Only The Best People: Why The Best and The Brightest Sometimes Aren't

<p><a href='https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pnExbn7ZRA8/X0MNZp3c9fI/AAAAAAAAJOE/pHU_Tqz2YDk-9IHamkKzaWovs3hQN5pDwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/draperbook3000.jpg'></a>Donald Trump came to power on a wave of distrust. Americans had lost faith in government, it’s institutions, and the ability of their government to be honest with them.</p> <p>It’s a through-line that begins perhaps with the assassination of John Kennedy, runs through the endless lies Americans endured about the Vietnam war, and continues through to the Iraq war; the lies about weapons of mass destruction.</p> <p>And while Americans often want simple answers, the reality of policy, particularly foreign policy is far more nuanced and complex.</p> <p>I have said over and over again of late, that I wish I could get into the time machine to read, 50 years from now, what historians will say about this period we are living through.</p> <p>So it’s equally important that now, almost 20 years after 9/11 and 17 years after the start of the Iraq war that we can look with some perspective at the distrust that got us where we are today.</p> <p>Again, the reality is nuanced, complicated and shaped by the foibles of human beings. Robert Draper tells that story in his new book <a href='https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0525561048/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0525561048&linkCode=as2&tag=jeffschechtma-20&linkId=861fe20a745b341761c47a3592995927'>To Start a War: How the Bush Administration Took America into Iraq</a></p> <p>My conversation with Robert Draper:</p>