James, why is Trump resorting to this diplomatic escalation?

Well, I mean, he's clearly getting more frustrated with the lack of a sufficient Iranian response to his plea for negotiations.

One can argue to what extent this is actually an escalation.

The US military is saying that the recent strikes on Iran in response to the downing of an Apache helicopter we- were done in self-defense, um, and they do not mean to break the ceasefire.

So it looks like they're trying to ramp up the pressure on the Iranians to strike a deal.

But new skirmishes really raise questions about how strong the ceasefire really is.

Yeah, I mean, how do you see this playing out? Could we get a ceasefire extension soon?

Well, I think we're, we're sort of stuck in this limbo of what I would call, and many others have called, a dirty ceasefire.

Rubio laid out several expectations on Sunday, but what exactly is the strategy right now? Do we have a sense of how long the US is going to "run" the country and what that looks like?

It's still very, very unclear.

As you said, Rubio laid out a series of conditions that the US expects Venezuela's remaining, uh, leadership to abide by, basically in order to avoid further action by the US.

So, uh, you have a situation where Rubio was saying that by running the country, he essentially meant that the US would continue to enforce the oil embargo, which has already been in place in the Caribbean to block Venezuelan oil exports.

But it's not clear whether the US intends to send additional troops into Venezuela, whether it intends to create a sort of secondary American administration, whether it simply is hoping to run Venezuela through its remaining rulers, including its second-in-command, Delcy Rodriguez, and for how long they expect this to happen.

It's unclear how long this limbo is going to last, and really how determined Washington is in terms of its willingness to actually run the country.

So what is Trump's overarching game plan here?

here?Absolutely, Trump put non-interventionism and an end to foreign wars at the top of his campaign platform in 2024.

What stood out to you that was not discussed, James?

Well, President Trump in his Truth Social post made a point of mentioning a few things that were not discussed and he said one was the war in Ukraine where China has been providing some support to the Russians, and the other item that was not discussed were the nuclear talks with Iran and China plays a big role in that as an ally of Iran in certain situations.

And it's clear that both Trump and Xi to a certain extent wanted to take those two issues off the table and separate the broader geopolitical tensions and the big strategic issues from their economic and trade portfolio.

What's the risk for both countries if the two aren't able to dial it down a bit?

Well, this is the most important bilateral economic relationship in the world and so the stakes are really very high, and we saw that in the reaction in financial markets, uh, when things hit a sort of downward spiral in, in April by the tit-for-tat tariffs which actually in the end the US government even said was unsustainable economically.

And so I think there, there has been a realization that rapid deterioration in relations between Beijing and Washington didn't suit either side, but again, this may be only a temporary truce and there are some, still some very serious divisions, um, and issues between the two countries and the two presidents, so it remains to be seen how this evolves.

shows.Guys, not to bring it back to, to partisan politics, but where are Democrats now on the question of national debt?

I mean, I think Democrats are, are, um, you know, have been through a kind of a cycle, um, of conflicting messages really on the debt.

During the, um, you know, in the aftermath of the financial crisis, uh, Barack Obama decided to create this bipartisan fiscal commission to try to, um, bring down, um, the debt and put the US on a path of sort of more fiscal, uh, responsibility and sustainability.

Um, that effort sort of failed because both sides weren't able to come to any kind of agreement, and the, the pressure, um, on both parties, uh, to be more responsible on the debt and deficits, um, eased, and, um, and throughout the first Trump term and into the pandemic rescue plans and then the stimulus that followed the pandemic rescue plans, so through Trump one, Biden, um, there wasn't really much pressure to tackle the debt.

And this is the sort of first time in really a while, in maybe 10, 10-plus years that I've seen an increased focus on, on fiscal matters, and, of course, you know, you, at the moment you're hearing Democrats bring it up more.

They're attacking the Republicans for being reckless.

Um, the Republicans are in a difficult position because even those who are genuine fiscal conservatives have to defend and support, uh, President Trump.

Do you see this broader economic discussion coming up in the debates over this tax bill or the budget? What are the big questions likely to be?

Why did the Trump administration eventually pull the plug on Chevron's license?

Well, it just decided that it didn't want to help the Maduro regime anymore, and it was time to kind of crack down.

And that comes amid a sort of split between the different personalities and officials, top officials in the Trump administration.

Secretary Marco Rubio has long been a Venezuela hawk and was out front championing the decision to remove the license, whereas others in the administration, such as Ric Grenell, the special envoy, has been negotiating the release of, uh, detained Americans in the country, and had been in talks with Venezuelan officials about this, and had actually suggested that the license might be renewed as, uh, recently as last week.

So there's been a bit of a tug of war within the administration over this, conflicting messages.

But for now, the sort of more hawkish approach championed by Secretary Rubio seems to have won out.

How does this move fit in with Trump's stance towards the oil industry? He's talked a lot about oil since coming back into office.

Well, the oil industry has certainly cheered on some of the Trump administration's moves, especially when it comes to regulation and drilling and those kinds of policies.

