Michael Weiss

Well, I'm old enough to remember when spending money on Ukraine meant we weren't spending enough on Taiwan to defend them from the imminent and inevitable Chinese invasion, yeah? So now all of a sudden, Taiwan is our enemy or our rival, taking our jobs. They annoy us. Stealing our microprocessing industry, and they annoy us. So that doesn't sound like we're coming to their defense either.

I mean, look, you have a guy who... fundamentally, he doesn't care about allies. He doesn't even really care about national or strategic interests. He cares about transactions. What's in it for me? What am I getting out of this? Everything else is just a dodge or a hustle, or he thinks that we're being taken for a ride and all these other countries, they're the welfare queens of Pax Americana.

I mean, look, you have a guy who... fundamentally, he doesn't care about allies. He doesn't even really care about national or strategic interests. He cares about transactions. What's in it for me? What am I getting out of this? Everything else is just a dodge or a hustle, or he thinks that we're being taken for a ride and all these other countries, they're the welfare queens of Pax Americana.

I mean, look, you have a guy who... fundamentally, he doesn't care about allies. He doesn't even really care about national or strategic interests. He cares about transactions. What's in it for me? What am I getting out of this? Everything else is just a dodge or a hustle, or he thinks that we're being taken for a ride and all these other countries, they're the welfare queens of Pax Americana.

He doesn't understand the implications of just forfeiting you know, our role in the world and allowing these countries to be gobbled up by their regional adversaries who then become, of course, and are already actually America's strategic adversaries.

He doesn't understand the implications of just forfeiting you know, our role in the world and allowing these countries to be gobbled up by their regional adversaries who then become, of course, and are already actually America's strategic adversaries.

He doesn't understand the implications of just forfeiting you know, our role in the world and allowing these countries to be gobbled up by their regional adversaries who then become, of course, and are already actually America's strategic adversaries.

So it doesn't surprise me, given his style and his mode of thinking, you know, the countries that he tends to get on with the best, he would love to get on with Putin and Russia. There are some hurdles in the way here, but we've been discussing what they are. He loves Erdogan and Turkey.

So it doesn't surprise me, given his style and his mode of thinking, you know, the countries that he tends to get on with the best, he would love to get on with Putin and Russia. There are some hurdles in the way here, but we've been discussing what they are. He loves Erdogan and Turkey.

So it doesn't surprise me, given his style and his mode of thinking, you know, the countries that he tends to get on with the best, he would love to get on with Putin and Russia. There are some hurdles in the way here, but we've been discussing what they are. He loves Erdogan and Turkey.

Because Erdogan has sort of managed democracy such that he's sort of the president slash dictator in perpetuity, right? And he likes what Turkey has done, which is taken over Syria because Bashar al-Assad pissed off the sultan. He can get along with a guy like that. He likes Netanyahu. And Netanyahu sure loves him. I mean, you know... Taj Mahal, Khan Yunus, David Petraeus as pit boss in Gaza.

Because Erdogan has sort of managed democracy such that he's sort of the president slash dictator in perpetuity, right? And he likes what Turkey has done, which is taken over Syria because Bashar al-Assad pissed off the sultan. He can get along with a guy like that. He likes Netanyahu. And Netanyahu sure loves him. I mean, you know... Taj Mahal, Khan Yunus, David Petraeus as pit boss in Gaza.

Because Erdogan has sort of managed democracy such that he's sort of the president slash dictator in perpetuity, right? And he likes what Turkey has done, which is taken over Syria because Bashar al-Assad pissed off the sultan. He can get along with a guy like that. He likes Netanyahu. And Netanyahu sure loves him. I mean, you know... Taj Mahal, Khan Yunus, David Petraeus as pit boss in Gaza.

I mean, what's not to like there, right? Like riverfront property, the new Riviera in the most volatile and hostile piece of real estate in the Middle East.

I mean, what's not to like there, right? Like riverfront property, the new Riviera in the most volatile and hostile piece of real estate in the Middle East.

I mean, what's not to like there, right? Like riverfront property, the new Riviera in the most volatile and hostile piece of real estate in the Middle East.

Never smiled so wide when he saw that. And Viktor Orban as well, who has managed to do the same kind of state capture in Hungary, although he's small beer because Hungary doesn't matter to the extent that these other countries do. Those are the only people who sort of likes the cut of their jib.

Never smiled so wide when he saw that. And Viktor Orban as well, who has managed to do the same kind of state capture in Hungary, although he's small beer because Hungary doesn't matter to the extent that these other countries do. Those are the only people who sort of likes the cut of their jib.

Never smiled so wide when he saw that. And Viktor Orban as well, who has managed to do the same kind of state capture in Hungary, although he's small beer because Hungary doesn't matter to the extent that these other countries do. Those are the only people who sort of likes the cut of their jib.

Everybody else is like, all right, show me where on this dotted line I get what I want out of this, right? And the Ukrainians, to their credit, I think, have begun trying to play to some of these personality defects and this sort of egomania. You'll notice Axios had a write-up of the Trump-Zelensky call. And it's a minor point, but it's, I think, kind of evocative of the way