In short
Podcast Summary: Two Blocks from the White House - Episode: Iran, Oil and Trump’s Political Gamble
Episode Overview This episode discusses the implications of the ongoing war in Iran, particularly focusing on rising gas prices in the U.S. and the political fallout for President Donald Trump as the November midterms approach. The hosts—Paul Hunter, Katie Simpson, and Willy Lowry—analyze the economic impact of the conflict and its potential effects on American voters.
Key Themes and Discussions
Rising Gas Prices and Economic Impact
- Gas Prices Spike: The war in Iran leads to increased oil prices due to disrupted shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz.
- Example: Gasoline prices rose to around $3.49 per gallon.
- Affordability as a Central Issue: The hosts note that affordability is a key issue for American voters, intensifying scrutiny on Trump's foreign policy decisions.
- Public Sentiment:
- Majority of Americans oppose the war, particularly among independents (60% against).
- Democrats leverage rising costs to criticize Trump’s policies.
Political Ramifications for Trump
- Internal GOP Division: Some members of Trump's MAGA base express discontent with the war. The episode highlights the shift from a “no more foreign wars” stance to potential military action.
- Tucker Carlson's Opposition: Carlson’s criticism of the war signals a divide within the MAGA constituency.
- Carlson argues that the war is primarily driven by Israel's interests rather than American national security.
Potential Referendum on Trump's Presidency
- November Midterms: The hosts speculate if the conflict will act as a referendum on Trump's presidency, especially regarding economic conditions and military engagement.
- Democratic Strategy: Democrats aim to frame the war as a choice made by Trump, linking it to rising costs and economic hardship faced by Americans.
Broader Geopolitical Context
- International Relations: The episode touches on how the war affects global politics, particularly the roles of China and Russia.
- Russia is reported to be providing intelligence to Iran, complicating U.S. military efforts.
- Canada’s Response: The Canadian government's position on the conflict evolves, highlighting the impact of U.S. foreign policy on Canada.
Concerns About Long-term Implications
- Exit Strategy Uncertainty: The hosts discuss the lack of clarity regarding an exit strategy for the U.S. in Iran, which could frustrate both the American public and political supporters.
Key Takeaways
- Gas Prices as a Voter Issue: The ongoing conflict serves as a critical factor influencing voter sentiment and economic perceptions leading to the midterms.
- Division within GOP: The mixed reactions from Trump’s base indicate potential vulnerabilities for the administration.
- Democratic Gains: Increased focus on economic issues by Democrats could leverage Trump's foreign policy decisions as a point of contention.
- Geopolitical Complications: The war's intertwining with broader geopolitical interests influences both U.S. and Canadian foreign policy responses.
Conclusion The episode presents a thorough analysis of the complex interplay between foreign affairs, economic conditions, and domestic political landscapes, emphasizing how these factors could shape the upcoming elections and influence American public opinion toward the Trump administration. The ongoing conflict in Iran serves as a critical backdrop for discussions around affordability and military engagement, reflective of the challenges facing both U.S. and Canadian contexts.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VORising Gas Prices Amid Conflict
0:45 to 1:26
Discussion on how the war in Iran is influencing gasoline prices in the U.S.
“That's like a lot more than I paid the week before.”
Political Fallout of Rising Oil Prices
1:26 to 3:19
Analyzing the political implications of rising gas prices on Trump and the Democrats.
“And so gasoline prices are quickly rising as well.”
Public Sentiment on War in Iran
3:19 to 6:10
Exploring American public opinion on the war and its partisan divides.
“And I'm Willie Lowry, here two blocks from the White House.”
MAGA Base Responses to War
6:10 to 10:15
Examining how the MAGA base is reacting to the ongoing conflict and divisions within.
“Hence Trump emphasizing it's short term.”
Democrats' Political Strategy Amidst Crisis
10:15 to 14:02
Discussing how Democrats aim to leverage the Iran conflict for political gain.
“But if they're hearing these mixed messages and if MAGA, that sort of thing that Trump could always bank on, is saying like, you know, what the heck is going on here?”
The Economic Impact of Conflict on Elections
14:02 to 16:48
Discussing how rising living costs and political strategy intertwine.
