even when there is important news, let alone private, medical news. i think with respect to the white house,, jonathan all i can say is that if i were to be, there would a touch base with the white house, but again, i think this is probably going to blow over. i think that we need secretary austin because, as we're going to talk about in the minutes, he is, in the defense department, is a linchpin in american strategy in the middle east. we've been conducting kinetic strikes against iranian-backed forces. there is a whole red sea campaign to defense secretary austin, the austin is at the heart of that. >> let's talk more about. at secretary blinken is back in the region for i think the fourth time or so since october 7th. what's the purpose of the strip? >> well, i think the key thing is, on israel's northern border, where, obviously, hezbollah occupies a lot of territory and southern lebron on, hezbollah reminds us, jonathan, there are much more capable military force and hamas. if hamas is above 50,000 rocket