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Published 2025-06-26

Iran and Trump: Triumph or Fiasco?

55 min
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Donald Trump’s actions regarding Iran are raising important questions for America: how reliable is our intelligence? How is disinformation warping public reality? Here in the US, Zohran Mamdani’s victory in NYC is a glimmer of hope for the Democrats, but the party needs to unite against our biggest challenges… or else. Tune in as David Corn joins Norm Ornstein to tackle all of these issues and more.


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President Donald Trump and his top advisers have worked themselves up into a fury about the leaked intelligence assessment casting doubt on the success of Trump’s bombing of Iran. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth unleashed a wild, angry rant about it during a presser with Trump, viciously attacking intelligence officials for leaking the assessment. What Hegseth ended up revealing, however, is that we almost certainly cannot count on this administration to officially tell the truth about the Iran mission, because as Hegseth demonstrated, everything must always must serve the cult of Trump above all else. We talked to veteran national security lawyer Bradley Moss, who explains why this assessment is so important, what likely went into it, how the Hegseth-Trump-MAGA propaganda campaign is taking us to a very dangerous place as a country, and what to expect next.

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When it comes to foreign policy news this week, our cup runneth over. Between the confusing narratives surround the US strikes on Iran and a strangely successful NATO summit in The Hague, the administration has had its hands full. Thankfully, David Rothkopf is joined by Gen. Doug Lute, Marc Polymeropoulos, Kori Schake, and Rosa Brooks to make sense of the news and help us understand what comes next. 

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On Tuesday, President Donald Trump and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez got into a major online battle over Trump’s bombing of Iran. AOC said Trump had committed impeachable offenses. Trump responded with a wild, lengthy, unhinged  rant that dared Democrats to impeach him. And AOC responded by reiterating that the bombing is illegal. What struck us about this is that Trump let himself get spectacularly triggered precisely when his propagandists are blaring forth the message that his Iran saga shows him to be a statesman of world historical stature. Democrats should do more to bait Trump to trample on his own message at key strategic moments. We talked to Salon’s Amanda Marcotte, who regularly decodes the pathologies of Trump and MAGA. She explains the deeper roots of Trump’s fury at AOC, why his narcissism is already undermining his own message on Iran, how all this gives Democrats an opening, and what constrains them from taking advantage of it.


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On Monday, President Donald Trump exploded in fury at reporters and news outlets for asking hard questions about whether the strikes really destroyed Iran’s nuclear program completely, as he has proclaimed. And the questions are indeed mounting: There was clearly a lack of intelligence indicating that Iran’s nuclear program posed an imminent threat. And reports have highlighted serious uncertainty about the whereabouts of Iran’s enriched uranium. Trump thought he could bluff his way through this saga and count on Republicans to prevent any hard questions from being asked, but his rage at independent truth-seeking on the matter shows he knows he has a problem here. We talked to Democratic Congressman Sean Casten, who has forcefully argued that Trump committed impeachable offenses by bombing without congressional authorization. Casten goes deep on why Trump’s unilateral action is so indefensible, why Trump is vulnerable to what the intelligence really shows, and why Congress has an urgent responsibility to step up.

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The dust has begun to settle on the US bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities, but the situation isn’t much clearer than before. Iran has retaliated against US bases in the region, so what comes next? Alon Pinkas, David Sanger, and Joe Cirincione join David Rothkopf to break down the current state of the conflict, assess the next moves for the key players, and more. 

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Trump is a big problem, but he’s not the only problem America faces. While Trump is the avatar of many of americas woes, it’s critical to remember that many of our biggest challenges go back decades. But the time to fix it is now. Wajahat Ali joins David Rothkopf to diagnose America’s ailments and remind us of the golden rule: don’t be a fascist. 

