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Trump Returns from Iraq after Surprise Visit to U.S. Troops; U.S. Government Shutdown Enters Day 6 with No End in Sight. Aired 6- 6:30a ET

Aired December 27, 2018 - 06:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're no longer the suckers, folks. Our presence in Syria was never intended to be permanent.

[05:59:31] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He used it as an occasion to advance his specific policy objective. It's highly inappropriate.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's wonderful the president visited. Let's be thankful that he's there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The president seems to have confused this troop visit with a campaign rally.

TRUMP: Whatever it takes, we're going to have a wall.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Democrats have no incentive to negotiate. This shutdown is owned by the president.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It's Thursday December 27, 6 a.m. here in New York. Alisyn is off. Erica Hill joins me.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Nice to have you back, my friend.

BERMAN: I should say I join you. I've been the one gone.

HILL: We've held down the fort, but we're happy to give you back your chair.

BERMAN: It's nice to be here.

HILL: Yes.

BERMAN: Thanks for -- thanks for being here.

HILL: Any time. BERMAN: The breaking news just a minutes ago, the president and first lady arrived back in Washington after their whirlwind surprise holiday visit to U.S. troops in Iraq. You can see them deplaning from Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews just moments ago. They are now back at the White House, which is dark. Presumably, they're getting some much-needed sleep after this visit, which was, like, 28 hours long between when they left on the night of Christmas -- and back now.

HILL: Quick trip.

BERMAN: There's Marine One. You can see Marine One landing at the White House. This new video just coming in. This was the helicopter landing on the White House South Lawn a little bit.

The president did not take questions as he entered the White House after arriving home.

So the trip marks the president's first visit to a war zone as president. It comes less than a week after he ordered a complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria. He defended that decision, saying the U.S. is no longer, quote, "the suckers of the world."

The visit also did turn political. The president went after Democrats in front of U.S. troops, blaming them for the shutdown that he promised to own. The president gave no timeframe to end the shutdown, saying he would do whatever it takes to get his border wall.

HILL: The president coming home to day six of the government shutdown, and while lawmakers are also back in Washington today, there's no sign of a deal to come. We should tell you we're also keeping a very close watch on the markets this morning. The Dow posting its biggest daily point gain yesterday after a dicey December yesterday. So of course, the question this morning: does that rally continue, or is there more whiplash in the forecast?

We've got it all covered for you this morning. Let's begin with CNN's Boris Sanchez, who is live at the White House.

Boris, good morning.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, John and Erica.

As you noted, the president returned here to the White House, not taking questions from reporters. His first trip overseas to visit troops in a combat zone.

The president received an enthusiastic welcome, though he did raise eyebrows with some of his comments. And there's still a lot of uncertainty back home, not only at his Department of Defense but, as you said, with the stock market and this ongoing government shutdown with no end in sight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ (voice-over): President Trump returning to Washington after visiting U.S. troops in Iraq. The unannounced trip coming days after Mr. Trump's controversial decision to withdraw forces from Afghanistan and Syria.

TRUMP: The United States cannot continue to be the policemen of the world. We're in countries that most people have never even heard about, and frankly, it's ridiculous.

SANCHEZ: The president defending the drawdown.

TRUMP: We're no longer the suckers, folks.

SANCHEZ: And boasting about defeating ISIS after declaring victory against the terror group last week.

TRUMP: We've knocked them out; we've knocked them silly.

SANCHEZ: But the president's military commanders say ISIS is still a threat. And lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are raising concerns about the abrupt withdrawal, which came without consultation with some key U.S. allies.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: This is a stain on the honor of the United States.

SANCHEZ: Defense Secretary James Mattis resigned in protest of the president's decision to pull out of Syria last week, President Trump telling reporters he's in no hurry to find a permanent replacement.

TRUMP: I'm in no rush. Everybody wants that position, everybody. Everybody. So many people want to be -- who wouldn't want to be secretary of defense?

SANCHEZ: The president telling the press he does not intend to withdrawal troops from Iraq.

