The DSR Network

On the Friday edition of the DSR daily, we discuss the first food trucks arriving via the US pier in Gaza, a new report on Trump’s plans for the FBI in a second term, unrest in New Caledonia, and more.

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This week, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s running mate, Nicole Shanahan, dropped a bomb: She announced a donation of another $8 million to his campaign. That’s substantially more than her initial $2 million, and suggests much more is coming. Which is a reminder: It’s still very plausible that RFK Jr. will get on the ballot in many of the swing states that will decide the election. We talked to veteran Democratic strategist Stephanie Schriock, who explains why Shanahan’s wealth suggests it’s time to take the RFK Jr. spoiler threat very, very seriously.

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Should we be panicking about the election yet? While there’s been chatter about recent negative polls for Biden and fears over the campaign’s strategy, there are still many reasons to stay positive. Tara McGowan and Simon Rosenberg join David Rothkopf to break down the good, the bad, and the ugly for the Biden camp and forecast what’s next at the long road ahead.

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On the Thursday edition of the DSR daily, we cover the completion of the aid pier in Gaza, Putin arriving in Beijing for a meeting with Xi, an assassination attempt on the Prime Minister of Slovakia, and more.

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Earlier this month, Donald Trump refused to commit to accepting the outcome of the 2024 election, shamelessly declaring he’d only do so “if everything’s honest.” Translation: He’ll only treat the outcome as valid if he wins. Infuriatingly, Trump has crucial backing for this project: Fox News and other MAGA propaganda outlets are already laying the groundwork to treat the outcome as illegitimate, should he lose. We talked to Matt Gertz of Media Matters, author of a new piece detailing how these right wing media figures are “warning” that Democrats intend to steal the election, and why that could produce another Jan. 6th or worse. Listen to this episode here.

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There is certainly no shortage of news to make us stressed, anxious, and depressed. Thankfully Rosa Brooks joins David Rothkopf for an episode that is sure to make us all feel better, right? Rosa and David break down the ever-looming threat posed by Trump, the current status of Ukraine, the Israel-Gaza conundrum, and more. 

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On the Wednesday edition of the DSR daily, we cover the key takeaways from Tuesday’s primaries, the advancement of $1 billion in arms for Israel, new tariffs on Chinese goods, and more.

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On Tuesday, when Michael Cohen testified against Donald Trump, the former president’s lawyers reminded jurors that Cohen was once slavishly devoted to Trump and used to lie relentlessly on his behalf—before Cohen turned on him. Cohen responded by admitting it: Yes, he was once a member of the Trump “cult.” Which is apt: Again and again, Trump’s own lawyers have seemingly designed their strategy around flattering Trump as much as serving his legal needs. We talked to Ankush Khardori, a former federal prosecutor and senior writer for Politico Magazine, who explained how Trump’s lawyers are making serious mistakes that are rooted in his demand for absolute devotion. 

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As Donald Trump deals with a gag order in his hush money trial, his various cronies have come out of the woodwork to do his dirty work. JD Vance, Tommy Tuberville, and more have come out to criticize the trial and jockey for a vice presidential nomination. Norm and Kavita break down this MAGA race to the bottom and more.

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On the Tuesday edition of the DSR daily, we cover Cohen’s testimony in Trump’s hush money trial, the US and Taiwan holding drills in the Pacific, the 76th anniversary of the Nakba, and more. 

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This week, The New York Times released new polls that sent shock waves through the Democratic establishment, finding Donald Trump leading in all six key swing states, in some cases by startling margins. While President Biden has fared better in other recent polls, the bottom line is that he is trailing in all the swing-state polling averages. So we talked to Jefrey Pollack, a top pollster for the Biden campaign, who laid out why he thinks it’s premature to read too much into these polls, and why the current data set, in his view, actually shows a hidden path to reelection for the president.

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It’s been 7 months since the devastating Hamas attack in Israel. Doug London joins Marc to assess the region after 10/7, including the ferocious Israeli reaction, how Hamas can be "strategically defeated,” the importance of the US as an ally to provide wise counsel, and the prospects of Israel-Saudi normalization.

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On the Monday edition of the DSR daily, we cover the ouster of Sergei Shoigu as Russia’s Defense Minister, Michael Cohen’s impending testimony, a recent poll showing discontent among young voters, and more.

