Ben Rhodes

We'll talk about why ramping up Venezuela's oil industry

might be a lot harder than Trump thinks, what the Russians might think about all of this.

Then we're going to talk about Trump's threats to bomb Mexico, his efforts to topple the Cuban government with sanctions and economic pressure and whether that's going to work.

We've never tried that one before, right?

And then how a birthday party and an octagon

have upended plans for an international summit of world leaders.

Stick around for that.

Yep.

And there's a lot of violence in the octagon too, if we're being honest here.

Then you're going to hear my interview with our friend Jason Rezaian.

Jason was the Tehran bureau chief for the Washington Post until July of 2014, when the Iranian regime, a bunch of goons, arrested him and ultimately held him hostage for 544 days.

Jason and I talk about his view of the protests.

As someone who's lived in and reported on Iran, he's Iranian American.

He's got lots of friends and family and contacts still in the country.

And then we talk about his ordeal in Iranian detention and the incredible diplomacy that you were a part of then.

During the Obama days that got him out.

The story is documented in Jason's truly excellent podcast 544 days, which I just can't recommend enough because it's an amazing story in its own right.

And it's also like newly relevant in this moment as we're all looking at Iran and trying to kind of understand the machinations in the regime.

Do you think – Although the Israelis bombed it.

Yeah, they bombed it.