TRUMP: No plans at all, no. In fact, we could use this as a base if we wanted to do something in Syria.

SANCHEZ: Mr. Trump facing criticism after falsely claiming that he had given the troops a 10 percent pay raise.

We haven't gotten one in more than ten years. More than ten years, and we got you a big one. I got you a big one.

SANCHEZ: In reality, military pay has increased annually for over three decades and is slated to go up 2.6 percent in 2019.

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: He's not fooling any of these military members who get that leave and earnings statement every month.

SANCHEZ: The president's trip coming as the partial government shutdown enters a sixth day, and while lawmakers typically avoid getting political when talking to the troops, Mr. Trump's speech sounded a lot like one of his campaign rallies.

TRUMP: I don't know if you folks are aware of what's happening. We want to have strong borders in the United States. The Democrats don't want to let us have strong borders. Only for one reason. You know why? Because I want it.

SANCHEZ: The president blaming the next likely House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, for the shutdown after she mocked his plan for the wall, telling "USA Today" it had been reduced from cement to "a beaded curtain." President Trump insisting that he will not back down when he was asked how long the shutdown could drag on.

TRUMP: Whatever it takes. I mean, we're going to have a wall.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Lawmakers are due back in Washington, D.C., today. Negotiations, from what we understand, still very far apart.

[06:05:03] When the president was in Iraq, he was asked if he would accept $2 million in border wall funding, much less than the $5 billion initially demanded by the White House. He said he didn't want to talk about it right then -- Erica and John.

BERMAN: All right. Boris Sanchez for us at the White House.

Boris, thanks so much. We did get new video in from just moments ago of the president and first lady arriving on the South Lawn of the White House. You can see the president there on Marine One, along with the first lady, Melania Trump, getting off the helicopter there. Let's just watch for a second, here.

They were some shouted questions. They did not respond. Who can blame them. There's been a long journey. The president probably wanted to probably get in and get to sleep, get to executive time. The first lady, there are those who have commented on social media about the sunglasses. I will tell you, having been bleary-eyed from some flights before myself, you do what it takes, right?

HILL: I pass no judgment on that. None at all.

BERMAN: No judgement on that whatsoever after how many hours in the air. You wear what you need to wear.

Joining us now, retired Lieutenant General Mark Hertling. Also with us, Alice Stewart and Brian Karem.

General, I want to start with you. Let's just talk about the trip. A stop in Iraq. Also a stop at Rammstein, the air base in Germany. These are visits that do matter, not just to the troops but also these leaders. An important step, albeit one that took a long time for him to do, but an important step for this president.

HERTLING: Agreed, John. And congratulations for him for, after two years in presidency, visiting soldiers in Iraq.

It's important. They do get energized. They do get fired up whenever they see a commander-in-chief visiting them in their war zone. It shows a sense of camaraderie, and a sense of shared hardship. It also shows the folks back home who are concerned about their loved ones in a combat zone that the president actually understands what they're doing when he goes there.

So just the very nature of the trip is a good thing. It's some of the other things that occurred, as I'm sure you'll point out soon, that makes that long run for a short side not as good as it could have been.

BERMAN: Go ahead, General. What exactly are you talking about there? You had some concerns about some of the politicization, whether the president going after Nancy Pelosi and Democrats there. Also, some of the troops did bring their political paraphernalia, which you know, I don't think you can blame the president for that. But the troops, perhaps in your mind, should not have had the "Make America Great Again" hats that they had when he was signing, right?

HERTLING: Right, and that's a Department of Defense and U.S. Army, and I'm sure the other services have it, too. I'm just not familiar with it. But it is a Department of Defense regulation that you don't maintain political paraphernalia. You don't politicize events. You make sure that soldiers in uniform don't sway one or another.

Now, they weren't doing that when they were greeting the president, certainly, but the Make America Great hats and the Trump posters are not the kind of things that good commanders, good NCOs allow at these kind of events.

And I've had visiting dignitaries, visiting Code L's visit my unit, John, and truthfully, we tell them beforehand, "Hey, do as much selfie taking with your constituents as possible, but we'd really like you to keep the politics back home." And truthfully, all the commanders and in two cases, presidents have done exactly that.