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Donald Trump constantly claims that crime is out of control. In reality, it’s substantially down under Biden, after soaring during the pandemic that Trump catastrophically botched as president. Now the Democratic group Third Way is releasing a new study finding that this year, congressional Democrats secured substantially more funding for public safety projects across the country than Republicans did. We talked to Jim Kessler of Third Way, who explains how Democrats can go on offense on the issue and beat back Trump’s relentless lies about it.

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Original Air Date: September 2, 2022

On this week's episode, we do a deep dive on the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. In the bonus segment, Norm talks about the latest Trump crime news and Biden's most recent speech.

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Original Air Date: April 28, 2023

The Democrats should not be trying to eke out a narrow win in 2024. Given recent results in statewide elections, the Republicans active desire to embrace policies that are opposed by a supermajority of Americans, their seeming impulse to hitch their wagon to a star that is in deep legal trouble and the great record of the Biden Administration, a bigger win is possible. In fact, according to our discussion with guests Simon Rosenberg and David Corn and host David Rothkopf, the Democrats goal should be nothing less than delivering the blow that puts MAGA out of business. That's because it's doable and because given the pace MAGA is trying to game our electoral system, this may be the country's last chance to so. It's an important episode. Don't miss it.

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Each day of Trump’s election interference trial manages to be more salacious than the last. From the testimony of Stormy Daniels to Trump’s inability to stop smearing everyone involved, it’s clear that the trial will continue to be a roller coaster until the very end. Norm and Kavita take us through the latest from the trial, and what could be around the corner. 

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On the Friday edition of the DSR daily, we cover the latest testimonies in Trump’s criminal trial, a top Indian opposition candidate receiving interim bail, the UN General Assembly preparing to support the Palestinian bid for UN membership, and more.

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On Thursday, Stormy Daniels faced tough cross examination from Donald Trump’s attorneys in his hush money trial in Manhattan. By most accounts, she responded with humor and harsh mockery directed at Trump, which helped parry their assaults on her credibility. The ridicule, however, could serve another purpose: It could help convince the jury that Trump had a clear motive for committing crimes related to the hush-money scheme. We talked to former federal prosecutor Barbara McQuade, who explains how Daniels’s testimony may have damaged Trump more deeply than it first appears.

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It’s safe to call Trump’s ongoing legal woes the trial of the century. At least for far. But what remains in store for the trial, and how likely is the prosecution to secure a conviction? Norm Eisen joins David Rothkopf to discuss his new guidebook to the trial, “Trying Trump,” and to breakdown both the trial so far and what comes next.

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On the Thursday edition of the DSR daily, we cover the failure of Marjorie Taylor Green’s attempt to oust Speaker Johnson, Biden’s warning to Israel over an invasion of Rafah, the expulsion of a Russian diplomat in the UK, and more.

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In the Indiana GOP primary on Tuesday night, Donald Trump lost 22 percent of GOP primary voters to Nikki Haley. That’s surprising, since Haley ended her campaign two months ago. So it’s clearly a trend: A sizable bloc of Republican voters in GOP primaries has resisted Trump again and again. We chatted with David Drucker, a senior writer at The Dispatch and author of a new piece about the Indiana outcome, about whether President Biden can poach these voters away from Trump and why it’s a warning sign for MAGA in November.

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With Israel’s operation in Rafah underway, the Benjamin Netanyahu continues to be at odds with the Biden administration. But what does the withholding of US bombs really mean for the souring relationship between the US and Israel? Noga Tarnopolsky, Alon Pinkas, and Kori Schake join David Rothkopf to assess the current state of Israeli politics, and how Netanyahu continues to hold on to power.

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On our Wednesday episode of the DSR daily, we cover a Russian plot to kill President Zelensky, the US pausing a weapons shipment to Israel over Rafah concerns, a grim milestone in the Myanmar conflict, and more.

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This week, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene is deciding whether to call a snap vote to oust Mike Johnson as House Speaker. She has a list of demands, and if they aren’t met, she will pull the trigger. If so, Democrats seem prepared to save Johnson. Which raises some questions: Can Democrats leverage anything in exchange for protecting Johnson? Are Greene and MAGA losing power inside the House GOP? We talked to Representative Ted Lieu, the Number 4 in the House Democratic leadership, about how Democrats should proceed—and where all this is heading next.

