Episode 357 Scott Adams: Explaining the Syria Withdrawal in a Way CNN Will Not Understand

Date: 2018-12-31 | Duration: 11:47

Topics

President Trump’s campaign promise: We’ll get out of Syria President Trump’s request for exit plan 8 months ago CNN now saying exit is random, impulsive, arbitrary

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> [!note] Rough Transcript
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## Transcript

[0:04]

[Music] hey is anybody there this afternoon it's too soon to be celebrating New Year's Eve although I might join you at New Year's Eve I'm not quite sure yet I just have a single topic today that I couldn't wait I couldn't wait hello Ontario Canada hello everybody so I'm watching CNN just moments ago and they're talking about president Trump's decision to pull out of Syria now since CNN is the anti-trump Channel they of course are paid to give it in the worst possible way in words that you hear there is I actually heard some a the pundits say that the president's decision to leave Syria was quote random random it was literally a campaign promise that I don't know what random means if if it means keeping a campaign

[1:08]

means if if it means keeping a campaign promise so that's interesting now of course they also call it impulsive and the biggest complaint is that he didn't he did not consult with all of the stakeholders these are all the things that people who don't know how to manage anything important say so if you don't know how things work you've never worked at a big company you've never been a manager of people you don't have much deep experience you would say this about the president's decision on Syria you would say that's random which just means you don't understand it or it's impulsive which just means you're not aware of who talked to who about what and how long they've been thinking about it but the interesting part arbitrary yes or if it was arbitrary random arbitrary and impulsive but now let me give you the context so the context is it was the most well broadcast decision

[2:10]

it was the most well broadcast decision of all time because been saying is since he ran for president and I don't think he ever stopped saying it that getting out of Syria was an objective once Isis was beaten down and they're pretty well beaten down although not completely so that's the situation is that he said he was going to do it so it's not random but there is the issue of did he consult with the right people in order to make the decision and here's here's the context that's important six months ago now eight months ago he asked for a plan to get out and he said let's get out in six months eight months later he checked him on how his six-month plan was going and they told him were not planning to do that it's hard and we have reasons now if you're a strong leader what do

[3:11]

now if you're a strong leader what do you do in that situation what do you do if you've asked for something very important to be done in six months and then eight months later when you check in on it they've done nothing nothing do you do what see it and suggests which is to start the clock again and just say well I guess that eight months was a waste of time let's start the clock again hey people go figure out I had to get me out of Syria and then what do you do in six months when they've done nothing because clearly they don't want to get out of Syria well you're you've wasted another six months here's what you do if you're a smart tough leader you turn to Bolton and you say we're still not out turkey says talking to the president of Turkey here and he says they can take care of what's left do give me a reason we need to be here

[4:12]

do give me a reason we need to be here and then John Bolton looks at him and says or something like that we weren't in the room but apparently John Bolton did not give him a good to stay now imagine your head it's your campaign promise it's important you gave them six months and they not only did not do it they did not come back to you and tell you why they couldn't do it they just didn't do it and now you've talked to the guy who should know the most who's the biggest hawk of them all and obviously yes he has all the information that he needs and he says what do you think any cuz I don't have a reason what do you do if you're a strong leader well the first thing you might do is fire some people that could get attention now the the baddest thing is more of a quitting than a fired but I think the president needed to fire him at that point don't you

[5:13]

to fire him at that point don't you if mattis had not resigned he kind of should have been fired for this even if he did everything else right if the commander-in-chief gives you an order and you have a reason you can't do it and you come back to him with the reason and say I understand the order but here are the reasons we don't want to do it or can't do it well you don't where that guy all right that that person is doing their job but if you check back in eight months and they've done nothing and they can't tell you why they've done nothing at least in a way that was you know convincing the smartest thing to do is to say we're gonna do it alright I'm ordering it it's done now what happened as soon as the president made the decision all the people who did nothing for six months eight months actually all the people who did nothing to make this happen suddenly for the first time got serious so he took people

[6:17]

first time got serious so he took people who weren't taking him serious seriously and he made them serious by ordering it it was exactly the right thing to do now what happened when they started getting serious they dug into it a little bit there was lots of push back the Senate got involved Lindsey Graham first he did it but now he kind of likes it because he has some more information apparently but it caused all those people who were ignoring the commander-in-chief it caused them to do their job for the first time for the first time they did their job and what happened when they did their job they came back and they said you know we don't want to do this quickly so how about we take our time and here are our reasons and what did the president say when they finally did their job and gave him reasons and then gave him a reasonable schedule he said yes the moment they actually did their freaking

[7:17]

moment they actually did their freaking jobs he became the most reasonable guy in the world when they were not doing their job he made them do their job and I'm listening to the folks of CNN who don't understand how how the world works there was only one way to do this and I think he did it he ordered it and then he knew that would cause a lot of you know deeper thinking about it he knew it would cause people to make it a priority and they hadn't they hadn't made it a priority before but it's a priority now and and they're gonna figure out and do it so what bothered me about this enough to jump on periscope to do another one is that he is being criticized for really doing the right thing this is it to me that some a lot of situations could be a gray area you don't really know if you did the right

[8:18]

don't really know if you did the right thing you have to wait there are lots of variables involved it's hard to tell you know you might prefer a decision but you don't really know if it's the right decision it's a big complicated world but if you're the leader and your employees are not doing what you asked them to do you light a fire you fire people or you just order it to happen and you and it catches their hair on fire and then stuff gets them and then you get reasonable after you've got them to act so it's it's just mind-boggling to watch the people who have never run businesses never managed people never been you know never been even within a mile of this kind of problem and this kind of important decision so that's my argument that Trump handled that just right now I will say again that if anybody is an expert

[9:20]

say again that if anybody is an expert on climate change I would love that they sign up on the interface by when Hub app and I will personally give them a call and see what I can learn but you have to have some real credentials I'm talking about somebody who's actually you know not a skeptic I'll talk to skeptics separately but I want to talk to somebody who really wants climate change I'd love to also see an expert on the app it's called interface by wound up and it's available in app stores I'd love to see an expert who says that open borders are good for the world like real open borders not just the kind where people get work permits but just real open borders I would like to talk to that person because I've never heard I've never met anybody or talk to anybody who thought that was a good idea and yet we're running in the country as if half the country thinks that's a good idea I don't believe it's true I don't believe there are people who have that opinion until I meet one you know if I actually talked to a real legitimate you

[10:22]

actually talked to a real legitimate you know serious adult who says yes I do believe in completely open borders here's my argument I might agree with them or it might disagree with them but at least I would confirm that such a person exists I don't believe they exist that's my my my start somebody just said Jim Davis knows they exist I don't know how to deal with the people who are coming into this late I'm not sure calling me a cartoonist is a is the best description at this point I would also like an expert in the Middle East somebody who knows about Syria for example and so if any of those people are on the app today or this week and by the way if you sign up for the app you know I'll get a notice if you come online so I don't have to be available at that time just when you come on I'll

[11:22]

at that time just when you come on I'll get a notice that somebody's looking somebody went to that keyword is online and I'll catch up to you all right so let's see if we can get some experts to answer some questions and for now let's stop criticizing the president's decision about Syria because it really was exactly the right way to play that and I'll talk to you later