This was kind of over the edge.

BRIAN KAREM, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Over the top.

HERTLING: The other thing that is the commentary about what's going on in the world and especially what's going on in domestic politics, is just not appropriate for in front of a military audience.

KAREM: Merry Christmas.

HILL: Well, Brian, the other thing that was interesting is these -- these visits, obviously, as General Hertling pointed out, they're important for the troops. They're important in terms of morale.

They're also important to give the president a sense of what's happening on the ground by meeting with leaders there and also by meeting with leaders, Iraqi leaders while he's there. He did have a phone call --

KAREM: Right.

HILL: -- but there was some back and forth about what may or may not happen in terms of a meeting with the Iraqi prime minister. Was enough of that done, do you think? Did the president, from what we know, get a good sense of what the situation actually is there on the ground?

KAREM: Well, I don't know how you can after three hours. But that's just me.

I forgive the sunglasses, by the way. I like sunglasses.

I think the comment that was made by the president, we're in countries that we don't even know where they are, I think that speaks to him, maybe not everyone else. I'm sure many of us know which countries our troops are in, including those who deploy the troops. Perhaps he doesn't.

But to your point and to your question, he had scheduled a meeting with the Iraqi leader, and that was canceled. But Sarah Huckabee Sanders pushed back against that and said there was just not enough time to do it, and so they had a nice telephone call. I guess we'll see in the future whether or not this brings anything forward.

I think this entire trip we should look at from our perspective when we cover this man, is it's just another flash over substance type of thing. He faced a lot of criticism for not going somewhere and not being involved with the troops. Mazel tov to him for going there. Thankfully he did, and that's a good thing, as the general pointed out.

[06:10:10] But you also have to look at it in the realm of everything with this president is staged events. I mean, he didn't -- yesterday, the pool, the press pool, the local press pool didn't know where he was or what was going on.

While there does have to be a great deal of security, I think he heightened the sense of drama. And he liked the sense of drama. Everything with this guy is, as I said, it's like a reality show. And the reality is lost for the show.

And so when he comes back, it seems very disingenuous. Things that presidents normally do that they get kudos for he doesn't, because it seems so contrived and so disingenuous, even to the point where you're using an event to talk to the troops to talk about domestic policy and to slam the Democrats. Hardly the place -- first of all, hardly the place. These people are putting their life on the line outside of our country. Maybe we should focus on them a little bit more.

But again, I give them, you know, kudos for making the trip. He should have made it earlier. He only made it because Mattis quit, and he had a lot of pressure saying he hadn't gone anywhere.

ALICE STEWART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: This trip has been in the works for quite some time and the No. 1 goal was to motivate the troops; and, for that, I say mission accomplished. All you have to do is take one look at the faces of the troops that he was meeting with, and they were -- they were thrilled.

And General Hertling has been there when a president has visited a war zone, and he has said they're jazzed. And they certainly were.

KAREM: Right.

STEWART: I have a nephew in the military, and I asked him last night, "What would you feel like if the president came?" And he says the No. 1 feeling is they're grateful that the president hasn't forgotten them. It shines a light on them to people across not just our country but across the world and what our troops are doing.

I think it was important for him to be there. I'm glad the first lady was able to attend, as well. It was important for him, in my view, to stress to them, those that he was meeting with there in Iraq, that the mission there will continue and, in some ways, probably amplify.

But this was exactly what needed to be done. It was a good opportunity for them to get the reinforcement of the president and his commitment to what they're doing, and this was a win/win. All of the --

KAREM: Well --

STEWART: -- (UNINTELLIGIBLE) nonsense should be thrown out the window, and at least give credit where credit is due. He went there and gave them a pat on the back for a job well done.

KAREM: Yes, he did. And now he's pulling them out of Syria, and everyone in Europe and the Middle East says, if we go, that what will happen is Russia will influence the area more than we will. And they worry about Russian hegemony.

