00:00Well, I think that the general is correct that we are creating, or Trump is creating, an off-ramp for the United States.
00:07I don't believe, though, that this is really something to really hang one's hat on if you are gung-ho about continuing the war.
00:16By handing it over to Europe and the Ukrainians, basically Trump is sort of saying, tag, you're it now.
00:22And I understand that he's made certain commitments verbally that he will continue to supply weapons, and he's waxing eloquent publicly about selling tomahawks.
00:32But the realities are, and you've heard me say this before, and forgive me for sounding repetitious here, but the fact of the matter is our industrial base cannot accommodate any more demand.
00:44Right now we're on every four- and eight-year replenishment cycles of about 12 key weapons.
00:48That's according to a recent Wall Street Journal report.
00:51That has not changed since the beginning of the Ukraine war, and now there's more demand for U.S. weapons in the Middle East, the South American front, and whatever's going to happen with the Indo-Pacific.
01:01So I do believe Trump is creating an off-ramp, but I don't believe this is a good thing necessarily if you're hoping to see Ukraine and NATO win the day.
01:09I think he's going to leave it to the Europeans and cut his losses, because this is a mosh pit right now in Europe between Russia and Ukraine.
01:18Neither side seems able to come to a consensus.
01:20Trump doesn't want to be stuck in the middle of that.
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