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Over the past year, there have been a startling amount of misconceptions spread about artificial intelligence and its potential impacts on all corners of society. Rob Atkinson, author of the new book “Technology Fears and Scapegoats” joins David Rothkopf to cut through the noise of AI discourse and provide a clear look at what this rapidly developing technology really means for all of us.

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.

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On the Tuesday edition of the DSR Daily, we cover Israel’s seizure of a key border crossing in Rafah, Vladimir Putin’s fifth inauguration, election updates in India, and more. 

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Donald Trump’s hush-money trial in Manhattan has already served up some extraordinary moments. On Friday, former Trump aide Hope Hicks’s tearful testimony undermined the defense that Trump’s legal team will attempt to mount. On Monday, new evidence tied the payments to mistress Stormy Daniels tightly to Trump, and he was again held in contempt for attacking jurors, this time threatened with jail. We talked to Kim Wehle, a professor of law and former assistant U.S. attorney, about why these developments signal still more damning revelations ahead.

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When we think of intelligence, we most often think of state organizations like the CIA. Yet the private sector has a robust intelligence community that keeps on growing. Lewis Sage-Passant joins Marc to shine a light on the overlooked world of private intelligence, and why it has become more critical than ever.

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On the Monday edition of the DSR daily, we discuss the Israeli military ordering an evacuation of Rafah, meetings between Emmanuel Macron and Xi Jinping in Paris, severe flooding in Kenya, and more.

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In his much-discussed Time interview, Donald Trump threatened to use the military to carry out mass deportations in a second term. The proposals he offered are appalling on their face. But beyond that, by regularly using vicious tropes about undocumented immigrants and other domestic enemies within, Trump is trying to acclimate voters to the ugliest forms of authoritarian, dehumanizing language. We talked to Maria Teresa Kumar, the president of Voto Latino, about a new effort she’s launching with other Hispanic leaders to alert voters to the grave threat Trump poses—before it’s too late.

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Original Air Date: May 18, 2023

In a special two part series of pods, we turn to some of our favorite observers and analysts of America today to ask why we have ended up where we are, divided, with corrupted institutions, half the country seemingly committed to a path of ignorance and hate. On the first part, we discuss these issues with two of the most distinguished columnists in America, EJ Dionne and Jennifer Rubin, both of the Washington Post. It's a great, incisive, and vitally important discussion. Don't miss it.

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Original Air Date: May 19, 2023

In a special two part series of pods, we turn to some of our favorite observers and analysts of America today to ask why we have ended up where we are, divided, with corrupted institutions, half the country seemingly committed to a path of ignorance and hate. On this, the second in the series, we discuss these issues with one of the country's wisest and often wryest commentators, author and host of the Democracy-ish podcast, Wajahat Ali. It's a great, incisive, and vitally important discussion. Don't miss it.

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On the Friday edition of the DSR Daily, we discuss Turkey halting trade with Israel, UK Conservatives suffering a big defeat in local elections, China’s new lunar probe, and more.

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Unexpectedly, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been making a huge number of appearances all over right wing media of late. Trump advisers are loudly warning that this threatens to take voters from him, helping President Biden. But we’re skeptical: It’s still more likely that in the end RFK hurts Biden more than Trump. And there are cynical reasons why right wing media sources might be boosting RFK Jr. right now. We chatted with Matt Bennett, a co-founder of the Democratic group Third Way and a shrewd observer of U.S. party politics, about the true RFK effect, how RFK is functioning as a stalking horse for Trump, and what MAGA media might be doing to help along the scam.

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Campus protesters have been vilified, accused of being terrorists, and attacked. But why has there been such a strong and polarized reaction to current demonstrations taking place at universities across the country? Emily Tamkin and Wajahat Ali join David Rothkopf to consider what makes this issue so divisive, and why campus protests have been a cornerstone of US politics for decades. 

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On the Thursday edition of the DSR Daily, we cover US allegations that Russia is using chemical weapons in Ukraine, the Arizona Senate striking down the 1864 abortion law, giant pandas returning to the San Diego Zoo, and more.

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A new consensus is settling in among political analysts: Donald Trump’s poll numbers look unexpectedly formidable in states like Arizona and Georgia, which means President Biden’s most likely path to victory requires winning Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. And yet Trump will almost certainly lose if he can’t win one of those three. That’s why Democrats can stop Trump if they beat him in Wisconsin. We talked to Ben Wikler, the chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, who explains how years of painstaking organizing is laying the groundwork to defeat Trump by thwarting his designs, first and foremost, in the Badger State.

