“Top Gun: Maverick,” the legacy sequel to the 1986 movie “Top Gun,” has soared at the box office since its Memorial Day weekend opening, making more than $550 million and counting. People might just be going to see Tom Cruise in action, but there might be something more going on here. The first “Top Gun” is an iconic piece of pop culture, a product of its times: a hot movie that came out at the coldest point of the Cold War. This “Top Gun?” It’s also a product of its times, a weirder, more asymmetrical one for geopolitics. With us to discuss is CQ Roll Call Editor-at-Large John T. Bennett.

Show Notes:

• Army searches for ‘sweet spot’ between current, future needs
• Toxic exposure bill would rewrite America’s compact with veterans
• Ukraine looms over the US general charged with leading NATO
• Commission proposes new names for bases that now honor Confederates
• Biden blasts Putin, praises McCain in Naval Academy graduation address