Latest / Sid & Friends In The Morning / Victoria Coates | Former Deputy National Security Advisor Unpacks Economic D-Day for Iran & Trade War with Canada
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Victoria Coats. Maybe she's speaking in Vegas, I'm not sure,
- 0:03Speaker 1: but here she is Victoria, good morning, How are you?
- 0:07Speaker 2: Good morning? Said I'm well, unfortunately i can't go to
- 0:10Speaker 2: Vegas this year because I'm off to Israel the following
- 0:13Speaker 2: week to do the two hundred and fiftieth at the
- 0:17Speaker 2: US Embassy in Jerusalem.
- 0:18Speaker 1: Oh my god, that is awesome. You know what's funny.
- 0:21Speaker 1: I walked past the US Embassy every day because I
- 0:26Speaker 1: went to the park, okay, and it was what two
- 0:28Speaker 1: blocks away from the Waldorf Vistoria, And I would walk
- 0:31Speaker 1: past every morning, no shirt on a pair of shorts,
- 0:34Speaker 1: and they would just look at me from across the street, like,
- 0:36Speaker 1: who's this guy, you know? And eventually by the third
- 0:38Speaker 1: or fourth there, walked over and shook their hands, said, Hey,
- 0:41Speaker 1: my name is Sid I'm in New York. Oh blah blah.
- 0:43Speaker 1: But that's the embassy right there by the hotel. What
- 0:46Speaker 1: a glorious event. Good for you?
- 0:49Speaker 2: Yeah, no, it is just every time I go to
- 0:52Speaker 2: that complex, it's just it's so emotional that we did it.
- 0:57Speaker 2: We moved it, and then they didn't move it back,
- 1:00Speaker 2: and so it's very exciting now as investor investor. How
- 1:04Speaker 2: Couldia embarks on building what will be the new complex,
- 1:07Speaker 2: the formal one, and we'll have everything moved over from
- 1:11Speaker 2: Tel Aviv and they won't be able to move it back.
- 1:15Speaker 1: That is fantastic. Good for you, excellent job, Victoria Coats.
- 1:18Speaker 1: Will miss you in Vegas, but you're after doing something better, believe.
- 1:21Speaker 2: It or not. Let's get to divide and conquer.
- 1:23Speaker 1: Yes, that's right, you'll be in Israel. I'll be in Vegas.
- 1:26Speaker 1: Let's talk about Iran. It looks like we've moved this
- 1:29Speaker 1: now from a military operation, which you know we still
- 1:33Speaker 1: have obviously, but moving it in terms of focus from
- 1:36Speaker 1: a military operation to an economic operation. That's fair to say, Yes.
- 1:42Speaker 2: I think so. I'm really casting it as different facets
- 1:46Speaker 2: of the same effort. And I think it's important to
- 1:49Speaker 2: see this in the context of President Trump's broader approach
- 1:52Speaker 2: to Iran. This goes back to the nineteen eighties. He
- 1:55Speaker 2: was talking about how awful this regime was, what a
- 1:58Speaker 2: problem this was for America. But then, more importantly in
- 2:01Speaker 2: the first term, when we did the Maximum Pressure campaign,
- 2:05Speaker 2: that damage that we did, and we know where they
- 2:08Speaker 2: were in January of twenty twenty one, when Biden took over,
- 2:11Speaker 2: they were down to single digits in direct foreign reserves
- 2:15Speaker 2: that they had access to. That's default territory. And if
- 2:18Speaker 2: the bidens folk had kept the pressure up on them,
- 2:22Speaker 2: as they were urged to do by some countries that
- 2:26Speaker 2: were remain nameless in the Gulf, they were told that
- 2:28Speaker 2: you want the best leverage to get to a deal,
- 2:31Speaker 2: keep the pressure on. They said, no, no, we know better.
- 2:34Speaker 2: We're going to make friends with them. We're going to
- 2:36Speaker 2: release the sanctions, we're going to give them economic relief.
- 2:40Speaker 2: And look what happened. But none of that got fixed.