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Is the US in a new Cold War with Russia and China? The answer is more complicated than you may think, but David Sanger’s book “New Cold Wars” looks to provide an answer. Sanger joins David Rothkopf to explain how we got to this point in US relations with China and Russia and what makes these conflicts so new.

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Welcome to Siliconsciousness, a DSR Network podcast! Every week, Siliconsciousness will dive into the AI revolution, looking at key issues and politics. Executive Vice President and Director of Studies at CNAS Paul Scharre joins David Rothkopf for our inaugural episode and shares his insight into AI-powered weapons systems, frontier AI, and more. 

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On the Wednesday edition of the DSR Daily, we discuss the House Democrat plan to protect Speaker Johnson from being ousted, protesters clashing on UCLA’s campus, the latest on Secretary Blinken’s ceasefire negotiations, and more.

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In a new interview, Donald Trump gave away the game: If he wins the White House, he’d be fine with anti-choice crackdowns in red states going to horrific extremes. Trump vowed (unconvincingly) to leave abortion to the states, but when pressed, he suggested he’d be okay with prosecutions of women who get abortions and even with states monitoring their pregnancies. In addition to revealing what Roe v. Wade’s demise has wrought, that could give Democrats a boost in this fall’s state-level elections. We talked Arizona state senator Eva Burch about how the future of reproductive rights will raise the stakes in these contests—and about her own personal and emotional experiences with the issue.

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There’s much to unpack with the ceasefire protests at universities across the country. From students occupying a building at Columbia to the abysmal response by USC’s administration, it is clear that there is no easy way to address the issue. Norm and Kavita break down the latest news on this contentious topic, and why it may be even more impactful than we realize. 

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On the Tuesday edition of the DSR Daily, we discuss the latest from the Columbia University protests, the ongoing ceasefire efforts by the Biden administration, an election disinformation investigation into Meta, and more.

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Recently Elon Musk triggered outrage by promoting a vicious speech by a Dutch activist that pushed virulent white nationalist ideologies. Musk added that Europe is threatened by “population collapse” that could lead to “dead civilizations.” What often gets lost amid such controversies is that Musk is pushing ideas that are part of a genuine political movement shaped around long term demographic anxieties. We chatted with reporter Gaby Del Valle, author of a great new Politico piece about the first ever “Natal Conference,” in Austin, Tx., and the far-right movement to get (some) people to have more babies, who helped place Musk’s talk about low birth rates in a global political context.

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The House Intelligence Committee recently released a report on the investigation into reports of sexual harassment at the CIA. The findings were not pretty. So what does the agency need to do to protect women at the agency, and why has this problem persisted for so long? Christina Hillsberg joins Marc Polymeropoulos to discuss this critical issue and why the intelligence community can and must do better. 

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On the Monday edition of the DSR Daily, we discuss potential arrest warrants from the ICC for Israeli officials, the Spanish PM refusing to step down after a turbulent week, deadly flooding in Kenya, and more.

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Over the weekend, a CNN interview with former attorney general Bill Barr went viral after Barr performed a spectacular on-air capitulation to Donald Trump. The former president had posted an unhinged rant that mercilessly belittled Barr, yet Barr affirmed his endorsement of Trump and downplayed the threat he poses, including a bizarre aside about Trump talking about “executing” rivals. We chatted with Amanda Carpenter, the prominent Never Trumper and an editor at Protect Democracy, about what this whole saga says about today’s GOP and its broader capitulation to MAGA.

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Original Air Date: May 30, 2023

This week Zoe and Natalya are joined by CEO of Reality Defender Ben Colman, to discuss the power of synthetic media and the risks it poses to geopolitics and democracy. They discuss a recent deepfake of an attack at the Pentagon, as well as potential regulatory solutions.

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Original Air Date: May 3, 2023

In this rapid fire edition of America's most entertaining foreign policy and national security podcast, the Financial Times' Ed Luce and Georgetown University's Rosa Brooks join host David Rothkopf to discuss some of the week's stranger international stories--like whether Putin launched a drone attack against himself and why someone thought it would be a good idea to have all the UK pledge allegiance to their new king as they watched his coronation on television. They also, of course, examine more serious ones like recent and seeming looming developments in Ukraine, the US-China relationship and a landmark speech on international economics delivered recently by U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan (which riffs in part on a column our own Ed wrote the week before.) Don't miss it. Join us.

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