Halperin Breaks Down Trump's Latest Foreign Policy Reversal

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**Michael Smerconish** (0:32)
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Welcome to The Smerconish Podcast for Independent Minds.

**Michael Smerconish** (1:13)
Mark Halperin joins us in the third hour of every Wednesday's program, something that we really look forward to, just one of two benchmarks that we have on this program, Mark and Admiral Stavridis.
Mark, thank you for being here. In your newsletter today, it's a memo from Chief of Staff Susie Wiles to the President, and it begins busy day both at home and overseas. You're all set for your trip to Dave McCormick's latest Pennsylvania Is the Most Important State Conference. And then you say, this is an event both substantive and star powered with as many big names as you will get to hobnob with at the World Cup finals this weekend. I've been waiting for him to play more of a role beyond you know, disagreeing with a red card that was given to an American player relative to the World Cup. Are you sure he's going, and why don't you think he's been more of a presence given the global interest?

**Mark Halperin** (2:07)
I think he's going. I've heard he's going, and I've talked to some folks who are involved in the planning for it.
You know, he's not a huge soccer guy. He loves sports, but soccer's not in his top five sports, and I think, you know, the matches obviously are after the first round are not predictable. So I think, you know, and the finals are in New York, and Woody Johnson, who's his friend, you know, has got a nice box at the stadium. So I think there's the answer probably. I think she's just a confluence of only the finals are enough to peak his attention.

**Michael Smerconish** (2:47)
I don't want to jinx anything, and I'm not making reference to the play of the Americans, but from my perspective, and I've been paying attention to it, I'm into it like I haven't been in the past. I think it's gone very, very well for the United States. You know, they've come, they've enjoyed us. There haven't been any incidents. The execution of all these matches under FIFA's thumb has been flawless. I'll give a shout out to Andrew Giuliani, because frankly, if it had become a blank show, people would be talking about him each and every day.
The fact that we aren't just means that I think it's a good thing for the country.

**Mark Halperin** (3:21)
Yeah, Andrew and his team have done a great job. You know, people said in terms of security and logistics, this was like putting on, I don't know how many matches, there have been 40 Super Bowls, you know, in the space of a couple of weeks.
It's great. You know, I've played as a kid and I've been frustrated with much of the rest of the world and soccer lovers here in the United States, of how we remain, even after this extraordinary experience, we remain far behind the rest of the world in appreciation for the beautiful game. And I talk to people on Two Way all the time, and as about the summer, who aren't paying attention at all. You know, there's still large numbers of Americans who have not engaged with this. And we've been blessed with an extraordinary tournament, the fact that some of the most famous and talented players in the world have made it deep into the tournament and performed very well. The fact that the underdogs have had their day. The fact that all the regions of the world have been represented. It's been great. And then, of course, there's all the social media postings by these international rubes who didn't realize what nachos tasted like. Yeah.