Host @schoolofwarpod, national security analyst @CBSNews, columnist @TheFP
Virginia, USA
Joined November 2013
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We produced nearly 100 episodes of @schoolofwarpod in 2025. It was quite a year: authors like Stephen Kotkin (Ep. 180), Andrew Roberts (Ep. 189), @DouglasKMurray (Ep. 193), Walter Russell Mead (Ep. 186), and @barrystrauss (Ep. 224). Public figures like @TomCottonAR (Ep. 183); industry leaders like @anduriltech's @cdbrose (Ep. 259), @UNION_Prime's Will Sommerindyke (Ep. 216), serial CEO @DrJohnHillen (Ep. 195), and @WeAreHII's Eric Chewning (Ep. 172). Episodes covered everything from breaking news (e.g. Operation Midnight Hammer) to civilizational collapse in the Bronze Age to the nature of historical thinking itself. We hit 3 million total downloads. And this fall we finally switched to video (which takes a toll on my ability to multitask while recording!)
It's hard to pick favorites, but here are my top 20 episodes from 2025, recommended for your holiday down-time:
Aaron MacLean retweeted
Tom Skerritt, who starred in the TV series “Picket Fences” and appeared in movies ranging from “MASH” to “Alien,” “Top Gun,” “A River Runs Through It” and “Ted,” has died of natural causes at 93.
variety.com/2026/film/news/t…
Aaron MacLean retweeted
“It’s been leapt on by three other groups.”
Historian @aroberts_andrew warns that protests over education spending in France have been seized upon by the far left, Islamists, and opportunistic rioters.
Roberts joins @AaronBMacLean on School of War. Full episode coming soon.
Aaron MacLean retweeted
Witkoff to Putin: “He is a 75-year-old-man and you talk so much about about my president, President Trump, being a humanitarian, you are a humanitarian also sir, and I salute that.”
First Witkoff lines out of Putin meeting, per Russian wires:
- says talks in Oslo were productive with some progress made;
- hopes trilateral Russia-Ukraine-US talks can restart, asks Putin to consider this;
- says there is potential for US-Russia economic relations to develop once Ukraine conflict ends;
- thanks Putin for the “diesel deal” on behalf of Donald Trump, and for freeing retired American teacher Stephen Hubbard from Russian jail
Aaron MacLean retweeted
And as of now, the Starlink slowdown hasn’t been resolved. Ukrainian soldiers and officials say the 161 km/h limits on the SpaceX Starshields that enable Ukraine’s midrange drone strikes have yet to be lifted.
Breaking: Elon Musk ordered the Starlink slowdown that blindsided Ukraine on.wsj.com/4sgcpBv
Aaron MacLean retweeted
"Evidence accumulates by the day that President Donald Trump, feeling political pressure over high diesel prices (which are largely a consequence of the war in Iran) and further incensed by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s refusal to stop his attacks on Russian refineries, is aligning with Russia."
Read @AaronBMacLean on Trump's panicked foreign policy.
thefp.com/p/is-trump-getting…
Always love being on Major’s great show.
Aaron MacLean retweeted
TBH if I had a name like Kyle Sebag Montefiore I'd also probably be writing magnificent historical tomes by the dozen
Aaron MacLean retweeted
A technical matter may have led to airstrikes in Ukraine that were not detected, Rubio tells us. "Our understanding is that to the extent that happened on the 13th and on the 18th, it was a technical matter. It was not the result of any sort of U.S. directive not to provide advance warning of a strike," @SecRubio said in gaggle in India. "We are providing the same warnings to them now that we always have."
Rubio said perhaps there was an internal issue "in terms of them being able to take the information that was being provided and systemize it and react to it. That's possible. We're looking at it."
Aaron MacLean retweeted
Even when Détente was still strong, Kissinger and the NSC were wisely counseling Ford to not embrace any condominium talk 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻(This is from the Ford FRUS vol 16 #12)
🇺🇸🇦🇺
I had the pleasure again this week of speaking with @AaronBMacLean on the @schoolofwarpod. We had a long discussion about the war in Ukraine, Trump’s alignment with Putin, and the strategic learning and adaptation occurring in the war. youtu.be/4iSbpMiAfMM
As a Trump administration alignment with Russia over Ukraine looms, no one better to talk to about the links between the wars in the Middle East and Europe than @WarintheFuture. His view: Putin's "only pathway to success is to get President Trump on side."
“The data is all there about what has caused diesel prices to spike.”
Is Ukraine being unfairly blamed for an energy crisis? @WarintheFuture points @AaronBMacLean to the U.S. government’s own diesel-price data on School of War.
See the EIA data: eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_pri_gnd…
This is live!
youtube.com/watch?v=4iSbpMiA…
Coming later today @schoolofwarpod I break down the latest on Ukraine, Iran, and the links between them with @WarintheFuture.
Coming later today @schoolofwarpod I break down the latest on Ukraine, Iran, and the links between them with @WarintheFuture.
Aaron MacLean retweeted
Just back from meeting President Zelenskyy in Ukraine, Senator Cramer describes the proposal that he and Chairman Wicker delivered. It involves extending Starshield access into Russia in exchange for Ukraine halting strikes on Russian oil installations
FULL INTERVIEW: Sen. Kevin Cramer, Republican of North Dakota, joined @margbrennan on @facethenation.
Aaron MacLean retweeted
It's been a great couple of weeks @schoolofwarpod... for your weekend ICYMI list:
@simonmontefiore on the modern Middle East
@DrMichaelOren on Israel after 10/7
@Alexander_Bick on the Dutch empire
@M_S_Billingslea on Russian plague labs
@JosephTorigian on Xi
And more! 👇
Aaron MacLean retweeted
Real images of human beings, from the Revolutionary War, seen by human eyes, processed by human brains, and drawn by human hands, are infinitely more valuable than AI produced images could ever be.
An American Rifleman, drawn by British officer Richard Mansergh St. George. 1/
It's been a great couple of weeks @schoolofwarpod... for your weekend ICYMI list:
@simonmontefiore on the modern Middle East
@DrMichaelOren on Israel after 10/7
@Alexander_Bick on the Dutch empire
@M_S_Billingslea on Russian plague labs
@JosephTorigian on Xi
And more! 👇