Good podcast.

The one thing I will never understand is why do national security elites always pretend they don’t know what the public wants. The public wanted out of Afghanistan. 3 presidents ran and won on it. I think what is happening in Afghanistan is awful but natsec elites have to stop pretending that the American people don’t matter or that “if a leader would just lead” people will not ask “why are we still paying 10b a month for a war that isn’t going anywhere?” Americans wanted out. Our leaders wanted out. Getting out was a complete clusterfuck but it had to happen.

If you want to see the pitfalls of natsec elites never ever facing up to reality: look at the current nature of our politics on fp. Americans want no part in wars in Israel or Ukraine or Taiwan because Iraq and Afghanistan turned out so badly. I honestly don’t know what the right strategy would have been because I think in 2001 if you told the American people that they would be at war in Afghanistan for 20 years I really don’t think bush could have gone to war. It’s a conundrum because if you tell Americans the truth they will not support what natsec elites want to do around the world.