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Emboldened by a partial court victory over his use of troops amid immigration protests in Los Angeles, President Trump is now threatening to expand deployment to other cities. This is unnerving, given that his manufacturing of fake rationales for “emergency” decisions like these is getting worse. Yet it comes as striking new polling shows that Trump’s use of troops in California is deeply underwater with voters. Importantly, he’s faring even worse on this with independents. In short, Trump recognizes zero constraints at this point, either from the law or, critically, from public opinion. We talked to Brian Beutler, author of the excellent Off Message Substack. He explains why Trump is losing the voters on two issues that pundits foolishly predicted he’d win on—the domestic deployment of troops and immigration—and how Democrats should respond by fighting a better information war than they currently seem capable of waging. 

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The moment has finally arrived: America has bombed Iran. As the dust settles, we’re left with more questions than answers about what the attack achieved and what comes next. Thankfully, Jon Wolfsthal, Gen. Mark Hertling, and Steven Cook join David Rothkopf to provide clarity on what this unprecedented moment means. 

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The times they are a-changin’ and the world is a-changin’ the way it thinks about AI. As we grapple with this powerful technology, numerous debates over AI’s ethics, impact on labor, impact on the environment, and more have erupted. MIT Technology Review editor in chief Mat Honan joins David Rothkopf to dissect these critical questions surrounding artificial intelligence and more. 


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The recent attacks in Minnesota are part of clear and troubling rise in political violence in the U.S. At the same time, President Trump and MAGA continue to normalize violence in political discourse. How do the events of the past week reflect a changing political climate? What does the discourse around political violence tell us? And what is the connection between MAGA and American gun culture? Tune in as David Rothkopf and Norm Ornstein address all this and more.

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President Trump is furious over a new poll from Fox News, and understandably so. It finds his approval upside down, with 54 percent disapproving. His standing is deeply underwater on many major issues, and remarkably, that includes immigration. So he erupted on Truth Social, fuming that Fox’s pollster is “crooked” and has been “discredited,” and even (gasp!) that “MAGA hates Fox News.” But the surest sign of Trump’s fury is that White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt rushed to soothe the Audience of One with a ridiculous, gushing tirade designed to create the grotesquely false impression that he has the support of a very large majority of Americans. We talked to former U.S. attorney and podcaster Harry Litman, who has a good piece for The New Republic about Trump’s mounting losses and failures. He digs into the absurd disconnect between suggesting that Trump’s support reaches deep into all corners of American life, as Leavitt did, and waging an all-out war on Blue America—and how that war is only wounding him further. 

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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth faced striking questioning from Democratic Senator Elyssa Slotkin on Wednesday. She grilled him on whether he had given an order allowing members of the military to shoot unarmed protesters if necessary. She also pressed him on whether the military has the authority to arrest protesters. Hegseth stonewalled. What his obfuscation ended up revealing, though, is this: He knows that in response to Democratic questioning, he cannot be seen reassuring the broader public about the military’s intentions toward civilians and especially toward Blue America. Trump would perceive this as weakness and as capitulation. Which itself reveals something deeply unnerving about the Trump-MAGA threat. We talked to Guardian columnist Moira Donegan, author of a great new piece about Trump’s military parade. about Trump’s military parade. She digs into the darker implications of Hegseth’s testimony and explains why the sheer spectacle of authoritarianism is so central to the Trump-MAGA project.

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At this point, it’s anyone’s guess as to what the US will do next in Iran. Apparently, not even our President knows what’s coming next. Will we enter the war? More importantly, should we? Esteemed guests Rosa Brooks, Kori Schake, and CSIS’s Max Bergmann join host David Rothkopf to try and answer these questions and more. 

