broader strategic interests and relationships with democratic partners around the world.

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s speech in Athens offered more than a foreign policy message. It framed a broader argument about national strength, Western civilization, secure borders, strong allies, and why many Americans see these priorities as common sense rather than controversy. Steve Yates examines Rubio’s remarks, the reaction from critics, and what a more confident Europe could mean for American security and prosperity.

Listen as Steve connects the strategic stakes behind today's debates over defense, manufacturing, energy, and national identity. Follow Nation States with Yates for clear, common-sense insights where Steve Yates serves as your...

Steve Yates previews a consequential week in global affairs as President Trump explores a potential Russia oil deal to ease diesel prices, negotiations over the Russia-Ukraine war remain uncertain, and tensions with Iran continue under maximum pressure. Meanwhile, Houthi attacks in Saudi Arabia threaten further instability across the Middle East.

On Nation States with Yates, Steve also previews two major speeches shaping the future of international relations: Secretary of State Marco Rubio's address in Athens, Greece, on reviving Western civilization and strengthening America's European partnerships, and Taiwan's president's National Day address outlining a message with profound implications...

A headline-grabbing speech at Quantico was about far more than culture wars. Steve Yates examines Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s first State of the Force address, focusing on the long-term initiatives that could reshape how America recruits, equips, powers, and deploys its military. From autonomous warfare and future battlefield technologies to resilient military infrastructure and domestic base expansion, the speech offered a roadmap aimed at preparing the United States for the next generation of strategic competition.

Listen and decide which ideas are likely to endure long after the headlines fade.

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Four years can change the direction of a country. Steve Yates compares where the United States stood heading into the 2022 midterms versus the landscape facing voters in 2026, focusing on four issues that shape America's future: border security, energy, technology, and the Western Hemisphere. Rather than telling listeners how to vote, he offers a framework for evaluating candidates and asking better questions about national priorities, security, economic strength, and America's strategic position.

Listen, compare the trends, and decide which questions matter most before casting your vote. 

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Steve Yates breaks down the major national security and geopolitical stories shaping the week, including new details surrounding the FlyDubai hijacker and troubling questions about radicalization, vetting, and international intelligence sharing.

Steve also examines the departure of U.S. B-1 bombers from RAF Fairford amid security concerns in the United Kingdom and a separate Iran-related spy scandal raising questions about the state of the U.S.-UK alliance.

Plus, Brazil heads toward an October runoff following a major election result as Steve examines the broader political shift taking place across Latin America. And in the...

Steve Yates delivers a Nation States weekend update on the major national security and geopolitical developments shaping the U.S. competition with Iran and China.

Steve examines the attempted attack aboard a FlyDubai flight bound for Israel and developments in the United Kingdom, and discusses what they could mean for Iran, the IRGC, and the possibility of further military action. The FlyDubai investigation remains ongoing; President Trump has suggested a possible Iranian connection and threatened a strong response if one is established, while officials have cautioned that the motive and any connection to Tehran have not yet...

A state dinner and red-carpet diplomacy made headlines, but Steve Yates focuses on the real scorecard after Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington. From the temporary trade truce and AI competition to Taiwan deterrence, Iran’s oil lifeline, and the case of Jimmy Lai, he examines what Beijing gained, what Washington held firm on, and where key questions remain unresolved. The central test is not symbolism, but implementation.

Listen now and decide whether this summit delivered progress or simply bought time before the next round of negotiations.

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Iran offered a seven-day plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but the price was steep: sanctions relief, unfrozen assets, and an end to economic pressure before any lasting agreement. Steve Yates explains why President Trump rejected the proposal, how leverage shapes nation-state negotiations, and what the decision could mean for energy markets, China, the Revolutionary Guard, and American consumers facing higher fuel costs.

Listen for a clear breakdown of the bargaining strategy behind the headlines and the real-world impact on Main Street.

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As world leaders gather for the United Nations General Assembly, Steve Yates examines a question most Americans rarely ask: what does the United Nations actually deliver for Main Street America? Looking at the UN's origins, America's role as its largest funder, the Security Council veto system, and case studies from Korea to the South China Sea, Yates evaluates whether the institution still advances U.S. interests or has become more theater than tool.

Listen for a practical framework to judge global institutions the same way Americans would evaluate any contractor: did the work get done, what did...

As Xi Jinping heads to Washington for another summit with President Trump, the real question is not what gets announced, but what gets delivered. Steve Yates explains why implementation matters more than optics and examines the key tests facing U.S.-China relations, from AI controls and Taiwan to Iran, Ukraine, rare earth supply chains, fentanyl enforcement, and the fate of Jimmy Lai. Listen for a practical framework to separate diplomatic theater from meaningful results and understand what success should actually look like for American interests.

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China’s top security officials have laid out their biggest fears about artificial intelligence and the roadmap they believe will keep the Chinese Communist Party in control. Steve Yates breaks down a rare public window into Beijing’s thinking, from deepfakes and cyber warfare to data security, chips, and global AI competition. The bigger question is what America and its allies should refuse to accept as AI becomes critical infrastructure. Listen, share your thoughts, and join the conversation on one of the defining strategic challenges of the coming decade.