“Obviously, affordability is going to be the kind of big issue, I think, at the at the midterms.”
Geopolitical Ramifications of Oil and War
17:12 to 19:43
Exploring how the conflict affects global oil politics and alliances.
“But there are broader implications here globally, correct?”
Canada's Evolving Stance on the Conflict
19:43 to 21:37
Analyzing Canada's political response to the war and its implications.
“A week ago, Katie, we were hearing from you from Ottawa.”
Coping with the Weight of Global News
21:37 to 23:34
Discussing personal strategies for handling stressful news coverage.
“This is going to sound perhaps a little cold and it's not meant to, but this is my job.”
Reflections on the Job's Challenges
23:34 to 27:29
Exploring the challenges and fulfillment of being foreign correspondents.
“So it's like it's always right next to me and I just have to flip it up.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00Katie Simpson:In the fall of 2023, Romana Didolo, a woman calling herself the Queen of Canada, drove into Richemount, Saskatchewan with a fleet of RVs and set up her kingdom in an abandoned school.
0:12Paul Hunter:So the town banded together to get the cult out by any means necessary. My name is Rachel Brown, and in this season of Uncover, I explore what happens when a conspiracy theory lands in your backyard. The Cult Queen of Canada. Available now on CBC Listen and everywhere you get your podcasts.
0:33Willy Lowry:This is a CBC Podcast. Willie, Katie, shocker. War starts in the Middle East and before you know it, gasoline prices spike. Funny how quickly that happens.
0:44Katie Simpson:I just paid$3.49 a gallon, Paul. That's like a lot more than I paid the week before.
0:50Paul Hunter:I was going to say, it's worth the wait. Go to Costco. I'm telling you, the gas prices are cheaper, except I haven't filled up since the conflict began. But before all of this, Canadians are going to hear this and be shocked. But I would fill up my Toyota RAV4, which has 60 liters in it for under$30 American anytime I filled it up.
1:10Katie Simpson:I'm just proud of you for being able to wait in my Costco gas line.
1:14Paul Hunter:I'm so patient. I'm known for my patience.
1:16Willy Lowry:I'm so cheap. I drove all the way from downtown D.C. out to Bethesda to tank up, and it's not cost effective, I'm going to tell you. So why is all this happening? Well, the war in Iran means ships carrying oil from the Persian Gulf can't get through the Strait of Hormuz, and that's driving up the cost of oil, which, depending on the day, is now a little over, a little under$100 U.S. a barrel. And so gasoline prices are quickly rising as well.
1:41Paul Hunter:And the focus of this conversation, because we are in Washington, is going to focus on the politics and sort of the political ramifications of what's going on right now. But we have to remember that, of course, there is a very real human toll to the war. According to the Iranian Red Crescent Society, more than 1 ,200 people have been killed in this conflict in Iran. But depending on the estimate, depending on who's giving it, it can vary. There are some estimates around 1 ,300 people being killed.
2:07Katie Simpson:And the death toll around the region is ticking up, sadly, as well. The Lebanese health ministry estimates that about 486 people have been killed. The Israelis believe about 11 civilians have been killed. There have been people killed in the UAE and several other countries. And the war is still spiraling on. And according to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, the military campaign is only going to get stronger and more fierce in Iran. We will not relent until the enemy is totally and decisively defeated. But we do so. We do so on our timeline and at our choosing. For example, today will be yet again our most intense day of strikes inside Iran.
2:57Willy Lowry:And because we're here in Washington, just two blocks from the person who made the call to strike Iran, because politics is everything in D.C., we are seeing some very real political fallout from this decision on both sides of the aisle, not least because of the price of gasoline at the pump. So today we're asking, will the war in Iran become a referendum on Donald Trump? I'm Paul Hunter.
3:19Paul Hunter:I'm Katie Simpson.
3:21Katie Simpson:And I'm Willie Lowry, here two blocks from the White House.
3:26Willy Lowry:so i do find that gasoline prices it's remarkable that the degree of attention being paid to it it's in every newscast it's it's it's all over the place i mean because it affects everybody i guess it's a sort of a tactile tangible thing that people can and a point of pride for trump for trump how many times did he say how cheap gas was dollar 99 dollar two-thirds i think even in the state of the union uh he he said he emphasized it yeah it's a big part of the of the trump brand right now. And so all of these rising prices are against the backdrop of a nonstop conversation on affordability in this country.