- 2:43Speaker 2: They didn't invest it. They spent it on October seventh,
- 2:46Speaker 2: they spent it on the nuclear program, they spent it
- 2:48Speaker 2: on the IRGC, but they didn't fix their economy. So
- 2:52Speaker 2: all that damage was still festering. And last year they
- 2:55Speaker 2: had bank failures. All this stuff before epic fury. That's
- 2:58Speaker 2: the critical point. It's so much worse because of epic fear.
- 3:03Speaker 2: And now we can have the new initiatives announced by
- 3:06Speaker 2: Secretary Bennett our best Besset sorry yesterday, which will have
- 3:12Speaker 2: a compounding effect on what's already been done.
- 3:16Speaker 1: But does that win the war? You know, it depends
- 3:18Speaker 1: what you speak to. Some people say, yes, that's great,
- 3:21Speaker 1: and if you strangle them, because I heard Ari Fleischer
- 3:24Speaker 1: say yesterday, you know what you're going to get is, look,
- 3:27Speaker 1: we know this. Iran is not even paying a major
- 3:31Speaker 1: part of their military. I know you know that. So
- 3:34Speaker 1: they're probably gonna get out, I guess, although they'll kill
- 3:36Speaker 1: them if they don't. And you know they're murdering protesters
- 3:40Speaker 1: President Trump just but this are true social who aren't
- 3:43Speaker 1: even protesting. So I think Ari was saying yesterday with
- 3:46Speaker 1: Katch and Cosby that an uprising is imminent. But again,
- 3:51Speaker 1: I'm trying to be realistic about this. When these people
- 3:54Speaker 1: hit the streets and they do do that, they get
- 3:58Speaker 1: gunned down. So I don't know, like I talk about
- 4:02Speaker 1: with Mark Levin, unless the United States is willing to
- 4:05Speaker 1: own these people nothing. It doesn't matter how bad it
- 4:09Speaker 1: gets economically, it doesn't matter how angry they are, it
- 4:12Speaker 1: doesn't matter what they want to do. You can't beat
- 4:15Speaker 1: guns without guns. So realistically, how are the people ever
- 4:21Speaker 1: going to change things?
- 4:22Speaker 2: And he run Now, I think that's that's a very
- 4:26Speaker 2: very important point that most people haven't understood during epic theory,
- 4:31Speaker 2: and I think what we'll see with Operation Economic Outcast
- 4:35Speaker 2: is the situations for the people in Iran becoming increasingly dire,
- 4:41Speaker 2: and I think this is why the President hesitated to
- 4:43Speaker 2: do it. He doesn't want them to suffer and you
- 4:46Speaker 2: know their potential economic backlash for the United States. He
- 4:50Speaker 2: doesn't want the American people to be inconvenience, but he
- 4:53Speaker 2: had no choice, and we do have to end this,
- 4:56Speaker 2: and I think what you'll see is that kind of
- 4:58Speaker 2: cascading failure with in Iran as basic structures start to
- 5:03Speaker 2: start to break down. And I'm particularly watching their banking sector,
- 5:07Speaker 2: and one of the important things that was announced yesterday
- 5:10Speaker 2: is that all branches outside of Iran if their main bank,
- 5:13Speaker 2: which is the Malibank, are to be closed down, and
- 5:16Speaker 2: that includes branches in France and Germany where they should
- 5:18Speaker 2: not be. So that's a good thing. But then throughout
- 5:21Speaker 2: the Middle East as far field as Afghanistan, so that
- 5:24Speaker 2: will all get shut down, they will be cut off
- 5:27Speaker 2: from that commerce. That bank could fail. It absorbed one
- 5:30Speaker 2: of the failing banks last year, so that is a
- 5:33Speaker 2: structure I'm watching very closely. So then you're going to
- 5:36Speaker 2: have increasing unrest and that's when I think we really
- 5:39Speaker 2: need regional partners to step in, who know so much
- 5:43Speaker 2: better what's going on inside the country. Who are the
- 5:45Speaker 2: people who need the guns, who are the people who
- 5:48Speaker 2: need the communications? And I would be looking to partners. Yes,
- 5:51Speaker 2: the Kurds great partner to us. They're not a nation state.
