Steven Cook on Reel Talk: Trump Decides to Go to War “On a Feeling”
October 18, 2026
Dr Steven Cook of the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington explains how this war got approved. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the same case to Presidents Bush, Obama and Biden. All three said the risk was not worth it. By the time he reached President Trump, Cook says, the professionals had been fired and there was almost nobody left in the room to say no.
Watch the full interview here: https://youtu.be/YgJf3iLs4cU?si=42RmlU6knAjqm-wj
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English Script:
Steven A. Cook: President Trump has completely gutted this process. The CIA, the Pentagon, the Treasury Department have been filled with his loyalists and all, many, many, not all, but many, many professionals have been fired. They are the quote unquote deep state. So that when Prime Minister, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu showed up in Washington to present his case for going to war, there were fewer people in the room to say, hey, this isn’t a good idea, and these are the reasons why. Remember, Prime Minister Netanyahu had made this case to previous presidents, President Obama, President Bush, President Biden, and they all said, sorry, that’s not worth the risk. President Trump sits alone, there’s five people around him, and they’re mostly enabled. Even so, even so, the CIA director and Secretary of State Margaret Rubio thought this was a stupid thing to do. So in many ways, Washington is broken. As if to kind of underline the fact that he really doesn’t believe in anything and only listens to his gut or the last person he’s spoken to, he launched Operation Epic Fury based on what his spokesperson said was a feeling.