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President Trump appears dead set on joining Israel’s war with Iran. After a period of negotiations, Trump has now tweeted that he wants Iran’s “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” The New York Times has a deep dive into his deliberations, and the findings are shocking. Trump is ready for war even though our own intelligence assessments don’t support the case for it. And incredibly, the Times reports, Trump was influenced on all this by what he saw on Fox News, which broadcast relentless imagery of Israel’s “genius” bombing of Iran. This led Trump to want “some credit for himself” for the attack, after which he “began hinting that he had played a bigger behind-the-scenes role in the war than people realized.” He then leaned more towards escalation. We talked to veteran national security hand Matt Duss, executive vice president at the Center for International Policy, who has a great piece for Foreign Policy magazine on the situation. He explains why the case for war is so weak, how Trump is getting manipulated into it so easily, and what to expect as all this unfolds. 

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After the horrific assassination of a Democratic state legislator in Minnesota, President Trump at first correctly stressed that such violence is absolutely intolerable. But then he uncorked a long, vile, unhinged tirade on Truth Social, threatening to unleash ICE raids more directly on Democratic cities while denouncing them as radical, dangerous and “sick.” Coming after the assassination, this was almost akin to a call for more targeting of Democrats and liberals. It’s no accident this came right after we saw enormous outpourings of peaceful “No Kings” protests across the country. The contrast between these and Trump’s North Korean-style military parade (not to mention the assassination) amounted to a fiasco for Trump. As Kim Scheppele, a scholar of authoritarianism, noted in a good piece for The Contrarian, a big story about this weekend’s events was the spectacle of peaceful dissent meeting menace from Trump-aligned forces. We talked to Scheppele about how political violence is overwhelmingly aligned in this country with the MAGA right, and why we’re now sliding into what she calls the “danger zone.”

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In a little-noticed rant, President Donald Trump furiously vowed on Truth Social that he will now carry out something called “remigration.” This idea is widely prevalent among global white nationalists who see it as key to their vile goal of building white ethnostates, so his open endorsement of it is significant. That comes as a U.S. Democratic Senator has been violently tackled and handcuffed, as Trump dispatches troops into Los Angeles, and as his Homeland Security secretary suggests those troops will “liberate” L.A. from its elected Democratic leadership. We talked to Will Sommer, senior reporter at The Bulwark and author of a great piece on the fresh levels of bloodlust all this is inspiring in MAGA media. We discuss the centrality of sadism and violent lawlessness to the MAGA movement—and why this is pushing us toward a watershed moment.


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Published 2025-06-15

FTS: Some Days Matter More than Others

48 min
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Original air date: June 24, 2024

Former CIA senior intelligence service officer Daniel Hoffman joins Marc Polymeropoulos to reveal the intersection of an amazing spy story, a heartwarming love story, a family’s resilience in overcoming tragedy, and what ultimately matters most in life.  Don’t miss this special episode.

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Published 2025-06-14

FTA: A World in Transition

68 min
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Original air date: June 19, 2024

With consequential elections coming up in Britain, France, and the US, monumental change is on the horizon . In a special two-part episode, Clive Priddle and Ed Luce join David Rothkopf to forecast the upcoming elections while members will hear from Kori Schake and Rosa Brooks on the most impactful headlines from around the world.


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In case you missed it, things are still not great here in the United States. Thankfully, we have Ed Luce joining David Rothkopf to break down this administration’s current actions. What does the militarization of law enforcement mean for civil liberties? How are governors like Gavin Newsom stepping up? Find out right here. 

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Israel’s shocking strikes on Iran has put the region in a perilous position. What was the calculus behind Netanyahu’s decision to strike? How will Iran respond? What does the Trump administration do now that negotiations have gone up in Smoke? To answer all these questions and more, we have a special two part episode with our favorite experts. Part one features a conversation between Rosa Brooks, Steven Cook, Alon Pinkas, and David Rothkopf while Jon Wolfsthal joins David in part two. You won’t want to miss this important episode. 

