Back to episode — Episode 2841 CWSA 05/16/25
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ze him. And all this stuff you think about how they just have an impression of him and it's negative and they think these, none of that's real. That it's all about what he can do for them. And apparently they think he can do a lot for them in the Middle East because they really really put out the red carpet. But I would say that the biggest thing he accomplished is that he reframed war as commerc…
← Previous segment →e to invest, and it probably is. It's probably the best place to invest. That would be amazing. So I can quibble about what the real number is and how big it is, but what he's done is make everybody think in that way. Meaning that if he visits your country, you better open your wallet, and I think people will.
So not only did Republicans think he did a great job in the Middle East, but Fox News and others reporting that former Biden officials, people who would be deeply critical of Trump are also saying, "Wow, like he seems to have accomplished a lot in one trip." And so podcasters are saying it. Axios spoke to several Biden administration officials. And some of them are saying that Trump's audacious foreign policy moves were pretty amazing. One official anonymously said, gosh, I wish I could work for an administration that could move that quickly. So even if he didn't love everything that Trump has done everywhere, you look at this and you say to yourself Biden could not do this. I don't think there is a single Democrat who actually knows what they're talking about who would say, "Oh yeah, Biden could have done that. He probably almost did." Nope. I think people are absolutely recognizing that he's a singular personality and that he can literally do things that other people can't do. And when you start imagining a world in which you're not locked into all the same choices and that when Trump shows up, you have more options and some of them look pretty good. He's sort of someone who can make something happen that all the smart people thought couldn't happen. And that the value of that is incalculable. Just think about that. There's one personality really just one in the whole world where if he aims his airplane at your country, things can happen that just couldn't have happened without him. Nobody else is like that. I don't even know historically if anybody's ever been like that. So the fact that he's not afraid of anything, he's not afraid to take you in a different direction, he's not afraid to upset you, he's not afraid to try something that might fail, he's not afraid to try something and it doesn't work, then he has to quickly pivot and change it. His lack of fear combined with his common sense, we've never seen this. We've just never seen this. So I do appreciate that the Democrats are not blind to it. They can see it too.
Now, there's a rumor that I'm pretty sure is false that Trump is at least considering the idea of promoting a two-state situation and backing Palestine as its own country. I don't think that's going to happen. What do you think? I feel like he would have already signaled that. Now, we're seeing that Trump has made it very clear that Israel is not going to be yanking his chain. So he's created some distance from Israel without creating any kind of a major economic or other problem. But he's very clearly signaled that he's going to do what's good for the US and that's it. If Israel doesn't like it, Israel just has to deal with it. So we haven't seen that before.
So I went to Grok and I wondered how many of the Palestinians themselves want a two-state solution. And it turns out it's just wildly difficult to get any kind of a read on that according to Grok. But the numbers range from 24% to 74%. So we don't know exactly because the range is so big. We don't know exactly if even the Palestinians want a two-state solution. I just assume that they all did. But maybe not. Or maybe it's just that the limitation in the polling over there is so bad that you know it's 74% plus could be. But then I wondered how many of the Israelis want a two-state solution. According to Gallup in 2024 only 27%. And if you looked at only the Jewish Israelis it's as low as 17%. So I don't even know how many people want it. You know, if you say a two-state solution to the Palestinians, do they say to themselves, "Oh, no. We really want to own the whole thing, so we want a one-state solution where we're in charge." Is that what the
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y're thinking when they answer the question? So that would be yet another reason why you can't trust the polls on any of this. But here's what I do think. I think the opinions in the region would be so far all over the place that if you propose any kind of two-state solution that even the people who said they were in favor of it would be opposed to it because of the specific way you said you want…
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