Jon Lovett

Sorry, guys.

I can't focus on the war today.

I also got a board meeting at the Kennedy Center.

I'm late too.

I actually think it does make sense.

So what's happening?

He is signaling to markets that the conflict won't escalate with the hopes that that reduces the volatility of the markets.

That allows also those who support the conflict to say those who are afraid that it's spiraling out of control, that Trump is actually being quite reasonable.

And then when he says the regime's already been changed, the new guys are so reasonable, they're easy to work with, he's suggesting that while maybe in the past they've used negotiation as a cover to murder everyone in the room or do strikes on Iran, that is a new group of people.

And you can take my word that you can trust what I'm saying now because I genuinely want someone in Iran I can work with.

The other side- You mean he's sending that signal to Iran, yeah.

And then the other side of it, though,

is Trump is trying to kind of put an asbestos blanket on the fire he started in the markets.

That is not just because he wants the consequences of the ongoing conflict to have less of an impact on the US.

He wants to increase his leverage over Iran.

The less pain we're experiencing, the more leverage he has.

in the conflict, which frees him up to escalate, which suggests that escalation won't be as big of a price for the U.S.

to pay.

And when he says that we're already negotiating, Iran knows whether that's true or not, that that's Trump telling the world that if it falls apart, Iran is to blame.

So it's Trump is trying to lower the cost of what happens if he decides to escalate that.