David Brooks of The Atlantic and Jonathan Capehart of MS NOW join William Brangham on “PBS NewsHour” to discuss the week in politics, including the war in Iran stretching on for almost a month.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM, PBS NEWSHOUR: I mean, what do you make of this argument, though, that some in the Trump administration are making, Israel’s making, and certainly some foreign policy hawks, that, as David is describing, that it might be worth it, even if you put aside your feelings about Trump and Hegseth and the way he’s operated this and the way he’s communicated about this, that what they have done to a regime that so many people do argue is an awful totalitarian regime, that it could be worth it? JONATHAN CAPEHART, MS NOW: Might be worth it. Could be worth it. If it were possible, why didn’t previous presidents of both parties do it? Why did they always seem to stop? There is always something that stopped them. And, look, I would be 100 percent behind you, David, if I knew what day two was and if I trusted the people who were doing all the planning. I can’t trust the folks, simply because their words don’t match what’s happening on the ground. But, also, the way the president launched into this, great, you can start a war, but what’s the game plan? What is your end goal? How achievable is it? And then, once you’re done or while you’re doing it, what does the rest of the neighborhood look like? The idea that the president was told by military leaders, they’re going to probably close the Strait of Hormuz, but you’ve got to be prepared for that, he got that intel and decided, I don’t care about that. I mean, so, Mr. President, what is your day after or two days after or a week after? Let’s say that this very rosy idea of what the region could look like, let’s say that is possible. Mr. President, how are you going to make the Brooks vision real and tell us the truth? And the fact that we don’t know what that answer is should be alarming to more than just me. DAVID BROOKS, THE ATLANTIC: I would just say one thing about it, that what Trump has done has made the previous presidents look bad because they should have done something. Iran has always been the central threat and George W. Bush went after Iraq. What the heck? Right. Barack Obama abandoned the red line in Syria, gave sort of a green light there in Syria. Joe Biden didn’t do much. Trump didn’t do much in the first term. And so the problem built. Now, is the problem solved? No, it’s not solved. And I think — I don’t know if — this is where U.S. and Israeli interests really diverge. We have a much stronger interest in trying to wind down. The Israelis do not have that interest. And so that will be a tension. But if you can get a weakened regime, I don’t know, it looks not as pessimistic as I was last week about it.

RealClearPolitics Videos