Afternoon all. Sending along a new interview I just completed with Rep. Adam Smith, the Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee. A recording and transcript are above.
I asked Rep. Smith to come by and share his thoughts on the big question of the moment - is America all of a sudden going to war with Iran? In our discussion Rep. Smith spells out what he thinks could happen if we do join the war - retaliatory attacks on our military bases in the region, American causalities, further escalation and something that very much looks like war. We also discuss whether Iranian “regime change” is a viable strategy for Israel (and the US if we join) and whether Trump can really defy Putin and join a war to degrade one of Russia’ closest allies, Iran.
Like many Rep. Smith is concerned that regardless of the merits of the US joining Israel that we are headed to this place not as a matter of strategy but because a weak and failing American leader needs something to make him look STRONG again. So we may get WAR. Or we may get another TACO (Trump always chickens out). That Trump has said he now needs two weeks - that famous “two weeks” - to make his call sure looks like we are headed to TACO. But we will see.
Rep. Smith is one of our party’s most important national security leaders, and anyone wanting to dive deeper in this emerging issue will be well served by watching or listening to our discussion today.
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The MAGA Coalition Has Turned On Itself (gift link) - Jonathan Lemire and Isaac Stanley-Becker, The Atlantic
We Better Pray No Unexpected Crisis Hits While Trump Is President - David Rothkopf, New Republic (link)
An Example Of Just How Bad The Polling Has Been For Trump (Economist/YouGov)
Keep working hard all. Proud to be in this fight with all of you - Simon
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