What do people who follow foreign affairs make of the war with Iran and the president’s foreign policy? NPR spoke with a dozen World Affairs Council members in North Carolina to find out.
JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Now let’s turn to reaction here in the U.S. What do people who follow foreign affairs make of the war and the president’s foreign policy? On Tuesday night, as Trump announced the ceasefire, our colleague Frank Langfitt just happened to be speaking at a World Affairs Council event in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Frank spoke to 10 members of the council afterward. Here’s some of what they said.
(CROSSTALK)
FRANK LANGFITT, BYLINE: Jim Rice was in the crowd that night. He spent more than three decades in the U.S. International Trade Administration, including Trump’s first term. After news of the ceasefire rippled through the audience, Rice summed up the response like this.
JIM RICE: I think there’s general relief that the situation, while not necessarily under control, at least is stable, which is probably a step forward for this administration. They can take time, talk to their allies, gives time for oil prices to stabilize.
LANGFITT: But that relief quickly gave way to criticism. Jonathan Tetzlaff runs a risk management company in town. He said the president had damaged America’s global reputation by going to war practically alone.
JONATHAN TETZLAFF: I think he’s reshaping – unquestionably reshaping the world order but in an intensely negative and counterproductive way. I think the United States has lost its position of leadership in the world.
LANGFITT: Trump did not consult NATO allies before going to war and has berated them since for refusing to help the U.S. reopen the Strait of Hormuz. A world without strong American alliances will become a more dangerous one. That’s the takeaway from Michael Grillot who worked at the U.S. Department of Energy.
MICHAEL GRILLOT: I think it’s fairly clear that Russia won’t – you know, won’t stop. We don’t know what China will do with Taiwan. And countries like Japan and South Korea are going to feel like they’re left out, and they’re going to want nuclear weapons.
LANGFITT: Not everyone was critical of Trump. Joanna Zimmerman is a physician who grew up outside of Tel Aviv.
JOANNA ZIMMERMAN: For the first time, we have a president who actually supports Israel. He confronted Iran the way the previous presidents haven’t done. He pushed them to the corner.
LANGFITT: But Zimmerman worries.
ZIMMERMAN: I’m afraid, for instance, that he will – said, OK, we will do some kind of agreement, and the hell with Israel. They can have missiles running on them.
LANGFITT: So you’re worried about him doing a deal with Iran and walking away?
ZIMMERMAN: Yes. And I think it will betrayal, also, of the Iranian people.
LANGFITT: The politics of world affairs groups can lean center-left. So the next morning, I headed out into Asheville to get other perspectives.
Hi, Laura. How are you?
LAURA MCCUE: We’re the only two here right now.
LANGFITT: Nice to see you. Nice offices.
Laura McCue runs White Oak Financial Management. The war has sent markets on a roller coaster, but McCue – she’s unphased.
MCCUE: I have a strong belief that there is good at the end of this tunnel, and I feel like corporate earnings look really good. They’re projected to look really good going forward. That is what drives the markets.
LANGFITT: In fact, the S&P 500 is up about a quarter from this time last year. McCue praises the president for going after bad actors, including former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro. She says this makes other bad actors fear America and will also bring benefits back home.
MCCUE: We’re going to have a lot of oil, and we’re going to bring down the cost of energy in this country, which is really important.
(SOUNDBITE OF DOOR CLOSING)
LANGFITT: Hello, David. How are you?
A few miles away, I catch up with David Morgan. He’s a retired newspaper editor and conservative radio talk show host. Morgan supports the president. He thinks Trump’s threat to wipe out Iranian civilization was a smart negotiating tactic.
DAVID MORGAN: Oh, I think he did great. I think there’s nobody that could have done what he did.
LANGFITT: Morgan is glad to see a ceasefire but wonders if the administration can reach its goals.
MORGAN: The thing I worry about – all right, you make a deal. I think they can probably monitor the strait to be sure it’s open. But if he wants to get rid of the nuclear weapons and they don’t want to, how is he going to do this?
LANGFITT: After we spoke yesterday, Morgan texted me an article saying Iran continued to limit shipping through the strait and charged tolls. This is BS, he wrote. We have no deal. Frank Langfitt, NPR News, Asheville.
(SOUNDBITE OF EDDIE HENDERSON’S “INSIDE YOU”)
Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
