Chuck Todd

But in some ways, the blockade is an acknowledgement by President Trump that the United States has less leverage in this deal than we want to admit.

Certainly, you know, the president doesn't want to admit it.

He keeps declaring victory.

And that's a huge problem.

If you've won, then why are you negotiating?

If you've won, why are you potentially –

Floating the idea of a joint venture with Iran to to patrol and maybe even collect tolls for the Strait of Hormuz and the tolls being used as reparations.

Right.

So the the this is why his rhetoric is not harmless.

The stupid rhetoric he makes on Truth Social, the dumb rhetoric where he beats his checks, declares victory or sort of the the the secretary of defense who constantly loves to beat his chest and.

You know, I guess probably, you know, choose on too much creatine before he does any of his press briefings and declares these capital V victories.

Okay.

then why are we negotiating, right?

So the bottom line is we don't have leverage.

They do.

They came out of this ceasefire with the single most important piece of leverage, control of the Strait of Hormuz, control of the global economy, and essentially control right now of the Trump presidency.

So that's why Trump in some ways had no choice but to do this with the Strait of Hormuz.

The he's got to find and see if he can get some leverage to force the Iranians to back off a little bit.

So the question is, is there a next step?

Right.