The DSR Network

As we look toward 2020 will it matter that apparently the White House was handing out security clearances like candy on Halloween? Will Trump's horrible foreign policy matter? (Or will the ways he attempts to spin it as a yuge success?) And can Joe Biden save the day...or at least give us a soothing shoulder massage? (We joke because we love. Ok, we're ambivalent. But we joke anyway.). Join Kori S...

Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut has since entering the U.S. Senate in 2013 emerged as one of its leading voices on foreign policy and, especially on the issue of the War in Yemen, has become a voice of conscience that has led one of the rare instances of a bi-partisan pushback against Trump Administration policy. We discuss the current state of the US-Saudi relationship, Yemen, Iran, the Middl...

According to our Kori Schake of IISS, a military term for a strategy document is a "pony blanket." On this episode we do the unthinkable and discuss our "strategies" (and we use the term loosely) in the Americas at the moment--in Venezuela, on our border, with the countries of Central America and with some new regional leaders who are, let's face it, pretty awful. (You know who you are Jair and AM...

What do you get when you combine four mouthy tweople (that 's people on twitter.) You get chaos, laughter, political conversation and did I mention chaos? On this special episode of "Washington for Beautiful People," Emily is joined by the shy Philippe Reines, positively demure @Goldengateblond (aka Shauna) and the delicate flower Allison Winn Scotch. (Please read those descriptions with the appro...

The current leadership in the UK may or may not be the worst since the low points of Plantagenet rule. Our experts Ed Luce of the Financial Times, Kori Schake of IISS, and Amanda Sloat of Brookings, consider this, the likelihood that a Robin Hood is likely to emerge to save the U.K. (hopefully not the Russell Crowe version) and what may be next in that country's mad march toward self-destruction. ...

Few journalists have so distinguished themselves in their coverage of the Trump-Russia investigations as has Natasha Bertrand, staff writer for the Atlantic and analyst for NBC News. We discuss the recent developments in the case from the Barr letter purporting to summarize the Mueller Report to the storm of controversy it has generated. We explore prevailing misconceptions about the case and cons...

Despite the pronouncements of the Trump Administration that the president has been fully exonerated (and those by his spokesperson that people who accused him are guilty of treason and should be put to death), let's not get ahead of ourselves. Especially about the death penalty for Trump critics part. That's a little close to home. We've still not seen the actual Mueller report, note our experts R...

Diedrich Bader was born in D.C, lived in Paris, Dad worked for the CIA (yup, that CIA) and he has an IMDB page that's longer than a CVS receipt. I think it's official, Diedrich Bader just claimed the title as the most interesting man in the world. Growing up, Bader's family's business was USG and as a result we had a lively, passionate, wide ranging conversation on what's working and what isn't wo...

In this episode of Deep State Radio, David Rothkopf remains in an undisclosed location, and Rosa Brooks -- the Mike Pence of Deep State Radio (or maybe the Harry Truman?) -- again steps in as host. Rosa, Ed Luce and Heather Hurlburt wonder if the US college admissions scandal tells us something about global fears of class slippage and economic ruin, and the team does a round robin on issues in the...

In this episode of Deep State Radio, David Rothkopf takes a "vacation," and Rosa Brooks steps in as hostess with the mostest. Ed Luce tell listeners that the prospects of a brand new Brexit referendum are looking brighter in the United Kingdom, and outlines the options the British electorate should be offered: Stay, May, or D-Day. Also in this episode, Ed, Rosa Brooks, Kori Schake and Heather Hurl...

Washington for Beautiful People is where entertainment and politics meet, so who better to talk about this than Entertainment Weekly Senior Reporter Anthony Breznican. On this episode, Anthony and I talk about celebrity involvement in politics and how A-list stars like Chris Evans puts everything on the line to speak truth to power. We also chat Mr. Rogers (the anti-Trump), how voting local matter...

Lurid and sleazy are everyday descriptions in Trumpworld but the world was nonetheless stunned by revelations of a South Florida madam who founded a chain of spas recently busted for human trafficking and how she has become a Mar-a-Lago insider & GOP donor who is now pimping out the presidency…well, just like a Trump.  But the sordid nature of the story is not why it is important.  The national se...

