Hannah Rosen

So it would be inappropriate or out of protocol for him to say, can you name a strategy, Mr. President?

That's not the way generals communicate.

They communicate very straightforwardly.

So what is your sense about how much Trump would hear that message and take that position into account?

How does that message get received inside the White House?

Okay, so from a general's perspective, you're not clear about the mission.

You don't necessarily know how to plan for it.

What's your guess about what Trump's main goal is in Iran, what he's trying to accomplish?

All right.

So let's play out a couple of scenarios.

With the information that the Pentagon has right now, if we were to go to war, what would that look like?

Okay, so your best guess is that what he wants, even if it doesn't end up going this way, or he articulates it as something like regime change, because there's something heroic in that.

What do you think his understanding is of the U.S.

's influence in the world and how it should behave?

OK, so let's say this is the theory.

It's sort of mafia like a little bit arbitrary and determined by whims.

If that is true, what do you most worry about in that scenario?

Well, Tom, thank you so much for helping us understand what's going on.

This episode of Radio Atlantic was produced by Rosie Hughes and Janae West.

It was edited by Claudina Bade.