I'm Charlie Sykes. Welcome back to the To the Contrary podcast. It is actually spring, and I regard that as a hopeful season. I think we all think of this as a season of rebirth. Meanwhile, some question about who's in charge of Donald Trump's war. I mean, Donald Trump would say that, of course, I am always in charge of Trump's war, his war of women Iran, although there were some questions about

it when he was suggesting that, no, I had no idea that the Israelis were about to bomb that big

gas field. Interesting admission that the president says that in effect, Donald Trump, in effect,

is saying that Trump is losing control of Trump's own war.

Trump himself says there's so much to talk about this week.

And joining us on this weekend's to the contrary podcast, our good friend John Avlon,

how do we introduce you, you know, author, commentator, former CNN anchor,

congressional candidate all around Renaissance man. Good to talk with you again, John. Good to see you, my friend. Good to see you, Charlie. And my wife, Margaret, Margaret Hoover, sends her regards. I wish I could be one-tenth the interviewer she is, but I'm going to give it my best shot today. Okay, let's start

with just like a palate cleanser if you don't mind. I know it's a couple of days ago right now,

but every once in a while, you know, I think that we need to put a pin in a moment and just

reflect on it. And of course, I'm referring to one of the great moments of

American diplomacy. Donald Trump sitting in the Oval

office with the prime minister of Japan. And he's asked by a Japanese reporter, why didn't you tell

anyone in Europe or Asia, your allies, that you were planning to go to war with Iran on February 28th.

And this is what the president of the United States says, sitting next to the Japanese prime minister.

Surprise. Who knows better about surprise than Japan?

Okay. Why didn't you tell me about Pearl harbor okay right oh john um you know i'm kind of

wondering what what w t f you know is in in japanese because she's sitting there going are you serious

are you really are you really bringing up pearl harbor right now? But what was your reaction to that?

I mean, this is, I mean, we've had these, I can't even describe them as gaffs anymore because they've

become sort of kind of the normal routine of Donald Trump be clowning himself in the country

in the presence of foreign leaders? What do you think?

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