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Stephen Miller had a shouting match Thursday with a GOP Senator over Miller’s demand for massive funds for deportations, which Republicans are debating right now. Yet at around the same time, President Donald Trump openly admitted that his deportations are badly hurting farmers by removing their workers—and described those undocumented workers as “impossible to replace.” Miller is demanding supercharged deportation numbers on the grounds that migrants are criminals and/or displace U.S. workers, but Trump admitted Miller’s deportation agenda is targeting good, hard-working people who aren’t taking jobs from Americans and that their removal hurts the economy. This—along with the shocking manhandling of Democratic Senator Alex Padilla by Homeland Security goons and the backlash to Trump’s dispatching of troops to Los Angeles—suggests the MAGA coalition is coming under serious strains on immigration. We talked about all this with Tori Gavito, the president of Way To Win, who also discusses the group’s new polling showing Democrats have an opening to go on offense on the issue.

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We tend to be a bit negative about this administration on the DSR Network. But in spite of our negativity, is there actually some hope for a new nuclear deal with Iran? Experts Joe Cirincione and Jon Wolfsthal join David Rothkopf to discuss why Trump’s particular style of diplomacy may, or may not, give way to success in nuclear arms regulation. 

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News organizations have been credulously amplifying the White House’s spin that sending troops into Los Angeles is great politics for President Trump. But the evidence isn’t cooperating. On Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt lost her temper amid tough questioning about Trump’s threat to unleash “force” on protesters. She snapped that one reporter had asked a “stupid question,” and seethed angrily at a second reporter’s legitimate query, showing how weak the White House’s arguments on this have truly become. And a new Quinnipiac poll finds Trump’s approval tanking, crucially including on immigration. We talked to Jennifer Rubin, editor-in-chief of The Contrarian, who has a new piece arguing that California is a test run for Trump. She explains why the media needs to do better at conveying just how unpopular Trump’s authoritarian tactics truly are—and why failing to do so could embolden him. 


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On Tuesday, President Donald Trump issued a direct promise to use “heavy force” on protesters who dare show up to his military parade this weekend. He made no distinction between peaceful and violent protesters, an extraordinary threat of violence that he didn’t bother disguising. Trump has also repeatedly erupted in anger at California Governor Gavin Newsom, ripping him with vile slurs and telling dimwitted lies about his administration’s decision to deploy federal troops in the Golden State. All this comes as a new YouGov poll finds that only small minorities approve of his deployment of the National Guard and the Marines to Los Angeles, a striking rebuke given that Trump is staking so much on this battle. We talked to data analyst G. Elliott Morris, author of the Strength in Numbers Substack, who explains why threats of authoritarian violence are not necessarily good politics for Trump—and why the media keeps credulously pretending otherwise. 

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Over the weekend, President Donald Trump ordered up the National Guard to deal with violence that broke out in Los Angeles amid protests of Trump’s immigration policies. This has angered California Governor Gavin Newsom, who is suing to stop it. But then Trump expressly told reporters that he might send the Marines into California. He also openly endorsed the idea that federal law enforcement should arrest Newsom based on zero legal basis. Taken together, those moves show Trump’s perpetual threat to unleash troops on Americans getting much darker and more unnerving. We talked to former federal prosecutor Barbara McQuade, author of the book Attack from Within: How Disinformation is Sabotaging America. She explains why Trump’s moves are increasingly lawless, how this is all posing a severe test to our system, and ponders whether we’re passing that test—or failing it.

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Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to California is not just about immigration and Los Angeles - it is a damning step in his long-lasting effort to to exploit and deploy the U.S. military to act as his own personal police force. Miles Taylor, former DHS Chief of Staff who endured persecution for his criticisms of the Trump administration, joins Norm Ornstein and David Rothkopf to discuss the disastrous implications of Los Angeles and explain why “people should be more worried about this than anything they’ve seen so far in the second Trump administration.” Tune in here.