4:02Willy Lowry:Every time that he talks about it, the Democrats want to talk about affordability. We've heard Donald Trump say, well, what is affordability anyway? Inflation is coming down. So we're about a week and a half into the war right now. How is it being received, the war, by Americans so far?
4:16Katie Simpson:Not that well. The majority of Americans do not support it. They oppose it. Of course, most of the breakdown is a long party line. So you have the vast majority of Democrats, I think around 89 % against this war, 85 % of Republicans supported according to Quinnipiac poll. But the key number, as we often talk about, is those independents, 60 % against it, right? So this is something that Trump is going to have to try and figure out how to change the narrative, how to convince at least those independents to get on board.
4:52Willy Lowry:And I don't think it's probably not fair to say everything comes down to gas prices. But again, back to the tangible nature of it. And every time your car is low, you got to go to the gas station and tank up. And you think about that every single time. For context, I did the math. We talked about math last week. So I think right now for everybody, I think the average is about 350 a U.S. gallon. So when you factor in the exchange rate and turn it into leaders, we're talking about$1.25. In truth, I think a lot of Canadians would be happy to pay only$1.25 right now. But nonetheless, it's a big issue for everybody.
5:27Paul Hunter:And it's something a part of the MAGA base. We have seen Donald Trump's ability to sort of deliver a message to people who are experiencing harder economic times, who he made that promise to to make life more affordable. It was the core promise of his reelection campaign. And with gas prices, with people seeing this this incredible spike over the course of just, what, 10 days or so, it's not exactly inspiring confidence in the markets. And it's not exactly making anything easier for, you know, Americans are just going about their daily lives wondering, OK, is this going to be like this for a long time or is this just a blip?
6:03Paul Hunter:Can I sort of like find a way to get around it? Because right now, if you have to commute to work and, you know, you're spending a lot of time in your car, getting your kids all around the place, you can't really do anything to avoid it.
6:15Willy Lowry:Hence Trump emphasizing it's short term. And as as says the White House broadly.
6:20Katie Simpson:But again, short term is I mean, what is short term? Yeah.
6:23Willy Lowry:What is short term? We'll talk about exit strategy shortly, maybe if there is one or talk around it. But I'm told, Katie, you've been listening to Tucker Carlson. What's going on there?
6:31Paul Hunter:I think that when we talk about what the divide looks like in the United States, the MAGA base is certainly divided over this. Donald Trump and in particular J.D. Vance, the vice president, they had really campaigned on no more foreign wars, no more foreign entanglements. We're not sending your children overseas to be killed in conflict in these forever wars. And Tucker Carlson, who I'll talk a little bit about who he is in just a moment, but he is very intensely against this operation and he's using his online platform to sort of make that point. But for Canadians, Canadians probably know the name Tucker Carlson, but maybe not know where he's doing now.
7:11Paul Hunter:So Tucker Carlson for years had been a very prominent host on Fox News, one of the opinion hosts that had a primetime show that consistently drew some of the biggest ratings in all of cable news.
7:23Willy Lowry:He called Canada Soviet Canuckistan once, did he not?
7:25Paul Hunter:He has said all kinds of things about Canada. He parted ways with Fox News and he's a really prominent player in this MAGA, you know, echo chamber. He's appeared on stage with Donald Trump at rallies and during the 2024 campaign. He was he was a prominent person on this stage trying to sort of like help Donald Trump tap into that core mega base, the core Fox News viewer who was, you know, motivated to go to the polls. And now we're hearing him really go after the Trump administration over this war.
7:55Willy Lowry:First, why did this happen? Now, in this case, there's a really simple answer. This happened because Israel wanted it to happen. This is Israel's war. This is not the United States' war. This war is not being waged on behalf of American national security objectives to make the United States safer or richer. This war is not actually even about weapons mass destruction, nukes, chem bio. No, this war is waged purely because Israel wanted it to be waged.