For a man who’s word means nothing and who never met a lie he didn’t like, it is hard to imagine how Donald Trump could produce something even more meaningless than the stream-of-consciousness Twitterized nonsense he offers up daily.  But there is one thing that qualifies and that is the President’s budget because with a Democratic House, there is zero chance his budget plan will be used for anyth...

America and India are entering a rough patch in the relationship between the world’s two biggest democracies.  Trade issues are at the center of the current trouble but the problems go deeper.  And of course, we have seen disturbing tension between India and Pakistan recently.  Is this relationship getting the attention from the Trump Administration it deserves?  Is the attention its getting helpi...

It's not often that America's Sweetheart exclaims "this conversation is going to drive me to drink." That's the sign of a fiery conversation about Trump, politics and giving back. Valerie Bertinelli has graced our tv screens as an actress and as a food personality. Valerie is also a passionate critic of this administration and that's where things got interesting. In this podcast, Valerie talks pol...

Jared Kushner is in charge of the US relations with the Saudis (among others). How's that working for us? Is he the one giving the Saudis the thumbs up that they can abuse human rights to their hearts content without any consequences if they only accept his hare-brained scheme for Middle East Peace (which will never happen)? Is it time for a new approach? And what about the Congressional investiga...

David Sanger was in Hanoi for the failed negotiations between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un. He recommends the food, the US approaches to the negotiation not so much. Apparently, leaving it to two megalomaniacal leaders who think they have the skill to land a deal that their negotiators weren't even close to is a bad idea. David discusses the trip and its consequences with Ed Luce of the Financial...

Five years ago, the Russian invasion of Eastern Ukraine began. That was followed by the annexation of Crimea, US and European sanctions and, soon after, by stepped Russian efforts to undermine the leaders and parties in the West that were opposing him. Which of course, leads not just to Donald Trump but to Brexit and the rise of the right in Europe. It's a stunning turn of events...and events look...

Craig's college fallback plan was to become a tv writer and when you're as talented and funny as he is, a TV writer is a great fallback plan. Signing with an agent while a senior in college (overachiever) he and his writing partner Carter Bays quickly found work writing for David Letterman and moved on to create the hit show How I Met Your Mother. Craig's path to success wasn't a Disney Movie, unl...

Depending on your view of history and human life, the Michael Cohen circus on television this Wednesday was the third or fourth most important story of the day (that we know of). Certainly, a shooting war between two nuclear powers like India and Pakistan has got to rank first. And the possibility of a breakthrough between the US and North Korea might rank second (if it actually happens and it is...

Sometimes the experts at Deep State Radio harbor a slight but noticeable skepticism about the foreign policy acumen of Donald Trump and the band of ignorant thugs around him. But in this episode, nuclear experts Joe Cirincione and Jeffrey Lewis and DSR’s own Rosa Brooks suffer an outbreak of optimism about Trump’s summit with his diminutive love, Kim Jong Un. Is it possible? Where will this lead? ...

Once upon a time Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer wrote a blockbuster book called "The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy." Deep State Radio Host David Rothkopf slammed it. But if you are tuning in to hear the two of them go at each other, you'll be disappointed. Rothkopf admits to Walt he felt his critique of the book was over the top and that Walt and Mearsheimer helped trigger an important con...

Everyone has a story to tell and Elena Nicolaou has a helluva one. For years Elena and her family were close friends with Paul Erickson and his girlfriend Maria Butina...yes that Maria Butina. (The "alleged" Russian spy.) Elena details the relationship her family had with Paul and this red headed Russian girlfriend (who was half his age, but no judgement). Maria and Paul went to Disney World with...

Donald Trump’s America has so alienated our traditional allies that when Mike Pence and Ivanka Trump went to the Munich Security Conference this past week, they were humiliated on more than one occasion by a clearly hostile crowd.  But our problem is not just that America is rejecting principles on which it has built its security for decades.  Our allies are faltering and facing deep problems of t...

In America today we face the shocking reality that there are traitors at the highest level of our government selling out our country.  What makes this more shocking is that depending on which party you are in, you see a different group of traitors.  Incivility is so five years ago.  We’re at the point where the goal is to send your opponents to jail.  That said—the case against one set of traitors...