Thomas Small

I'm not saying that they're lazy.

I'm not saying that they're not talented.

I'm not saying that.

I'm saying that they're not real estate developers.

They don't see the world in those terms.

If the Iranian regime was led by people who wanted wealth to make mutually beneficial deals with people, to grow their economy and all that stuff, then everything in the whole freaking world would be different.

But they're not like that.

They actually want to conquer the Middle East and not only want to believe it is a preordained fact that they will do it because God is on their side.

It's a very different mentality, but Donald Trump is not treating them like that's what they are.

It's beggar's belief.

It's almost like he can't imagine that there could be people out there who, when it comes to it, aren't property developers.

I think we do need to always disentangle, even in the case of someone like Donald Trump, who's a real political animal, the political dimension from the sort of statesman dimension.

I mean, I think, despite everything I've said about Donald Trump, and I'm very frustrated with the man, but I don't think Donald Trump is under any illusions that Hezbollah and Hamas and other

parts of Iran's proxy network across the region are anything but horrible, malign actors that get in the way of America's strategic interests.

I mean, unlike some of his predecessors in the White House who were happier to accommodate Iran's proxy network in the region or to just kind of assume that they well, to assume that they had to be worked with.

Now, maybe as maybe time will tell that that whole

side of the American foreign policy, you know, personnel who argued in terms of containment of Iran, engagement with Iran that and that's what underlay the JCPOA and which, you know, at some time is sometimes pissed off our Arab allies in the region because they saw a Shia crescent being

being created and the houthi takeover of yemen and all that so there was a period of time when the american policy apparatus was like no we might hate iran but we're just they're here they're here to stay we can't do anything about it we just got to work with them maybe this recent adventure in the middle east is proving them right and maybe we just can't get rid of these people so maybe we just have to live with them i don't know but i don't think trump thinks that and i don't think that trump you know

Trump has been very good at enabling the Israelis to do what they feel they need to do to destroy Hamas, to destroy Hezbollah.

Now you can disagree with that policy,