8:24Paul Hunter:Tucker Carlson has spoken like this in the past, talking about other moments in the U.S. and Israel relationship. He's been critical at times. And in this moment, he is using his considerable platform in the MAGA sort of echo chamber, that MAGA media movement, to push back against the Trump administration, illustrating that there is a divide in this moment.
8:50Willy Lowry:So what helps the divide in MAGA? To go back to that thing we were talking, almost talked about a few minutes ago, an exit strategy, a clear plan?
8:58Paul Hunter:I think the sort of focus has to be on, you know, how long this takes, even if Donald Trump telegraphs an exit strategy, which at this point, I'm not, I don't ever want to make predictions around Donald Trump, because we live in this moment that is incredibly unpredictable. But until there is sort of concrete change, until people see gas prices come down, until people see, you know, service members coming home, until there's a shift there and the operation ends, I think that that is going to this is going to continue to be an issue that divides MAGA. But I'm not sure an end or an exit strategy will sort of bridge that divide because we don't know what is going to come next.
9:41Paul Hunter:And even though the Trump administration says we are not getting into nation building, this is not going to be a forever war and this long term entanglement like has been seen in other American interventions overseas. But do we do we think that's actually going to be the case?
9:55Willy Lowry:And the funny thing is what you hear from Donald Trump is that it is very complete. I think was what he said to CBS News. Right. But what you hear from Pete Hegseth is that it's only just begun. Right. And which leads people to think what I like it like that you are. There is no plan. You don't know what tomorrow is going to bring because you don't have a plan. I think that's part of the concern, even within MAGA, who that's the OG sort of thing for Trump. They're lockstep unified behind him. But if they're hearing these mixed messages and if MAGA, that sort of thing that Trump could always bank on, is saying like, you know, what the heck is going on here?
10:31Katie Simpson:Well, I wonder if this conflict, you know, unilaterally decided by the Trump administration to begin with, does this represent a kind of a fundamental betrayal of the MAGA ethos of that American first mentality? Something that, of course, the president, as we've spoken about, campaigned on championed, even if he gets out of this conflict, does the rift repair to bring it back to the price
11:09Willy Lowry:of gasoline? I think we can agree that it's clear that Trump is cognizant of that and is worried about that. I think it was during the press conference in Florida this week. He's talking about maybe escorting ships through the Persian Gulf. I think there's talk about opening up oil from the Strategic Reserve. But when the time comes, the U.S. Navy and his partners will escort tankers through the strait if needed. I hope it's not going to be needed, but if it's needed, we'll escort them right through. When the White House and or Trump is talking about that, you know, they are aware that people are kind of freaking out.
11:44Willy Lowry:So while Trump deals with division in his base, Democrats are speaking up. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer from New York echoes concerns about affordability. When oil prices spike like this, costs ripple through the entire economy. It's not just what you pay at the pump. Airline tickets go up because fuel oil is so expensive. Shipping costs go up. So the goods on your grocery shelves go up. And American families are paying more across the board. And I think airlines are already raising prices. And again, funny, with airlines, I guess, and gas prices, everything goes up so fast. It comes down.
12:26Willy Lowry:It's amazing how interconnected it all is. Well, 100 percent. Yeah. But also, you know, amazing and not surprising how slowly things come down. So even if this war is very complete, as Trump puts it, and it ends within three or four or five weeks, as the White House has hinted, the prices could still it could take some time longer.
12:44Katie Simpson:And that that effect we could still be feeling come November in those.
12:48Willy Lowry:100 percent. 100 percent. So. But what about Democrats, Willie? Are they are they united? I mean, United-ish.
12:57Katie Simpson:United Light. United Light. We surprisingly saw - The new beer, United Light. During the House War Powers vote last week, we saw four Democrats voting with Republicans to shut it down. On the Senate side, we have John Fetterman, who's been quite vocal in his support of this military operation. But is he a Democrat? That's a good question. We could do a whole episode on that. That's a very good question. But I think it will be interesting to see going forward if the Democrats try and capitalize on the vulnerability that Trump has kind of created for himself by instigating this conflict. There are openings and it will be interesting to see if the Democrats can kind of find purchase.
13:48You saw Paul's favorite word that I use.
