Search this show’s transcripts

The DSR Network

en us
The official home of Deep State Radio, Need to Know, Words Matter, The DSR Daily, The Daily Blast, Siliconsciousness, and more. If you are enjoying this podcast, please consider becoming a member by visiting thedsrnetwork.com.

Episodes

Page 24 · 50 per page

President Trump looks increasingly vulnerable on the very thing that helped him win the election: Rising costs. On Thursday, Trump announced that his tariffs on Mexico and Canada will begin on March 4th. Yet only hours later, a new Bloomberg poll found that 59 percent expect the tariffs to drive up prices further. Only 31 percent say they’ll be good for the economy. Meanwhile, Republicans are starting to cancel their town halls, fearing voter blowback over Elon Musk’s rampage. We talked to Andrew Bates, a former White House communications adviser, who argues that the Trump-GOP political mess will only get worse once Republicans start cutting Medicaid—and says Democrats have a big opening to capitalize. Listen to this episode here.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Extract Knowledge

How much electric power will AI need in the years ahead? How can that demand be met cheaply and sustainably? What can we learn from projections of data center power demand over the past several decades? How can AI contribute to meeting clean energy goals? Join host David Sandalow in a lively conversation with Michael Liebreich, founder of New Energy Finance, on these topics and more.

AI, Energy and Climate is a special series from the DSR Network sponsored by NEDO and hosted by David Sandalow, Inaugural Fellow at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy.


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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Extract Knowledge

In Texas, an unvaccinated child just died of Measels—the first reported death related to the disease’s recent outbreak. This came up at President Trump’s cabinet meeting on Wednesday, and the results were troubling. After Elon Musk admitted that his cuts had briefly closed down Ebola prevention, anti-vax Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. was surprisingly cavalier about the outbreak, and didn’t bother urging Americans to get vaccinated. Trump said nothing to reassure the nation. We talked to Stephanie Psaki, a former top White House official who specialized in pandemic response. She explains what we want from public officials at moments like these—and why Musk’s wanton cuts to government, the anti-vax views of RFK, and the cavalier approach to public health from all three of them add up to a picture that’s “terrifying.”

Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Extract Knowledge

It’s Europe week for the Trump administration, and normalcy remains a distant memory. The president’s open disdain for Europe and fondness for Putin remain on full display with visits from key players in the Russia/Ukraine conflict underway. Rosa Brooks and Ed Luce join David Rothkopf to make sense of this moment. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Extract Knowledge

At Tuesday’s media briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced that the White House will now decide who attends briefings, an effort to insulate President Trump from tough scrutiny. She also offered awful spin about the developing Elon Musk fiasco. At key moments, Levitt visibly seethed at the media. And we think we know why: On Tuesday, consumer confidence registered another big drop, and Leavitt was simply unable to defend the glaring Trump-Musk failures we’re seeing. We talked to MSNBC.com columnist James Downie, author of a recent piece detailing how Trump doesn’t want to talk about the economy these days. He explains how Leavitt’s performance illustrated key fault lines in the MAGA coalition and big weaknesses that will bedevil Trump’s presidency.

Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Extract Knowledge

At a Monday press conference, Donald Trump angrily defended Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency. Though officials from Trump’s administration are defying Musk’s email instructing federal employees to list their accomplishments, Trump said it was “great,” only spreading more confusion about whether it’s operative. This comes as Trump is getting hit by more polls showing broad disapproval of his performance on prices and deep dissatisfaction with the economy. We talked to writer Susan Milligan, who has a new piece for The New Republic detailing how Republicans have been portraying Trump as a strong “daddy” figure. She explains why the DOGE fiasco and Trump’s rambling presser could undermine perceptions of Trump as a competent, decisive leader.

Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Extract Knowledge

Welcome to the AI, Energy and Climate Podcast! On the inaugural episode of this new series, host David Sandalow is joined by Colin McCormick and Michal Nachmany. We explore the many ways that AI can help in the fight against climate change, from accelerating innovation in clean energy technologies to speeding the deployment of renewables to supporting decision making on climate policy and more. We explore barriers to using AI for these purposes, discuss risks that AI can create and offer recommendations for next steps.

AI, Energy and Climate is a special series from the DSR Network sponsored by NEDO and hosted by David Sandalow, Inaugural Fellow at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy.