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Jimmy Lai's imprisonment has become a measure of far more than one man's fate. Steve Yates examines how the jailed Hong Kong publisher's story challenges decades of U.S. assumptions about China's political future, Hong Kong's promised autonomy, and whether Beijing still has room for voices outside Communist Party control. As President Trump prepares for another meeting with Xi Jinping, the case raises difficult questions about leadership, freedom, faith, and the future of U.S.-China relations. Listen and share this episode as Congress revisits Jimmy Lai's case and policymakers weigh what comes next. Follow Nation States with Yates...

When does a military conflict become a war, and who gets to decide? Steve Yates examines the constitutional, legal, and political debate surrounding U.S. military action, using the ongoing confrontation with Iran as a real-world case study. From declarations of war and presidential authority to the 1973 War Powers Resolution, he explains why America has fought major conflicts for decades without formally declaring war. Share this episode with friends and family who want a clearer understanding of how war powers actually work and why this debate remains unresolved. Follow Nation States with Yates for clear, common-sense insights where Steve...

A surprising question at a Canadian security conference sparks a bigger conversation about the future of the U.S.-Canada relationship. Steve Yates looks beyond headlines and political rhetoric to examine Canada's economic stagnation, military readiness, growing interest in deeper ties with China, and why geography, trade, and security continue to bind North America together. The real story is not invasion fears. It is whether two longtime allies can adapt to a changing world while preserving a shared future. Listen now and join the conversation on one of the most important relationships in the Western Hemisphere. Follow Nation States...

America adopts more children into permanent families than any other wealthy nation, and Steve Yates argues that fact reveals something deeper about the American idea itself. Drawing from adoption data, international comparisons, personal experience as an adoptive father, and a memorable White House encounter involving President George W. Bush and Romania, he explores how law, love, and shared commitment can define family and citizenship beyond bloodlines. Share your thoughts and experiences with adoption, family, and belonging. Follow Nation States with Yates for clear, common-sense insights where Steve Yates serves as your personal national security advisor, breaking down world events...

Twenty-five years after September 11, 2001, Steve Yates shares a firsthand account from inside the White House complex as America came under attack. Drawing on his experience serving on the vice president’s national security staff, he reflects on the confusion, evacuation, continuity of government, and leadership lessons that emerged in the hours and days that followed. More importantly, he examines what those events still teach America in 2026 about vigilance, resilience, and national security. Listen, share with the next generation, and help preserve the lessons that history can teach before memory fades. Follow Nation States with Yates for clear, common-sense insights wh...

As Xi Jinping prepares to visit Washington for a high-stakes summit with President Trump, Steve Yates looks past the diplomatic theater to focus on what matters for everyday Americans. From trade commitments and farm exports to Taiwan, advanced technology, Iran, and the detention of U.S. citizens in China, the episode examines whether this meeting will produce measurable results or simply another round of promises. Listen for a practical look at the leverage, risks, and opportunities shaping the next chapter of U.S.-China relations. Follow Nation States with Yates for clear, common-sense insights where Steve Yates serves as...

A major shift in U.S. strategy toward Iran may redefine how America uses power abroad. Steve Yates breaks down Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s newly announced Operation Economic Outcast, a campaign aimed at cutting off Iran’s financial lifelines and isolating the regime from the global economy. He explains why economic pressure, rather than expanded military engagement, could become the decisive tool in ending the conflict while reducing long-term risks to American families, energy markets, and national security. Listen and join the conversation about how economic power, sanctions enforcement, China’s role, and allied cooperation could shape what comes...

America’s founders never included political parties in the Constitution, and George Washington warned against them. Yet today, parties organize elections, shape government, recruit candidates, build coalitions, and influence nearly every level of public life. Steve Yates explains how America’s party system evolved from the Founding Era to today and why understanding political parties is essential for anyone who wants to engage meaningfully in civic life.

Listen now and join the conversation about the institutions that help shape who governs America and how power changes hands peacefully.

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Regime change is one of the most controversial ideas in foreign policy, but what does it actually mean, when has it worked, and why has it often failed? Steve Yates examines major case studies from Iran, Guatemala, Chile, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Germany, and Japan to explain how governments are removed, what comes afterward, and why the hardest question is rarely how to topple a regime but how to build a stable future. Listen now and join the conversation about one of the most consequential and misunderstood tools of statecraft. Follow Nation States with Yates for clear, common-sense insights where...

As America races to expand AI infrastructure, a new political fight is emerging around data centers, energy, water use, and local control. Steve Yates examines Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s push for greater scrutiny of large-scale data center projects and asks whether today’s resistance to AI infrastructure echoes past debates over the Green New Deal. The bigger question: how can the United States balance community concerns with the need to stay competitive against China in the technologies that will shape the future? Listen for a practical framework to evaluate data center projects with facts, transparency, and common sense rath...