Read the full transcript
13:52Katie Simpson:I love it when you, you know, from time to time, I want to work that into my regular conversations. You saw we just heard Schumer there. Obviously, affordability is going to be the kind of big issue, I think, at the at the midterms. And the Democrats are going to try and find ways to to kind of pin prices to Trump. And I think this conflict right now is obviously giving them a pretty easy one.
14:21Willy Lowry:And Katie, I mean, I don't mean to sound crass, but politics is a crass game when you get right down to it. So, I mean, what do you think? I mean, can Democrats kind of safely attack Trump on this?
14:34Paul Hunter:I think that they're going to sort of use this moment as long as the cost of living remains high in the United States. Remember, there was a cost of living crisis before this started. And gas prices had been one of the things we've talked about this extensively. It's been one of the things that Donald Trump had pointed to as a success in his term was the lowering of gas prices. As long as Americans continue to exist in a moment where grocery prices are up, gas prices are up, I think that you will see a message about the economy from Democrats and they will blame Donald Trump's war in Iran, framing it sort of as a war of choice.
15:14Paul Hunter:And they will point to that as say, listen, this is not we we present a different vision and then they'll talk about the measures that they would go about to lower the cost of living and sort of use that to help draw people to their party in the hopes it'll help them come November.
15:33Willy Lowry:Because wallets matter.
15:35Paul Hunter:They do. They motivate people. And I think a lot of the context around the 2024 election is it's who Donald Trump was able to motivate to go to the polls that don't necessarily always participate in American elections. And whether this kind of conflict, whether it's driving up the cost of living, whether more American soldiers are coming home in caskets and horrible things like that, or whether the ongoing devastation in Iran is something that Americans are frustrated with or angry about.
16:08Willy Lowry:Or whether gasoline costs more. Exactly. Literal bottom line.
16:12Paul Hunter:Is all of that enough for those people that showed up that don't normally show up to say, listen, this is it's the same old, same old. We've seen this from government or administration after administration before. What is different? This is why I don't participate because they cynically don't have any trust in the government.
16:28Willy Lowry:So even if you don't vote Democrat, you just stay home because what's the point?
16:30Paul Hunter:And that that could be as much of a boost for a Democrat as someone willing to vote for the Democrats.
16:35Katie Simpson:Finding a way to go back to our thesis for the week. Ultimately, less a referendum on this conflict and yet again another referendum on the economy and affordability, but because of this conflict sort of.
16:48Paul Hunter:Yeah.
17:05Paul Hunter:future. Coming up, how AI will change the way we communicate, how to be a better leader,
17:10Katie Simpson:and more. Listen to TED Talks Daily, wherever you get your podcasts.
17:16Willy Lowry:Let's talk geopolitics. Willie. Paul. Make me smarter.
17:22Katie Simpson:Impossible. Impossible. Not because you're not smart. I love you, man. You're too smart.
17:26Willy Lowry:But there are broader implications here globally, correct? Yeah, for sure.
17:32Katie Simpson:I mean, any time you talk about oil, right, that is got geopolitical implications. We know that China gets a lot of its oil from Iran. It's obviously not happy with what's transpiring at the moment, though. They've been pretty careful to criticize the conflict but not criticize Trump. And then, of course, you have Russia, obviously a close ally of Iran. We have reports earlier this week or late last week. I don't even know what day it is anymore, guys, that Russia is actually providing Iran with intelligence that has helped them locate U.S. troops in the region to target.
18:17Willy Lowry:And that was actually says he knows everybody who's talking to everybody else. But yeah, go ahead.
18:22Katie Simpson:He really. Yes. We actually got a question along that line from a listener named Deborah Moy. She was asking just how Russia would play into the war. I think that's kind of how we're seeing it thus far. I would imagine that Moscow would be a little hesitant to get any more involved publicly than kind of download via intelligence. But we'll have to see. I mean, this is the thing about conflict and war is you can only control it so much, right? You just don't know how it will grow, spiral, ebb and flow.
18:59Paul Hunter:And the other thing that is sort of unfolding as we speak is the United States is lifting temporarily some of its sanctions. I was just going to mention that against Russia. Yeah, against Russia. So it makes it easier for Russia to sell oil, which helps bolster its ability to fight the war in Ukraine. So that, again, and Ukraine at the same time is trying to help the Americans and the Israelis when it comes to defending against Iranian drones. So if anyone who's been focusing on when are we going to see a solution to the war in Ukraine, which the unjustified war that Russia began, all of that hope or all of that momentum, if it was leading anywhere, it sort of is a big distraction, what's going on now.
