Ben Rhodes
๐ค SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
But that's out the window now.
He just went to war in part because Bibi Netanyahu wanted him to.
So don't ever tell me again about how Donald Trump uses this leverage.
The Democratic Party can be the anti-war party, can be the party that wants to change a dysfunctional relationship with Israel, change a dysfunctional approach to the Middle East, that learned the lessons of history, and that is...
saying it's time to stop spending money on this stuff and start investing in the things that Americans actually want us to be doing.
So those are the ones that jumped out to me.
And look, you're right.
I think privately, you get these leaders in a room and they did not want this to happen because they're aware of all the consequences.
I mean, the Europeans who, you know, I don't even know, you can read their statements over and over again and have no idea what the fuck their position is.
You know, the EU or Emmanuel Macron, like it's kind of word salads, you know, about how bad the Iranians are, but we need to have consultations and we're concerned.
They're the ones, by the way, who could end up getting refugees from this if it goes really south.
But to me, what stood out, Mark Carney, who we praised a lot and has gotten a lot of praise, he stood up at Davos and said that the international order was broken because it only worked for the powerful countries, and therefore the middle powers had to have their own views on things.
And I think what's really disappointing about his statement is, I guess he was only talking about trade.
I guess we don't care if the United States just goes around bombing countries with impunity and Israel goes around much more than the United States, even bombing countries with impunity.
So, look, why not stand up to Trump on this one?
What is the purpose of...
And he doesn't even have to be full-throated in opposition, but that statement tilted towards support, as did Albanese.
So I don't know.
I was a little disappointed in that because it's like everything else.