Jul 3, 2026 · 15 min · 11 segments
In this solo episode, Jasmine responds to questions from the audience around her time working at the Pentagon and the conflicts and ceasefires in the Middle East. If you want a question answered on…
Jasmine El-GamalHost
The first one is, what do you make of the diplomacy of golf leaders when it The Gulf has been through a lot in the last few months.
I'm not talking, of course, about the Iranian people who've suffered tremendously, both at the hands of their own government and because of the decisions of outsiders.
But when we're talking about states, the Gulf countries really found themselves in a very, very difficult position when this war started.
they had spent a lot of time investing in the relationship with Donald Trump, not just in his second term or even his first term, but in between as well.
There was an interview where Donald Trump once said that when he left office the first time, that a lot of people were relieved to see him go, that a lot of people, both Americans and outside the US, thought that his presidency was just an anomaly, that it was a great relief it was over and that it would never happen again.
And many people stopped talking to him, ignored him because they no longer had to talk to him.
He said Gulf leaders, and he didn't specify which ones, continued their relationship with him on a personal level.
And so that investment in President Trump and his family and relationships with Jared Kushner, I think many Gulf leaders thought that they had that in the bank and they could use it when they needed to.
And so they started rethinking, not necessarily their investment in the U.S.
But they started thinking about what else can we do? How can we diversify our security alliances, our economic alliances, and make sure that this doesn't happen to us again, that we're not so solely reliant on whether or not a U.S.
president listens to us when we ask him to do something or to not do something.
So in terms of what Gulf leaders should do differently, I think they're already doing it.
Other alliances are coming up like the one between Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Pakistan.
So I think they got the message and they're doing what they should be doing.
The first one is, what do you make of the diplomacy of golf leaders when it The Gulf has been through a lot in the last few months.
I'm not talking, of course, about the Iranian people who've suffered tremendously, both at the hands of their own government and because of the decisions of outsiders.
But when we're talking about states, the Gulf countries really found themselves in a very, very difficult position when this war started.
they had spent a lot of time investing in the relationship with Donald Trump, not just in his second term or even his first term, but in between as well.
There was an interview where Donald Trump once said that when he left office the first time, that a lot of people were relieved to see him go, that a lot of people, both Americans and outside the US, thought that his presidency was just an anomaly, that it was a great relief it was over and that it would never happen again.
And many people stopped talking to him, ignored him because they no longer had to talk to him.
He said Gulf leaders, and he didn't specify which ones, continued their relationship with him on a personal level.
And so that investment in President Trump and his family and relationships with Jared Kushner, I think many Gulf leaders thought that they had that in the bank and they could use it when they needed to.
And so they started rethinking, not necessarily their investment in the U.S.
But they started thinking about what else can we do? How can we diversify our security alliances, our economic alliances, and make sure that this doesn't happen to us again, that we're not so solely reliant on whether or not a U.S.
president listens to us when we ask him to do something or to not do something.
So in terms of what Gulf leaders should do differently, I think they're already doing it.
Other alliances are coming up like the one between Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Pakistan.
So I think they got the message and they're doing what they should be doing.
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