The assumptions that shaped U.S. Middle East policy for decades are no longer the same. Steve Yates explains how American energy production, the Abraham Accords, the rise of Iran as the region’s primary threat, and China's growing influence have fundamentally changed the strategic landscape. He outlines why old foreign policy frameworks are losing relevance and what the new realities mean for American interests, military commitments, energy security, and regional stability. Listen as Steve connects these long-term shifts to the practical questions voters should be asking policymakers today. Follow Nation States with Yates for clear, common-sense insights where St...

America’s financial power may be one of its most effective tools between diplomacy and war. Steve Yates argues that the Trump administration and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent are reshaping sanctions into a more targeted, results-driven instrument focused on changing behavior, disrupting threats, and advancing U.S. interests. Using examples from Iran, Venezuela, Syria, Russia, and transnational criminal networks, he explains why precision and flexibility may strengthen American leverage rather than weaken it. Listen now to hear how modernized sanctions fit into a broader strategy of smart power and national security. Follow Nation States with Yates for clear, common-sense ins...

A new national security warning argues that China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea are cooperating more closely than many Americans realize. Steve Yates examines the core findings of The Axis of Aggressors, outlining how military support, technology transfers, energy partnerships, and cyber coordination could create simultaneous crises that strain U.S. resources, alliances, and readiness. He explains why this matters for Main Street, from supply chains to energy costs and national security. Listen and consider what stronger deterrence, resilient supply chains, and capable alliances mean for America's future. Follow Nation States with Yates for clear, common-sense insights where Steve...

North Korea has quietly evolved from an isolated regional challenge into a global security player with growing influence far beyond the Korean Peninsula. Steve Yates examines how Pyongyang's support for Russia's war effort, expanding missile and nuclear capabilities, cyber operations, and long-standing ties to Iran are reshaping the strategic landscape and creating new risks for the United States and its allies.

What does North Korea's growing role mean for American security, military deterrence, and future conflict scenarios? Listen and decide whether this long-overlooked challenge deserves far more attention from policymakers and citizens alike.

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America’s communications networks are now a national security battleground. Steve Yates highlights how FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has expanded the agency’s role beyond traditional regulation to confront foreign influence, strengthen telecom supply chains, secure undersea cables, remove high-risk equipment, and harden critical communications infrastructure against espionage and cyber threats. The conversation explains why these efforts affect everything from internet reliability to America’s long-term technology leadership.

What role should government play in protecting the networks Americans depend on every day? Listen now and join the conversation.

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China is aggressively advancing its artificial intelligence capabilities, leveraging open-source models and state backing to challenge American technological leadership. Steve Yates breaks down the national security, economic, and cultural risks facing everyday families if the United States loses its decisive edge in compute. From military readiness to data privacy and influence operations, he delivers clear, common-sense guidance on why securing American innovation is critical to protecting Main Street.

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Steve Yates analyzes the recent US military escalation targeting Iran's Revolutionary Guard, explaining how strikes on energy infrastructure and shipping threats directly impact gas prices back home. He details why this focused counter-terror campaign differs from past endless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, how internal power struggles and a ghost leadership complicate Tehran's regime, and what China is learning as it watches the conflict unfold from afar.

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As artificial intelligence reshapes economies, supply chains, and national security, the real competition may hinge on who controls the technology, minerals, energy, and manufacturing needed to power it. Steve Yates examines Pax Silica, a U.S.-led initiative designed to strengthen trusted partnerships, secure critical supply chains, reduce dependence on China, and position America and its allies to lead the AI century through innovation, investment, and smart power.

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America’s race to lead the AI century will depend on far more than faster chips or bigger data centers. Steve Yates examines the State Department’s Pax Silica initiative, explaining how trusted alliances, secure supply chains, critical minerals, semiconductor manufacturing, and strategic investment could strengthen America’s economic and national security while creating new opportunities for workers, businesses, and communities.

Follow Nation States with Yates for more conversations connecting global strategy to America’s future with Steve Yates, your personal national security advisor. 

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America’s supply chains are more than an economic issue. They are a national security issue. Steve Yates explains how dependence on the People’s Republic of China for critical materials, medicines, semiconductors, and manufacturing creates strategic vulnerabilities, why COVID-19 exposed those risks, and what policymakers, businesses, and citizens can do to build a more resilient and secure American economy.

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America’s greatest strategic advantage may not begin with military power, but with national confidence, innovation, and economic resilience. Steve Yates explains the idea of “America Maxing,” why he believes it is essential to meeting the long-term challenge posed by the People’s Republic of China, and how stronger supply chains, reduced strategic dependence, and renewed American optimism fit into that vision.

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Steve Yates breaks down “smart power,” the missing middle between open-ended military intervention and diplomacy that rewards bad behavior. Using Christian Whiton’s book Smart Power: Between Diplomacy and War as a guide, Yates looks at how America can better use culture, rhetoric, economics, intelligence, military posture and political warfare to confront China, Iran and other adversaries without repeating past failures.

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Today's topics...

Trade policy is about far more than prices at the checkout line. Steve Yates examines Ambassador Robert Lighthizer’s book No Trade Is Free and explains how globalization, tariffs, manufacturing, supply chains, and U.S.-China trade have reshaped America’s economic and national security priorities. He explores why reciprocity, strategic industries, and economic resilience have become central to today’s trade debate.  

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