makes the case it's the latter, not the former. josh is joining me now. great to see you. >> likewise. >> i want to read a graph from your piece for everyone, because it was really enlightening. several u.s. officials and people who have spoken directly to trump since his syria decision tell me, josh rogin, they believe that paul's frequent phone conversations with trump wholly outside the policy process, are having an outsized influence on the president's recent foreign policy decisions. how did this come about? >> a long-standing concern inside the white house state department, dod, nsc, about the influence rand paul was having over the president's foreign policy thinking, especially with regard to russia. after the syria decision, everyone sort of looked around and analyzed it and said this is the watershed moment where rand paul's foreign policy influence on the president has overpowered that of the entire national security cabinet. the president speaking to rand paul on the phone about this, going to golf, talking about this. he didn't check with his joint