So yes, kudos to him for going. Absolutely, Alice. I agree with you 1,000 percent. But at the end of the day, if you put it in the larger context of what's going on, it does seem disingenuous. And it does seem like there's -- that we've left a lot of work undone, and that we have -- we're walking away from the stage when we should not be.

BERMAN: Let me just add two points. One, Alice is right. As far as we know, this trip was in the planning before General Mattis resigned --

KAREM: It's been in the planning for a while, yes.

BERMAN: But it was before General Mattis decided to resign over the troop pullout from Syria, and I believe it was General Hertling who said this to me before. These trips are as much for the president as they are for the troops. In that, I don't mean in terms of political. I mean so that the leader understands the challenges and the hardships facing the troops overseas.

And we can only hope that it had an impact on this president, seeing them there, seeing the sacrifices they make, seeing them so far away from home during the holiday season.

On the policy, General, it was interesting, because I don't think anybody has -- has thought that the United States was about to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq. But the president went out of his way to say that's not going to happen. U.S. troops will remain in Iraq, even as they are removed from Syria. And he suggested the troops in Iraq could be used to help in Syria if necessary. Is that practical in your mind?

HERTLING: Yes, well, from -- from the standpoint of a guy who spent over three years of my life in that country, that could be problematic, John. It last -- in November, actually, the Iraqi parliament with a new president, with a new prime minister, took on a vote, "Should we ask America to leave?" And it barely did not pass. So in other words, they're allowing us to stay.

The president then said yesterday, "Hey, we're going to use Iraq as a base to attack into Syria. That's problematic to a degree. Anyone that's worked with other governments know they don't like to use their sovereign soil for basing of the United States when they attack into other countries. This could be problematic.

You have a Kurdish president of Iraq, Barham Salih, who is very connected to all of the Kurdish regions, not just the one in Iraq, as anyone who knows the Kurdish regional government. And he is probably very concerned about what's going on in northern Syria and what might happen to Kurds there.

The new president -- excuse me, a new prime minister of Iraq is in a very difficult place. So he has to protect the sovereignty and the nationalism of his people. And having the president of the United States come in and say, "Hey, we're going to base attacks into Syria from here." And it may be more energized than ever before. That's problematic unless you've talked to the Iraqi government, and I'm not sure that's taken place yet.

KAREM: I have a question for you, General. Do you think that the president is aware of that or that he lost some of that institutional knowledge when Mattis left his administration?

HERTLING: Yes, I can't talk to that, Brian. I'm sure that's probably not one of the things at the forefront of his mind. But as we saw yesterday when he was talking to the troops, he was saying a lot of things off-the-cuff, as he always does. That's his style. Some of them were not true. Some of them haven't been coordinated, more than likely; and some of them take on an international standard that are very difficult.

The other thing I'd point out, too, as others have already, he was at a base, al-Assad Air Base, which is not only used by the U.S., but it's also used by Iraqi forces and several other coalition partners.

It would have been kind for the president to perhaps say some things about the coalition. And most of the coalition members are part of the NATO alliance. So that becomes problematic, as well. And as we all know, there are 79 countries fighting in Syria. The U.S. has been leading, either formally or informally, that alliance. That becomes problematic when we make a unilateral announcement to withdraw with other governments that are part of that fight.

And I know for a fact that some of them are confused about the way forward, because they've talked to me about it.

STEWART: I think it's important also to note there's been a lot of concerns and criticism about the president's decision to withdraw from Syria and make plans to do so in Afghanistan. And I share those concerns with the method that he is going about doing it.

But that being said, he campaigned on looking at, overall at our military presence around the world and continuing to stay an open- ended warfare situation. And this is something that he campaigned on.

And I would like to think, with General Mattis being gone, someone will step in and help advise him on some of these issues that he campaigned and a lot of people voted for him on. His -- how he's going to -- his world view with regard to these national policy issues. That is something I'd like to think this trip to the combat zone gave him a new light and some new perspective on some of the recent decisions that he has made in that regard. And maybe we'll see some changes with that regard, but I can't see anything other than a positive with this trip to the combat zone.

