The Warring Visions of American Power

Summary of The Warring Visions of American Power

by New York Times Opinion

54m•August 14, 2026
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Overview of The Warring Visions of American Power

This episode of New York Times Opinion features a wide-ranging conversation with legal scholar and writer Linda Kinstler about the future of American foreign policy, the crisis of international law, and whether global legal institutions can still provide moral legitimacy after the Trump era, Gaza, and Ukraine. The discussion centers on a deep split in U.S. politics: one camp wants to restore and strengthen the “rules-based international order,” while another argues that international law has become both too weak to prevent atrocities and too compromised to serve as a meaningful foundation on its own.

Core Arguments and Takeaways

  • International law is not separate from politics.

    • Kinstler argues that law only matters when political leaders and states choose to enforce it.
    • It can be a moral language, a constraint on power, and a source of legitimacy—but it is not self-executing.

  • The Trump era and recent wars exposed the fragility of the system.

    • Trump’s hostility to treaties and institutions intensified the sense that international law is under siege.
    • The wars in Ukraine and Gaza made many on the left question whether the U.S.-led “rules-based order” ever truly restrained violence.

  • There is a growing push to return to restraint.

    • Some Democrats and foreign-policy thinkers increasingly argue that America should simply follow international law, even when that means refusing military action or limiting unilateral power.
    • The host raises the idea that international law can “tie the superpower to the mast,” preventing reckless interventions.

  • But Kinstler says that is not enough.

    • She argues that international law cannot simply be restored to a past era of U.S. hegemony.
    • The system has been weakened too much, and a new political reality requires more than a slogan about “following the rules.”

International Law: Promise, Failure, and Abuse

What international law is supposed to do

  • Prevent violence between states.
  • Provide accountability for atrocity crimes.
  • Create shared standards for conduct, from war crimes to aviation and trade.

Where it fails

  • It often cannot stop atrocities in real time.
  • Its legal definitions can create loopholes:
    • Genocide law requires proving specific intent.
    • Military actions can be defended as targeting “legitimate” military objectives.
  • These bureaucratic standards can feel morally evasive to ordinary people.

How it can also be misused

  • Kinstler notes that international law can give states a legal cover for conduct others view as atrocious.
  • The structure itself can be exploited, allowing violence to be reclassified as lawful or at least unpunishable.

Gaza, the ICC, and the Politics of Moral Language

  • The conversation begins with Zohran Mamdani’s public call for the arrest of Benjamin Netanyahu under an International Criminal Court warrant.
  • Kinstler says the video was rhetorically powerful because it named alleged crimes clearly and directly.
  • But she also warns that such gestures can highlight the ICC’s weakness if the warrant cannot actually be enforced.
  • The episode treats Gaza as a flashpoint in the debate over:
    • whether the U.S. is complicit,
    • whether “rules-based order” still means anything,
    • and whether international law can shape historical memory as much as legal outcomes.

Russia, Israel, and the Double Standard Problem

  • The host asks why Israel gets so much attention compared with Sudan, Syria, or Russia.
  • Kinstler responds that:
    • Israel is a close U.S. ally, which makes the issue especially politically charged.
    • But similar double standards also appear around Putin and the ICC.
  • The discussion highlights a recurring hypocrisy:
    • States praise international law when it targets enemies,
    • but resist it when it applies to themselves or allies.

The Democratic Party’s Foreign Policy Split

  • The episode argues that the Democratic Party is in a moment of rupture.
  • Biden entered office promising to restore the “rules-based international order,” but:
    • Ukraine and Gaza exposed the limits of that vision.
    • The left now asks what that order was worth if it failed to stop or constrain catastrophic violence.
  • Kinstler says the party’s foreign-policy future is unsettled:
    • Some want a renewed faith in institutions.
    • Others want a more radical break.
    • Many are searching for a new language of leadership, not just procedure.

What a Better Future Might Look Like

Not just restoring the old system

Kinstler argues it is not enough to say “let’s go back to the rules.” The post-Cold War liberal order is gone.

A more reparative approach

She suggests international law should become more materially meaningful by:

  • supporting victims’ funds,
  • helping document harms,
  • and making legal norms affect people’s lives directly.

A different moral imagination

Rather than only preventing or punishing crimes, a future international legal order might need to:

  • repair harm,
  • preserve memory,
  • and make justice tangible rather than purely symbolic.

Notable Insights

  • “International law is a grammar, not just a court system.”

    • It is a language states use to justify, constrain, or contest power.

  • “The court is just a court.”

    • Even the International Court of Justice has limits; politics happens outside the courtroom.

  • Ceasefire is not peace.

    • The episode draws a sharp distinction between temporary pauses in violence and durable political settlements.

  • Law without enforcement remains morally meaningful, but politically incomplete.

    • The fact that a legal norm is not fully enforceable does not make it meaningless.
    • But enforcement is what turns aspiration into change.

Books Recommended by Linda Kinstler

  • The Divided City by Nicole Roel?

    • Kinstler recommends a book on political division and the challenge of coming together after rupture.
    • Note: the transcript name is slightly unclear; the title appears to be The Divided City.

  • Crossing the Red Line by Akbar Shahid Ahmed

    • A forthcoming book on the Biden administration’s Gaza policy and its failed “red lines.”

  • Underwater by Tara Menon

    • A novel engaging with climate change, loss, and the limits of fiction in describing large-scale ecological collapse.

Bottom Line

The episode argues that international law remains essential, but not sufficient. It can name wrongdoing, preserve memory, and restrain power, yet it cannot by itself generate justice or prevent war. The real challenge, as Kinstler sees it, is to rebuild a version of global order that is not just legalistic, but morally and materially effective.