Dr. Adam Posen

But I also think you want the F-35s, of course, are a big carrot, but you also want to think of it in terms of the relationship.

And this is what is key, whether it's UK or Saudi or Japan.

No, I appreciate your asking that, Carol, and I don't want to be mean, but it doesn't matter whether the president literally in the narrow sense has nothing to do with it or not.

We had laws and more importantly, we had norms and we had expectations from the press, from the public, from the markets that the US did not deal in family enrichment when you're in public office, let alone when you're the president.

Some of your viewers might remember the old John Adams miniseries in which John Adams alienated both his daughter and his son-in-law, or one of his sons and his son-in-law, because he wouldn't advance them while he was in the White House.

And what matters is this very strong perception, which is obvious in Qatar, in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi, but even with the gold that was offered just the other day to the president,

that there is this perception that you link things.

Now, I don't want to overdramatize this.

There are a lot of countries in the world, including Saudi, including Turkey, including China, where this kind of ties go on between the leaders' families and chosen friends and foreign policy and other governments.

It's not good, it's not fair, it's wasteful and distortionary, but it's also not the end of the world.

Businesses and investors can proceed.

But for the US, this is, going back to your original question, this is a huge step change.

We've not seen anything like this, at least since Teddy Roosevelt, meaning 120 years.

I agree.

I agree.

It's never going to be absolute.

And we all know the stories of people going back to Jimmy Carter's brother selling beer, that there's always beer.

relatives who try to profit on these things.

So again, this isn't about ascribing malevolent intent, but you want to have a system in place

where people expect and feel, particularly investors, but also average citizens expect and feel that this is an exception, not the rule, that you occasionally have the rogue family member, but that on the one hand, policy choices are not being driven and being perceived as driven by these things.