19:39Paul Hunter:It doesn't necessarily help get those parties together there.
19:42Willy Lowry:Meanwhile, Canada. A week ago, Katie, we were hearing from you from Ottawa. You're filling in a power in politics. Canadian government's response to the war has evolved over the course of the last week or so. How would you say Mark Carney's government is navigating comms around this one?
19:58Paul Hunter:I think the prime minister introduced himself to Canadians as a baked cumin pretzel. I think that that statement sort of started in one spot and then it kept and yes and yes and yes and like an improv sketch and continued started in one spot and then ended in a much different spot. At first, the Canadian response was almost immediate, and it was signaling that the main message coming out of that was signaling support for the American and Israeli operations in Iran. But the emphasis was on, you know, we support ensuring that Iran never has a nuclear weapon. And then Mark Carney was traveling abroad.
20:36Paul Hunter:He was on this massive trade trip to India, Australia and Japan. And every day that passed, he sort of had to add a layer of nuance. And that might be a very generous description, a layer of nuance to what the Canadian government's position was. Well, he added, you know, it's not a blank check. And what we see, we're not quite sure if it's consistent with international law. And, you know, sort of lamenting the rupture and sort of the rules based order, which he had talked about during his now very famous speech at Davos about, you know, how you can't mourn for the past. We are in a new reality and nostalgia is not, you know, a strategy.
21:16Willy Lowry:The rupture speech.
21:17Paul Hunter:The rupture speech about, you know, we are living in this different world and we have to treat it as it is rather than what we want it to be. While Mark Carney was on this trip to sell Canada and develop new relationships or rekindle relationships, the story of that trip will be Mark Carney's evolving conversation around what the Canadian government's response is.
21:37Willy Lowry:all right good chatting you two uh another fun convo before we go um a listener named penny kaziuka sent us a nice note about the podcast and in her note she's wondering how we keep our heads above water here's a quote the rest of us have the privilege to walk away when the news comes too heavy how are you able to keep your heads above water will it hit me still figuring it out
22:01Katie Simpson:No, you know, I think it's a good question. This is going to sound perhaps a little cold and it's not meant to, but this is my job. And so I take that seriously. And, you know, I've kind of, as I've grown older, grown more adept at kind of compartmentalizing a lot of what I do and what I see here in the relative safeties and comfort of our little studio. and Washington, D.C. in general, you know, is one thing. The news and what we see and hear is so kind of omnipresent. But, you know, I get to go home. I get to hug my little girls and kind of most of that falls to the wayside. That's a lot different than when I cover conflict and I'm actually physically in a place where then you're dealing with both the kind of potential, the kind of scary threat of personal danger, where here I get to mostly just deal with the theoretical.
23:06Katie Simpson:So two different things. And when my beautiful little girls aren't enough to take my mind off it, I just run until I can't stand up anymore.
23:15Paul Hunter:I was going to say, did it get harder to do once you had your kids?
23:18Katie Simpson:Yes and no, because in a weird way, before I had my kids, I didn't turn off. Right. But now that I have my kids, I try to the best of my ability to put my phone away and just focus on them. But it's, you know, the problem is cell phones are like they're insidious. Right. So it's like it's always right next to me and I just have to flip it up. And then just don't look at yourself. I'm joking.
23:43Willy Lowry:I'm so hard.
23:44Paul Hunter:Katie, manage me. It's about to like tase you, Paul, for saying that.
23:47Willy Lowry:Katie, how do you keep your head above water?
23:49Paul Hunter:You know, I I've learned some lessons in 2025. I feel like 2025 in terms of, you know, stress management, I feel like I was not making the best choices in order to make sure that I could manage it. Much like you, Willie, I find that, you know, dealing with the subject matters that we deal with, and we never know what it's going to be. We know that going in, we know it's going to be hard, and we sort of signed up for that. And so it's sort of expected. What I really struggle with and struggled with last year was the volume and the pace, particularly because it was a year where so much was at stake for Canada with tariffs.
