Would You Pay $1,000 to Stop Iran From Getting a Nuclear Weapon?

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Admiral James Stavridis is a former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO and the co-author of your recommended Summer Beach Read. It's called 2084, part of a trilogy, the final of three. It's extraordinary. You don't have to read 2034 or 2054, although I do recommend it, to have knowledge sufficient to enjoy 2084
And he joins us. Admiral, it occurs to me I won't see you speak to you prior to the fourth, which is four days out. I wish you a happy Fourth of July celebration for the semi-quincentennial.

**James Stavridis** (1:45)
Thank you, sir. And we all ought to be proud wherever we are on this diverse political spectrum. Let's all stand and celebrate 250 years. That doesn't come very often. And I'll close with this, Michael.
In the 200th year, 50 years ago was the year I graduated from Annapolis. So, I count myself lucky to have been a fresh caught ensign, 200 year point, and a grizzled old admiral at 250 and still here.

**Michael Smerconish** (2:18)
There's a lot of depressing data. All the polling outfits are working over time in terms of assessments as to how we are seen and how we see ourselves.
I'm very proud to be an American. That number is in decline. I'm looking at Gallup data that is fresh. Only 53% of US adults are extremely or very proud to be an American. That's the lowest reading in this trend dating back to 2001 I'm sure much of it attributable to the very current political climate, but distressing numbers.

**James Stavridis** (2:52)
They are, and when people raise that, I like to say, well, step back and say to yourself, what other nation would you really like to go and join? And I can't really come up with a long list. There are a few tiny little outliers you could think about, but I think about our country, our enormous geographic reach, agrarian powerhouse, abundant freshwater, innovative centers in Silicon Valley, Route 128 in Boston, Miami, Austin, the strongest military in the world, a powerful political democracy, immigrants. People want to come here.
It's a pretty damn good hand of cards. And I don't think many other nations would hesitate for a second to trade places with us. So hold that in mind as you judge your nation. I'm very proud of it.

**Michael Smerconish** (3:52)
Okay, couldn't even tempt you with Greece.

**James Stavridis** (3:57)
Well, as a Greek American, you're officially a Greek. So I've got my ability to pick up a Greek passport any time I want.
But no, you couldn't tempt me with Greece to go and live there. Great place to visit.

**Michael Smerconish** (4:13)
I took a look at data this weekend, and then I'll get off the polling data.
But you're encouraging me to go deeper on this. I looked at data from Pew Research, talking about how we're perceived. You're a former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, so this is directly in your wheelhouse. And those citizens of foreign countries that look at us disfavorably have really escalated in the last couple of years. Again, I think largely because of the Trump era in which we reside. You interact with people all around the planet. What do you make of that?

**James Stavridis** (4:49)
It's true.
And it is also true that back in 2003, so a quarter century ago, when we invaded Iraq, you saw those numbers plummet as well.
And if you go back to the ancient times of the 1960s and the war in Vietnam, we were not a very popular power around the world. So keep it in perspective. And I think, to conclude, our greatest weakness is our division. We just can't seem to get to the point of having reasonable conversations back and forth. And outsiders see that. They see the divisions in our nation, and they don't respect that. So it's a solvable problem here in the country. You're the jokers to the right of me, clowns to the left. And yeah, all I want is in the center. Why can't we have those conversations? If we do that, we'll improve our standing in the world.