Dr. Janice Stein

And assuming therefore that there are other versions of this story that will come out.

But from what we know,

Ratcliffe, the director of intelligence, the CIA director, told Trump that the expectation that the regime would collapse was farcical, absolutely farcical.

And, you know, that word stayed in my mind.

And that has the ring of authenticity to it.

Nobody's going to make up that word.

Somebody set back for that to make it into Maggie Haberman's story.

And so they did.

They did.

But Trump did not pay attention, frankly.

He didn't pay attention when they told him that it was likely that the straightforward moves, that

they could close the Strait of Hormuz and no they won't do that and he left it off so of course it's frustrating and of all people he should have believed Ratcliffe, Ratcliffe is he's a loyalist you know he's a Trump toady has been in the past he's a Trump appointee right so but he didn't believe him which really tells you Trump was determined to do this

I never hear that term used about him.

Right.

Never.

I never hear that term.

Nobody describes him that way anymore.

And I think after especially after these last five to six weeks, nobody has any illusions.

But the listener's question raises a very, very interesting question.

If he's not, who is?