The Economist.
I'm Charlotte Howard and this is Checks and Balance from The Economist.
Each week, we take one big theme shaping American politics and explore it in depth.
Today, the end game in Iran.
Approval for President Trump's decision to attack Iran now stands at an abysmal negative 30% among Americans.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was on the hill this week asking for $67.5 billion more in funding,
and the administration's attempts to find a way out of this conflict are faltering.
This week saw four Americans killed.
What will this ongoing war cost America?
Joining me are James Bennett in New York and Shashank Joshi,
who is about to move to Washington to be our new Washington Bureau Chief.
James, how are you?
I'm well, Charlotte.
Thank you.
We're missing you here in New York.
I'm in London this week at the Mothership.
You're about to go to Michigan, right?
Yeah, I'm excited to go back to Michigan tomorrow for a few days
to do some reporting on that really interesting Senate primary there.
Shashank, how are you?