- 5:55Speaker 2: They're somewhat limited in what they can do. So let's
- 5:57Speaker 2: look at UAE. Let's look at Azerba, which has the
- 6:01Speaker 2: largest ethnic minority in Iran. The is very minority, it's
- 6:06Speaker 2: the biggest of the ethnic minorities. Neighboring country, strong military,
- 6:11Speaker 2: good friend to Israel, good friend to the United States.
- 6:14Speaker 2: You know, they could do a ton to help, so
- 6:18Speaker 2: we can coordinate some of that. We should not be
- 6:20Speaker 2: directing it. We don't have that on the ground. You know,
- 6:23Speaker 2: it's sort of intimate knowledge. And Israel obviously can do
- 6:26Speaker 2: a great deal as well. So that's how I hope
- 6:29Speaker 2: this is shaping up. People talk a lot about DIME
- 6:32Speaker 2: in Washington, d C. Diplomacy, intelligence, military, economic, We've used
- 6:38Speaker 2: all of those things. This would fall into the intelligence category,
- 6:42Speaker 2: so we shouldn't have all the details on it for
- 6:44Speaker 2: it to be effective. But that's my hope about how
- 6:47Speaker 2: that will play out.
- 6:47Speaker 1: Well, that sounds good to me. Victoria Kochrot here doing
- 6:50Speaker 1: a terrific job, as she always does. So I was
- 6:52Speaker 1: talking to Charlie Gasperino Yesterday's a brilliant economic mind that
- 6:55Speaker 1: you know, and he said, this kind of is stuff.
- 6:57Speaker 1: I don't know. I think it's a waste and it
- 7:00Speaker 1: doesn't seem like mac corney is all that intimidated. So
- 7:04Speaker 1: you tell me what exactly is the endgame with Canada.
- 7:09Speaker 2: Oh, I think the endgame probably will come pretty quickly.
- 7:11Speaker 2: This is obviously a critical relationship for the United States
- 7:14Speaker 2: and Carnia unfortunately has let politics really color how he's
- 7:18Speaker 2: approaching this. His government is somewhat precarious and he's not
- 7:24Speaker 2: very popular. So I think we need each We need
- 7:28Speaker 2: each other. They need us more than we need them,
- 7:31Speaker 2: so hopefully cooler heads will prevail. I agree. You know,
- 7:35Speaker 2: we don't need to be having this conversation right now.
- 7:37Speaker 2: We need to be focused on the dangers of socialism,
- 7:40Speaker 2: the success of President Prumpt's economic policies, especially energy policy.
- 7:45Speaker 2: We need to be explaining to people what data centers
- 7:48Speaker 2: are and what they are not, and what we should
- 7:51Speaker 2: be doing to keep ahead of the Chinese and the
- 7:53Speaker 2: Ai race, and we should not be talking about tariffs
- 7:56Speaker 2: on Canada. So I agree that relationship needed a reset.
- 8:00Speaker 2: Hopefully that has been achieved and we can get back
- 8:03Speaker 2: to the negotiating table and get to a good deal
- 8:06Speaker 2: for the United States and a good deal for Canada.
- 8:08Speaker 1: You're in your way to Israel next week. And one
- 8:11Speaker 1: of the people that I follow religiously, he's really great.
- 8:13Speaker 1: I know, you know him, Johnny Daniels. I don't know
- 8:15Speaker 1: he's in Israel, He's in London, He's all over the place.
- 8:18Speaker 1: He's in the Hamptons. The guy has information. I don't
- 8:20Speaker 1: know how he gets the Victoria I said, he has
- 8:23Speaker 1: people everywhere. But he put out something this morning, which
- 8:26Speaker 1: is true because I've seen this too. And I had
- 8:29Speaker 1: BB on the show about three weeks ago, and we
- 8:30Speaker 1: talked about the upcoming election, and you know, he sounded
- 8:33Speaker 1: pretty confident, but didn't sound overwhelmingly confident. There was one
- 8:37Speaker 1: poll in Israel, yes they were BIBE was down like
- 8:39Speaker 1: six points. There was another poll in Israel yesterday for
- 8:43Speaker 1: BB was up like seven points. I got thirteen point
- 8:46Speaker 1: difference between these two poles. Now, lots of people will
- 8:49Speaker 1: tell you, including his senior policy advisor, my new best friend,
- 8:53Speaker 1: doctor Ophi kunis that you do not bet. You do
- 8:59Speaker 1: not bet against Bybe. He's won five of the last
- 9:02Speaker 1: six elections. But for some of my friends in Israel
- 9:06Speaker 1: who love Bibe, they are getting nervous.