24:27Paul Hunter:It still continues to be that. And I say this quite regularly, but you never know what kind of day it's been until Donald Trump has gone to bed. And so the number of times, and I know, Paul, this is a thing for you, too, where you get a phone call at 1030 at night, 1130 at night, there's massive breaking news, we need you to come back, and it directly affects Canada, come back. And I found that last year, I was like, I was not like getting enough sleep, I was not prioritizing like things outside of work to ensure that I could have some balance. And so this year I've done a few things that I really think have helped.
25:04Paul Hunter:Recognizing sort of my mantras, I can only control what I can control. I know I'm going to have to work late. We regularly work 60 to 70 hours a week. We work on days off. That's never going to change. But my non-negotiables are I walk to and from work. And I've had an on and off relationship with that since I moved to Washington. It's 45 minutes each way. Listen to a lot of Fleetwood Mac lately. Oh, nice. And then the other thing I've done is I've meal prepped. I have not purchased lunch once in 2026, with one exception in Ottawa, with one exception when I was backfilling in Ottawa, which was out of my control.
25:37But it's like I can control that I'm getting like focusing on like proper nutrition and proper sleep.
25:43Paul Hunter:Because by the time I get home after my walk, I'm tired. Like last night I finished work. I got home by like 9.45 p.m. I was so tired. I had a big glass of water and just went to bed, which that's why everyone should sign up to be a foreign correspondent. on it because your life is so exciting. You get home at 945, you're so exhausted that you just have a big glass of water and go to bed. Really.
26:02Katie Simpson:I've been asleep for like an hour by then.
26:05Paul Hunter:What do you do, Paul?
26:07Willy Lowry:You know what I like is when I go home to Canada, people come up and say that they appreciate the coverage from here. And I think that I take that to heart. And I'm Grateful to learn that going through the kind of days that you just described, Katie and Willie, matters. And I think I take comfort in that. And that helps. It helps you get up the next day, not to overstate it, you know, because it's a job, as you say, Willie.
26:40Katie Simpson:Yeah, but it's a job, but it's also like it's an important one. And I think that's the fun thing about working for the CBC is you can get that sense of fulfillment, right? In part, it's a little bit like a duty.
26:54Paul Hunter:Now, speaking of people appreciating, particularly Paul Hunter.
26:59Willy Lowry:Here we go.
27:00Paul Hunter:And particularly the podcast. As you know, I was in Ottawa hosting Power and Politics last week. And our colleague, Jerry, who works at Power and Politics, he brought this to me and he put it on my desk and said, would you bring it back? Oh, I think I know what this is going to be. I think you know what it's going to be, too. And you can show it for the cameras and we'll describe it. We'll describe it for those of us listening on a podcast.
27:21Willy Lowry:It's a t-shirt. Close your eyes and think of maple syrup. Yes. That came out of my mouth, I think, a few episodes ago. I love it.
27:29Paul Hunter:You have to wear that next week, by the way. I'll wear it next week. I hope we're not talking about war and you're wearing a shirt that says that.
27:35Willy Lowry:Thanks to our loyal listener, Jerry. Jerry in Ottawa.
27:38Paul Hunter:Jerry in Ottawa.
27:41Willy Lowry:All right. Where are we? We are saying thanks to Penny for sending that question. And if you have a question for us or feedback on what you're hearing, send us an email or what the heck. Send us a voice memo because 2026. Or you can leave us a comment on Spotify. And don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast app. Thanks, Katie. Thanks, Willie. We'll do it again next week.
28:03Katie Simpson:Thanks, Paul. Thanks, Paul. For more CBC Podcasts, go to cbc.ca slash podcasts.
From the publisher
As the U.S. war in the Middle East continues, gas prices are on the rise and American voters are paying attention. Affordability remains a key issue, and President Donald Trump’s decision to wage war on Iran is drawing criticism not only from Democrats, but from within his MAGA base.
As the November midterms approach, will the war overseas lead to a referendum on the Trump administration at home?
CBC’s Washington correspondents Paul Hunter, Willy Lowry and Katie Simpson unpack the economic cost of war on Iran — and ask whether Americans seem willing to pay.