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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Extract Knowledge

House Republicans are suddenly facing angry voter revolts back at home over Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency. Some of them are reportedly in a “panic” about DOGE’s increasingly destructive cuts and firings. Meanwhile, Musk just ordered federal employees to list their accomplishments or risk termination. But some senior Trump administration officials defied Musk, telling employees they had no obligation to respond. What if Musk’s DOGE effort is shaping up as a full blown fiasco for President Trump and the GOP? How should Democrats capitalize? We talked to Leah Greenberg, a co-founder of Indivisible, about what she’s seeing on the ground, what the prospects are for mobilizing a sustained opposition, and what comes next.  

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Extract Knowledge

Three new national polls—from CNN, Gallup, and The Washington Post—show that President Donald Trump’s job approval is decidedly underwater. Importantly, the polls also show majorities rejecting Trump’s authoritarian governance. And Elon Musk, who’s carrying out Trump’s most autocratic designs, fares even worse. Are we finally seeing a real public backlash to Trump’s authoritarianism, the one that was supposed to materialize during the election, but didn’t? If so, what does that mean for how Democrats should proceed? We talked to political scientist Julia Azari, who writes on these matters for her “Good Politics, Bad Politics” Substack, about why Democrats have an opening to run harder against Trump-Musk autocratic overreach—and what that might look like. 

Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Extract Knowledge

Since last week, the United States is now pro-Russia, anti-NATO, and anti-democracy. Kash Patel runs the FBI, Pete Hegseth is slashing the DoD, and the Trump administration is taking the official position that they don’t have to listen to the courts. Everything we feared is real and it’s only going to get worse. What can we do about all of this? Where do we go from here? David Rothkopf and Norm Ornstein tackle all of these pressing questions and more.

Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Extract Knowledge

President Donald Trump unleashed a long, angry tirade on Wednesday that falsely blamed Volodymyr Zelensky for Russia’s invasion. Trump pushed many other lies that sounded unsettlingly like Russian propaganda, even calling Zelensky a “dictator.” This forced Republicans into wild, comically evasive contortions. Which raises a question: What should Democrats say about all this? It seems like an unusually good opportunity to indict the craven GOP embrace of Trump and all he represents. We talked to Brian Beutler, author of the great Off Message Substack, who explains how Democrats can seize on moments like this to drive a wedge into the GOP—and why the Russia-Ukraine war will get much more brutal politically for Trump and Republicans going forward. Listen to this episode here.

Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Extract Knowledge

Is artificial intelligence going to put us all out of work? There have been a range of predictions about the economic impact of AI, ranging from the modest to the fantastical. Nobel Prize-winning MIT professor Daron Acemoglu joins David Rothkopf to get to bottom of what we can really expect out of the AI revolution. 


This material is distributed by TRG Advisory Services, LLC on behalf of the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates in the U.S.. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice, Washington, DC.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Extract Knowledge
Published 2025-02-19

America Switches Sides in Ukraine

35 min
View

A knife to the back might be the best way to describe this administration’s foreign policy. The latest statements from the president and meetings between Russian and US officials suggest that the Trump regime is ready to throw Ukraine under the Russian bus. Rosa Brooks, Ed Luce, and Kori Schake join David Rothkopf to explain why this is so calamitous for Ukrainians and Americans alike, and why this is just another step on the pathway to calamity in the United States. 


Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Extract Knowledge

On Tuesday, top White House adviser Stephen Miller unleashed a wild, angry rant on CNN after tough questioning from CNN’s anchor about Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency. This comes even as one of Musk’s silliest absurdities yet—the idea that DOGE found rampant fraud in Social Security—imploded spectacularly under basic scrutiny. There’s a through line here: The great illusion that Musk, Miller and President Trump are trying to push—that they’re rooting out immense amounts of governmental waste and fraud—is collapsing all around them. We talked to writer Jill Lawrence, who has a new piece for The Bulwark arguing that the Musk enterprise has been exposed as a sham, about the larger MAGA mythology about the “deep state,” and why it’s proving unsustainable. 

Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Extract Knowledge

Our descent into authoritarian rule continues. Over the weekend, Elon Musk raged on Twitter that people at CBS News deserve a “long prison sentence” based on a fabricated rationale. Meanwhile, President Trump tweeted out a line saying straight out that his presidency is above the law. And Trump nominated a nominee for U.S. Attorney in D.C. who has elevated the idea that DOJ should have no independence from the president. According to scholars of authoritarianism, these are the things that happen when a country is sliding into authoritarian rule. We talked to one such scholar, Steven Levitsky, co-author of a great new piece that charts what the path to American autocracy looks like. He explains how Trump-Musk’s latest moves, show how far along on this slide we truly are.

Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Extract Knowledge

To take AI to the next level, do we need to rethink the way we think about how we think? Chief AI Officer of WPP and CEO of Satalia Dr. Daniel Hulme joins David Rothkopf to discuss the ways our current models are sorely lacking and why we need a more creative approach towards artificial intelligence and why we should place more of a focus on developing moral AI.

This material is distributed by TRG Advisory Services, LLC on behalf of the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates in the U.S.. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice, Washington, DC.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Extract Knowledge

On Thursday, after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. got confirmed as Secretary of Health and Human Services, Mitch McConnell, the only Republican to vote no, issued a powerful statement citing RFK’s anti-vax conspiracy theories and crediting vaccines for saving millions of lives around the world. That prompted two unhinged, angry rants from Trump in which he absolutely savaged McConnell as a loser, a failure, and worse. We talked to veteran congressional observer Norm Ornstein, who explains what this Trump-McConnell rift tells us about Trump’s ability to terrorize today’s GOP into submission—and why we can’t count on Republicans to stand up to him going forward.

Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Extract Knowledge
Published 2025-02-13

Where Are the Leaders This Moment Demands?

48 min
View

What the hell is happening this past week? Between Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center, Pete Hegseth’s dismissal of NATO allies in Europe, and Elon Musk’s increasing control within the government - where is the political resistance in Washington? David Rothkopf and Norm Ornstein break all of this down and why Washington needs a Democrat who is going to stand up and say “f*ck you.”

Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Extract Knowledge

With President Donald Trump’s agenda suddenly facing a huge wave of lawsuits, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt unleashed a long, angry tirade on Wednesday about the mounting court rulings against the president. Laughably, she claimed that this constitutes “the real constitutional crisis” we’re facing right now. It’s a revealing moment: Trumpworld is building a case for ignoring judicial rulings because they know their agenda is now vulnerable to legal challenges on many different fronts. We talked to legal commentator Leah Litman, author of the book Lawless, about the prospects for stopping Trump in the courts, what happens if he defies them, and what’s likely coming in the next few months. 

Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Extract Knowledge

So nice to see both our Presidents in one place! In the wake of a very strange White House appearance by Elon Musk and his son, we’re left asking the age old question: does this finally count as a constitutional crisis? Rosa Brooks, Kori Schake, and Ed Luce join David Rothkopf to deliberate over this issue and more. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Extract Knowledge

On the DSR Daily for Wednesday, we discuss Trump overturning a ban on business bribes, a very strange meeting between Musk and Trump, Jordan’s king rejecting Trump’s resettlement plan, and more. 


Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Extract Knowledge

Little by little, congressional Republicans are waking up to discover that their own voters are in revolt against Elon Musk’s efforts to wreck the federal government. New reports from CNN and The Bulwark show that Republicans are quietly seeking to tamp down voter angst in all kinds of revealing ways. These are voters in GOP districts, but very few Republicans will prominently take on Musk, even though he is usurping their power. We talked to political science professor Elizabeth Saunders, author of a new piece for Foreign Affairs about the threat posed by Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. She reflects on how complicit GOP lawmakers are in the destruction we’re seeing unfold—and on what, if anything, might prompt them to defend the system before the damage is irreversible. 

Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Extract Knowledge

In an interview on Fox News, President Donald Trump angrily signaled that his goal of making Canada into a “51st state” is “real” while ranting that Canada is supposedly taking advantage of us. Whatever Trump actually intends, Vladimir Putin has been cheering on Trump’s various threats toward Canada, especially the threat of tariffs. Russia is also happy about Elon Musk’s efforts to gut the U.S. Agency for International Development. We talked to international relations professor Nicholas Grossman, who explains why Trump’s rising anger at Canada is alarming even if he doesn’t fully intend to send in troops. Grossman also details how all these moves show that Trump is signaling a genuine repositioning of the U.S.’s place in the international order—and why this repositioning has Putin so gleeful.

Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Extract Knowledge

On the DSR Daily for Monday, we cover the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s stop work order, Trump ordering the Treasury to stop producing pennies, a court blocking Venezuelan immigrants from being sent to Guantanamo, and more. 


Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Extract Knowledge

Rage is mounting among President Donald Trump’s allies over the losses that Trump’s agenda has suffered in court, which are clearly becoming a serious obstacle to him. It’s gotten so bad that Elon Musk shared a tweet from someone who suggested that it may be time to defy the courts. Musk also boosted Trump allies who are seething over these rulings. All that amounts to a pretty dark threat from Musk: He and MAGA appear to be steeling themselves to defy judicial rulings. We talked to Norman Eisen of Democracy Defenders Action, who is litigating against Trump, about how successful the legal resistance has been thus far, whether Trump and his allies will defy the courts, and what would happen if they did. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Extract Knowledge

President Donald Trump unleashed an angry rant Thursday about the U.S. Agency for International Development. He falsely claimed billions of dollars had been stolen there to fund pro-Democrat media. But only hours later, CNN posted video of Secretary of State Marco Rubio repeatedly praising USAID in the past and describing foreign aid as crucial to U.S. national interests. So what position will Rubio be put in if Trump and Elon Musk continue trying to destroy USAID? We talked to Jeremy Konyndyk, a former USAID official, who explains why Rubio will inevitably clash with Trump and Musk, their dark and unstated reasons for attacking USAID, and why the humanitarian consequences of all this are terrible to contemplate. 

Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Extract Knowledge

Trump and his DOGE cronies are continuing to upend and disregard traditional government procedure to illegally push their political agenda. All the while, the Democrats in Congress are asleep at the wheel. David Rothkopf and Norm Ornstein come together to discuss the real question at heart for the Democrats: what are you going to do to stop it?

Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Extract Knowledge

Stephen Miller privately worried about imposing overly aggressive tariffs on Mexico, because it could imperil Mexico’s effort to apprehend migrants traveling north to our southern border, reports the Wall Street Journal. That revelation is more striking than you think. Understood correctly, it’s an acknowledgment that Mexico had already been cracking down on migration, due to an arrangement secured by President Biden. That badly undermines Trump’s scam that his threat of tariffs forced Mexico to do his bidding on the border.  We talked to Adam Isacson, an expert on Latin America, who explains what Mexico has actually been doing on immigration, and why it undercuts Trump’s biggest claims about immigration, tariffs, Mexico, and more.


Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Extract Knowledge

The Trump administration is dismantling the government at a prodigious rate. With the near total destruction of USAID, CIA officials being offered payouts, and more, it’s clear that the administration has one goal in mind. So what happens to America? Rosa Brooks and Kori Schake join David Rothkopf to discuss this cataclysmic shift in US politics and how we can do our part to stem the tide of destruction. 


Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Extract Knowledge

As Elon Musk’s government takeover continues, Representative Jamie Raskin has been sounding a particularly urgent alarm. And during a Twitter fight between the two, Raskin asked Musk a simple question: As someone who supposedly works for the government now, will he submit to basic financial disclosure and conflict-of-interest rules? This got us thinking: Why are we treating the idea that Musk should submit to these rules as a fool’s errand? Let’s demand it! We talked to election law expert Andy Craig, a fellow at the Institute for Humane Studies and author of a new piece for The Unpopulist on Musk’s power grabs. He explains how lawless Musk has gotten, why it’s so important for lawmakers like Raskin to speak out, and how public resistance might have a real impact. 

Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Extract Knowledge

On this week's episode - the final episode of Above Average Intelligence - former Danish Defense Intelligence Service senior officer Jacob Kaarsbo (@jkaarsbo.bsky.social) (@JKaarsbo) joins @mpolymer to discuss “Why Greenland?”, plus how Europe must focus now on a security regime without US leadership. Always great to hear from allied intel pros, given the huge global challenges in 2025. Tune in here.

Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio


Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Extract Knowledge

President Trump has empowered Elon Musk to undertake a gutting of the U.S. Agency for International Development that is pretty clearly illegal. And this week, on numerous fronts, this has suddenly become a much bigger scandal. First, Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency took over the agency and locked its workers out of internal systems. Then Musk confirmed that Trump had agreed with him that the agency must be shut down. On Monday, Democratic lawmakers denounced the illegality of these moves, showing up at USAID offices to protest. We talked to one of those Democrats, Representative Don Beyer, about why the Trump-Musk assault is illegal and how Democrats can resist it.

Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Extract Knowledge

Artificial Intelligence doesn’t just impact Silicon Valley tech bros and college students trying to write a paper at the last minute. It has broad implications for industry, trade, international policy, and beyond. Dr. Susan Ariel Aaronson joins David Rothkopf to break down the missteps of the Biden and Trump administrations’ handling of AI and why international cooperation is the only way to create artificial intelligence that benefits everyone. 


Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio


This material is distributed by TRG Advisory Services, LLC on behalf of the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates in the U.S.. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice, Washington, DC.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Extract Knowledge
Show details
Episodes
3427
Transcripts
6
0% coverage
Missing transcripts
3421
With chapters
0