- 9:11Speaker 2: What do you think, Well, I mean, I agree with
- 9:15Speaker 2: O Fear, which is always a smart place to be.
- 9:17Speaker 2: He's a very astute observer of Israeli politics. But I mean,
- 9:23Speaker 2: the short answer is said, nobody knows. You know, Israel's
- 9:27Speaker 2: a country is nine aspiring, nine million aspiring prime ministers.
- 9:31Speaker 2: I mean, everybody has their views, and that's part of
- 9:37Speaker 2: the magic of the thing, and it's Metnahu has been
- 9:42Speaker 2: just a force in Israeli politics. He has created in
- 9:45Speaker 2: many ways modern Israel. As we look back on his career,
- 9:49Speaker 2: I wonder if the most significant thing will be the
- 9:51Speaker 2: economic reforms of the nineteen nineties, which really set up
- 9:55Speaker 2: the startup nation, the extraordinary resilience of the Israeli economy,
- 9:59Speaker 2: you know, and then the defense of the nation, and
- 10:02Speaker 2: so you know, he he has had a just transformative
- 10:06Speaker 2: fact on modern Israel. And I agree again I wouldn't
- 10:10Speaker 2: ever bet against him. But at the same time, Israel
- 10:13Speaker 2: is a democracy, and just like the United States, and
- 10:16Speaker 2: at some point, you know, he will move on and
- 10:20Speaker 2: you know, maybe he'll become president and it play a
- 10:23Speaker 2: huge role as an Israeli statesman. That could be, you know,
- 10:26Speaker 2: a great thing for him. But just as we're going
- 10:28Speaker 2: to see President Trump, you know, step down from leadership
- 10:32Speaker 2: in two years, and we'll have a transition in the
- 10:35Speaker 2: United States for good or ill. That could happen in
- 10:37Speaker 2: October in Israel, and you know, you'll go back to
- 10:42Speaker 2: the old saying. I guess it was Charles de Gaulle
- 10:44Speaker 2: that the great yards are filled with indispensable men. But
- 10:48Speaker 2: that's the thing is somebody comes along, somebody steps up.
- 10:51Speaker 2: You know, there's a new change of leadership, and that
- 10:54Speaker 2: keeps your nation vital. It can be jarring, you know,
- 10:57Speaker 2: it can be disappointing, but that's yeah, I.
- 11:01Speaker 1: Know, but there's there's so many Winston Churchill's out there,
- 11:03Speaker 1: if you know what I'm saying. So I think I
- 11:05Speaker 1: call him doctor Cornis of course Corners, he's in America.
- 11:08Speaker 1: I meant to say doctor Oh fear Falk. He's BB's
- 11:12Speaker 1: policy advisor. Is a great guy. But you're right, you know,
- 11:15Speaker 1: these elections, this himocracy, although it's a very weird. It's
- 11:19Speaker 1: a very very weird system there. It's not like one
- 11:22Speaker 1: guy gets more votes, who gets more electoral votes as
- 11:26Speaker 1: a whole, that whole parliamentary system there is a bit weird,
- 11:29Speaker 1: so hard for everyday people have to figure it out
- 11:31Speaker 1: or don't live in Israel. Either way. Congratulations on this
- 11:35Speaker 1: amazing trip you're going on. And as always, Victoria, amazing
- 11:39Speaker 1: job on this show. Thank you so much.
- 11:42Speaker 2: Thank you, Sid have a good time in Las Vegas.
- 11:44Speaker 1: We will you two in Israel. That's the great Victoria coach.
- 11:47Speaker 1: I love her, she really is great.
- 11:49Speaker 3: Thanks for listening to Sit In Friends in the Morning.
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