HERTLING: Certainly, the conversation about leaving Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, those are all things that should be debated and should, in my view, should go through a process.

But the announcement, sort of the spontaneous announcement without any process, without notification of coalition, without, by the way, also establishing a new strategy, what is the desired end state, that's where it becomes problematic.

We can debate whether or not we should be in northern Syria or not and then have a process for getting out. But to announce it simultaneous -- spontaneously and have a whole lot of people, to include the military, which he also campaigned for, very confused about what would happen next is problematic, in my view.

BERMAN: General, Brian, hang on one second. We're going to take a quick break here. General Hertling, Brian Karem, Alice, thank you very, very much.

HILL: The president and Congress back in Washington today. The big question, of course, is can they get a deal done to end the government shutdown? The president also had some comments on that during his stop in Iraq. We'll discuss, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:22:16] HILL: Lawmakers back in Washington today. Of course, you just saw the president and the first lady arriving there, as well.

There doesn't appear, though, to be much movement on the government shutdown. Negotiators making little progress as the president vows to do whatever it takes to get new funds for a border wall.

We are back now with Alice Stewart and Brian Karem. Also joining us, senior political correspondent for "The Washington Examiner," David Drucker. Good to have all of you back with us.

David, let's start with you on this one. The president saying whatever it takes, but apparently, maybe not $2 billion, because he was asked that yesterday two times yesterday by a reporter, "Would you settle for $2 billion instead of $5 billion?" and he declined to answer, David.

DAVID DRUCKER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, so that means maybe the president is a little bit flexible. But I don't think so, at least not this soon into the shutdown.

He has already -- let's not forget here. The president already backed off of his $5 billion demand, said he would go with a C.R. that the Senate put up at his direction. And then he changed his mind and went back to his original demand.

So I think that he has really boxed himself in, and if he were to slip off of the $5 billion demand again this soon in the process, I think that he would really eviscerate a lot of his negotiating leverage going forward. And we know that the base of his party, or at least his chief advisors at conservative media would be extremely upset. And we know that motivated him to adopt, again, his original position.

so I don't think we're going to see much movement from the president. We know that Democrats do not see any political incentive to give the president what he wants, because they look at the results of the midterm elections. You combine that with where their base is.

And, you know, when the president talks about "They're for border security; they just don't want to give me a wall," In some ways he's correct about that, because the politics of a border fence or a border wall has become so identified with him that it's actually a political liability, where if you were able to take border security policies, including fencing and a wall, away from him and away from being associated with him, there'd be a lot more support for it.

But wrapped in with his rhetoric, and the way that he talks about it, with often some cultural and racial overtones, it's become a real liability and extremely unpopular.

And finally, I would just say this. Republicans are in control of the Senate. They should have a role in this negotiation. But they've ceded everything with the Democrats, because of the 60-vote filibuster, because they don't trust the president to keep his word, and they do not want to make another deal that the president then simply changes his mind and discards.

So I think we're looking at next week with a Democratic-controlled House. They'll pass something, and then negotiations will start anew; and we'll see where that goes.

BERMAN: Well, the interesting thing is the Senate, they ceded control because they didn't want a shutdown.

KAREM: Right.

BERMAN: Mitch McConnell didn't want any piece of this, not ever. And neither, by the way, did most of the -- many, enough of Republican senators there. And Mitch McConnell was protecting them. But he didn't have control of it. [06:25:05] Another area, another reason why the Democrats aren't

retreating here, is you talk about the president's campaign promise. The president's campaign promise wasn't just for a wall; it was that Mexico was going to pay for the wall.

KAREM: Pay for the wall. Thank you.

BERMAN: So any discussion about funding for it at all is already going against that campaign promise, which is something that Nancy Pelosi likes to point out every time she speaks on this subject.

Let me just read you the very latest from her. "First of all, the fact that he says, 'We're going to build a wall with cement, and Mexico is going to pay for it,' while he's already backed off the cement -- now he's down to, I think, a beaded curtain or something, and I'm not sure where he is."

You know, Alice Stewart --

KAREM: Heads on pipes.