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Octopus Energy, a global technology and energy company, was founded in the UK 10 years ago with the goal of helping to transform electric utilities. It created Kraken, a cloud-based platform that helps utilities and their customers manage data from smart meters, electric vehicles, distributed energy resources and more. Join host David Sandalow as he talks with Nick Chaset, CEO of Octopus Energy US, about Octopus, Kraken, AI in the power sector, and strategies for combining grid flexibility and data center load growth. 


AI for Climate Change Mitigation Roadmap -- https://www.icef.go.jp/roadmap and transitiondigital.org/ai-climate-roadmap. 

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Fox News hosts have gotten very aggressive in pinning down Trump officials over the failures of Trump’s trade agenda. Stuart Varney sharply questioned a top official over the loss of manufacturing jobs in the latest jobs report, and Maria Bartiromo usefully prodded a second official over the failure to produce trade deals. Taken together, these constitute a surprise admission that the latest machinations involving Trump’s tariffs reveal that they aren’t coming close to having their advertised effects. Meanwhile, an extraordinary Washington Post report reveals that administration officials are scrambling to reverse large numbers of firings under Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, another serious admission of what a fiasco DOGE remains. On today’s episode, economist Kathryn Edwards usefully explains how all these developments reveal a deeper set of failings driving Trump’s vision and worldview, possibly putting us on a slow drift toward recession.


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Published 2025-06-08

FTS: Russia and the Cluster of Discontent

44 min
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Original air date: June 28, 2024

Putin is a firm believer in the old adage “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Russia has been working with a growing cluster of anti-US countries to advance his interests since the invasion of Ukraine, including Iran and North Korea. Nicole Grajewski and Andrey Baklitskiy join Jon to analyze Russia’s ‘cluster of discontent’ and more.


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Original air date: June 28, 2024

Thursday’s debate was certainly something. Much of the Democratic camp is sounding the alarm after President Biden’s less than stellar performance, and discussions are swirling on whether or not it’s time for a new candidate. Norm Ornstein and Kavita Patel join David Rothkopf on this special episode to discuss what happened and where we go from here.


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As you’ve surely heard, the feud between Donald Trump and Elon Musk has erupted, with the two men trading attacks on each other for hours. As of this recording, the last big things to happen are that Trump threatened to cut off all government contracts to Musk’s companies, and Musk then dropped what he called a “big bomb”—that Trump is in the "Epstein files." Former GOP strategist and Never Trumper Rick Wilson grasps the inner pathologies of MAGA like no one else, so we talked to Wilson about the latest Trump-Musk madness. He offers a counterintuitive take on why Musk’s attacks on Trump will trigger MAGA’s paranoid obsessions in an unexpectedly explosive way, why he thinks Musk has more weapons in this battle than Trump does, and why the White House has almost certainly entered into a “full panic” about where this is all going.

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Published 2025-06-05

They Are Monsters

53 min
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While Donald Trump and Elon Musk are currently feuding in a King Kong vs. Godzilla battle on social media, the devastating impact of their short-lived union continues to unfold. ICE is picking people off the street like a quasi American Gestapo, while the issue of foreign students is set to hamper US higher education for years - and not just in Ivy League schools, but on the global stage. Where has our fundamental decency gone? Norm Ornstein and David Rothkopf are back to address this chilling political combination of nihilism, sadism, and chaos. Tune in here.


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President Donald Trump appears to have finally turned on Elon Musk over his scalding criticism of the “big, beautiful bill.” At a presser, House Speaker Mike Johnson revealed that Trump told him he’s displeased with Musk, which almost certainly wouldn’t have happened unless Trump authorized it, confirming Trump’s anger at Musk is serious. Meanwhile, the Congressional Budget Office just released brutal numbers showing that the House GOP bill will add even more to the deficit and kick many more people off health coverage than previously thought. We talked to Danielle Deiseroth, executive director of Data for Progress, which just released interesting new polling on the GOP bill. She explains why the bill could grow more toxic with the public, why the Trump-Musk rift and CBO score could help penetrate with voters, and why Democrats should act as if this is a debate they can win.


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