Ben Rhodes

Although I know the Republicans have kind of relinquished that.

But what about his ability to pay for, say, the reconstruction of Venezuela's Olympics?

Yeah, it feels that way.

And I want to ask about both parties and their response to this.

So we'll start with the Democrats, which, you know, generally I think Democrats have been quite strong on this in opposing what is clearly an illegal, reckless, dangerous action.

that has nothing to do with, as you said, dealing with affordability and the kinds of things that Americans care about.

But you always sense in these moments, particularly when the military is involved and there's an operation like this, there's always a little bit of tentativeness.

And you had an Axios report the other day where they quoted some anonymous centrist colleagues of yours

who are saying, you know, that I think it looks weak, one person said, to criticize Trump.

If you don't acknowledge this as a win for our country, then you lose credibility.

How unified is the party on this?

And would you like to see more, you know, kind of more voices raised against this?

Are you concerned about that kind of post 9-11 mindset that, oh, we're afraid of looking weak if we criticize this?

What is your sense of where Democrats are on this?

Well, and I also want to ask about Republicans.

You know, you have worked with Thomas Massey, a Republican from Kentucky.

He's been willing to break with Trump on a number of things.

On your War Powers Resolution, it strikes me that this is kind of the opposite of what Trump promised his MAGA base, right?

Ending forever wars was a key part of his attraction to a lot of people who were exhausted by spending money or deployments overseas.

In talking to Republicans...