So James, what is in this bill?

Well, it does a lot.

The most important part of the legislation which Trump had wanted to do and spelled it out during the campaign trail is extend his 2017 income tax cuts, which were due to expire, um, at the end of this year.

It also cuts taxes on tips and overtime, which Trump had been promising.

It cuts healthcare programs for the poor through the Medicaid program, and it sets a new kind of baseline for economic policy in the US along the lines of sort of more conservative, traditional supply side economics, and, um, Republicans had been angling for this for a long time.

What about regular Americans? Do we have estimates on how the legislation could affect them?

Well, the main estimate is that Americans who pay taxes will be receiving, um, some tax relief.

On the other hand, some of the spending reductions will reduce their services.

Are these policy platforms that he's touting right now, are they gonna be here in three or six months?

Well, I mean, it's hard to tell.

I- in some ways, he hasn't, you know, put his full weight, um, onto, for example, the plan to, uh, tax the wealthiest Americans.

Um, he said it, it's off the cuff, the White House has confirmed that it's White House policy, um, but he isn't out there saying, "This must be done like this or else I won't sign the tax bill." And actually interestingly enough, the Ways and Means Committee, which is a tax writing committee in the House of Representatives, has just, you know, put forth their version of the tax bill and it does not include an increase in taxes for the wealthy.

That's a pretty telling sign that, you know, when push comes to shove, um, Trump may not be as, as populist as he seems.

Uh, what he does like is to present himself as a populist, and I think that that's where the Democrats have an opening in saying, "Look, yes, he's saying that he wants this, he wants lower drug, drug prices, he wants, um, you know, higher taxes on the rich," but actually the bill that he's going to eventually be signing is one that kind of guts the social safety net, that, um, actually extends a lot of tax breaks and, uh, tax benefits for, uh, you know, upper income households.

And so it's sort of the proof is in the pudding, and I think that's where the opening is for the Democrats and in a way has always been to say, "Well, this is kind of phony populism, um, it's not actually gonna help you, and he's just doing it for show."

What about, uh, politically? Do you think this messaging will carry over to the midterms?

And James, why is the conversation around cutting Medicaid happening right now?

Well, the conversation is happening now because, um, you know, President Trump is in the White House.

He has, uh, full control of Congress through the, uh, Republican majorities in the, in the House and the Senate, and his big legislative goal, uh, for the year is to pass what he calls a big, beautiful bill, um, that will extend, um, you know, the Trump tax cuts that he passed in 2017.

He has to find a way to pay for those tax cuts, and Republicans on the Hill are looking for spending reductions wherever they can.

And Medicaid, among the big, um, you know, spending items on the federal budget, is one of the prime targets.

And the Energy and Commerce Committee, um, has been directed on Capitol Hill, uh, to cut 880 billion.

And so, you know, there's actually a target, uh, that Republicans in the House have set, even though the specifics of how exactly they're gonna get there haven't been nailed down yet, and it's not a binding, uh, commitment.

How do these two factions affect Donald Trump?

So then what was the announcement this week made by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, and why does it matter?

The announcement made by, uh, the White House press secretary was that, um, they would have control over who participates in the White House press pool.

Uh, so they will get to decide who, uh, will be, um, in those intimate settings with the president.

Um, it's really about the idea that the government gets to choose, um, who has close access to the White House and to the president in particular, and if that means that it's, you know, specific reporters with, uh, ideological affinity or just generally sort of friendliness to the president that won't be as independent as other voices, then I think that's where the, you know, concern comes in.

Guys, what does Trump's relationship during this administration look like versus his first time around as president and also, you know, compared to other presidents?

So I think what's different now compared to the first, uh, Trump administration and compared to previous administrations is that to a certain extent, um, you know, all presidents want to, um, exert some control over the media that covers them, uh, tries to make their case, tries to, um, spin them in every possible way.

You know, Trump traditionally has attacked the media.

He did that during his first, um, presidency, um, and there was an adversarial relationship, um, with, uh, some outlets in particular.

What's going on here?

Well, I think, you know, he has, you know, really moved to punish some of his enemies, including kind of close aides from his past administration.

So, um, he stripped security detail from, uh, John Bolton, um, his former national security advisor, uh, from Mike Pompeo, his former secretary of state.

Uh, both had turned into critics of Trump and the administration and, um, are facing kind of credible threats from foreign adversaries of the US, and that came on top of, uh, removing security clearances of another 50 former intelligence officials that he says had been coordinating with Joe Biden to discredit, you know, reporting about Hunter Biden.

So it's really, he kind of came out of the gates in a mood of retribution and going after some of his most sort of hated former aides.

What do you think this first week of Trump's administration tells us about how the next four years are gonna look?

look?Well, I think they tell us that the agenda of, uh, sort of cleansing the, the so-called deep state, um, his focus on retribution is still very, very high compared to some of the issues that he actually won the election on, namely the economy.

He's, you know, says that he wants to lower prices for American consumers by boosting energy production, but it was very telling in his first kind of big broadcast interview since becoming president again.