BERMAN: -- Nancy Pelosi is playing hardball here and clearly, I think, beginning to get under the president's skin.

STEWART: Well, of course. And now is the time for the dealmaker to start making a deal. And as you correctly pointed out, he campaigned on, one, on the big, beautiful wall, but Mexico was supposed to pay for it.

Now that we're picking up the tab, it's a completely different story. And he doesn't have quite the negotiating skill or power that he had at the beginning.

And at this point of the game, in my view, this is a numbers and a name issue. The numbers: the president wanted $5 billion. Democrats were OK with $1.3. It's time to meet in the middle.

The name of this thing, is it a big, beautiful wall? Is it a steel slat? Is it a beaded curtain? It really doesn't matter. They just need to come together and have some type of agreement.

I always thought they would be able to use DACA as a leveraging tool in this and be able, Democrats get some of what they want in return for what the -- this president wants. Unfortunately, it appears as though that is off the table.

And for this to be such a key signature issue for this president on the campaign and in the White House, he really does need to have an accomplishment on this issue. If they don't get it done now with Republicans in control of the House, this will never get done, and that will be a tremendous stain on the legacy of this president, because this was such a big issue for him coming into the White House.

HILL: Alice, you point out the option of DACA. That was on the table, in January and February with far more money, $25 billion, at one point. The president said no to that, Brian. KAREM: Yes.

HILL: So we know that there's nothing there. That being said, Mick Mulvaney just a few days ago said, "Listen, the president is open to also talking about other immigration solutions.

KAREM: Well --

HILL: Do you buy that?

KAREM: I don't buy anything. This whole issue is a crock from start to finish. He picked it up on the campaign trail as something to appease the masses and play to his base. It's not going to stop terrorism. It's not going to be 2,000 miles long, as originally planned. It's not going to be see-through. It's not going to be eco- friendly. It's not going to be slats or heads on pikes or a beaded curtain or anything else. You can't wall that border.

And how are you going to wall that border? They already have drug tunnels that go 200 feet deep, are as wide as two lanes of traffic and you can fly over it, go around it, go under it. It's garbage.

This whole issue is a monument to his self-aggrandizement. It always has been. It will never stop terrorism. It won't stop drugs. We have drugs in this country, because we have a demand for drugs. Not because they're supplying them unwanted across the border.

And it's not going to cure illegal immigration because many illegal immigrants are here because they overstay visas.

What this is all about, what it actually turned out being was a political ploy and a political issue, because the Republicans believe that those people who come over illegally from the southern -- from South and Central America eventually end up voting Democrat, and they want to avoid the Democratic -- the influx of Democratic voters.

This issue is the biggest crock on the agenda of the president. It always has been. It always will be. And you know, mazel tov, again, for trying to go after it, but you know, this is where -- you know, he was -- I'll give the president this.

A week ago I thought, I thought I saw signs of real leadership: compromise. When he was willing to compromise on this issue. His administration hasn't spent the money spent that was given to him in the last budget. So it looked like he was going to sit down and compromise with the C.R., and he did not.

Why? Because Ann Coulter spoke up. Pharaoh's heart hardened, and he decided to go back on that deal. So you're -- of course, Mitch McConnell isn't going to bust -- he's not going to use the nuclear option. It could be used on him in the future. He sees that coming. And in addition, no one trusts the president on this issue.

STEWART: And there's also -- there's also important to keep in mind -- excuse me, Ryan -- that Democrats have been in favor of border security. KAREM: Yes.

STEWART: The 2006 Safe Fence Act, they were fine with that. Is the issue now that this is Donald Trump's big, beautiful wall? That's the question.

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: Want to get David in?

KAREM: It's all -- all a big -- it's all to his ego.

BERMAN: I want to give David the last word here. David, who -- there are politicians back in Washington today. The president just arrived himself. It doesn't feel to me that anything is going to get done today. You just said you think it will take a Democratic Congress. Who begins to feel the pressure first here after January 1?

DRUCKER: Well, I think that's an open question, John. And we don't really know how the politics of this shutdown is going to play out.