given that bashir al assad is still in power in syria and has really decimated his own citizens withl bombs and chemical weapons. there are millions of people who are refugees or internally displaced. so it is very unclear, still, what happened in that summit. and in both of these situations, as you point out, david, it looks like president putin and kim jong-un are calling the shots and not the president of the united states and that's not good for our security. >> in a minute or so we have left, i want to turn to something we were talking about, that is the notion of there being two administrations. you served in this government for a very long time. you're familiar with the hierarchy in all of that. it strikes me, we are seeing something unique here. when you have that apparatus surrounding the president saying one thing so seriously and the president not going along with it, not taking that advice, not echoing what they're saying, but saying the opposite. i just want to get your reaction to what we saw just a couple days ago. that extraordinary press briefing, yes, but also how q