Speaker unverified: belief

Transcript context

…Well, that point also to comment on it, I mean, one of the mechanisms by which bureaucracy forms is a kind of polite civility and a structure and a process. There is a argument to be made, and I’m not saying Donald Trump is that person, but there’s some qualities there of picking up the phone and calling Putin. That goes against all the process. Some of the most successful peace negotiations throughout history broke process. I just spoke with Narendra Modi. There’s a process you’re not supposed to meet with Pakistan or whatever for India. You just screw it. “I’m going to go to a wedding, a Pakistan wedding of a high up official. I’m going to do these things that are very Trumpian, break the rules.” Now, in a perfect world, some of that is good matched with principled policy that’s surrounded by a large number of experts that actually understand that policy. I can criticize Trump all day, but I’m just saying that there is some degree to the picking up the phone and talking to leaders and playing in the morning, say one thing in the evening another and that could be part of a principled chaos. I think the important part of madman theory is that you’re not actually a madman. You just got to convince people you are. Yes, yes.…

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