The DSR Network

Under persistent questioning about President Trump’s unfitness for office at his latest cabinet meeting, White House press secretary offered one of the ugliest defenses we’ve ever seen. She singled out Trump’s vile racist attack on Somalis, and praised it as an “epic moment” that put an “exclamation point” on that meeting “for the whole world to see.” Never mind that Trump appeared to fall asleep ...

On the DSR Weekly Wrap-Up for December 5, we cover the administration’s newly released National Security Strategy, the Supreme Court allowing the use of Texas’s gerrymandered map, the fallout from Signalgate, and more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Would you use an AI as your stockbroker? Maybe not. Yet more and more individuals and firms are using AI tools to aid in investing. But will AI-powered investment democratize the practice, or ensure that wealth disparity grows as wealthier individuals use better models? MIT professor Andrew Lo joins David Rothkopf to explore the relationship between artificial intelligence and investment and why a...

Tuesday was a surprisingly difficult victory for the Republicans in red Tennessee. The speical election’s electoral results have a lot to tell us about the increasing tensions and discontent within the Republican party. Norm Ornstein and David Rothkopf are back to discuss the fragile state of GOP leadership, the absurd levels of political corruption within MAGA, and the implications Tuesday’s resu...

Democrats have signaled that they’re running in the 2026 midterms on “affordability.” This week, Trump unleashed several angry, wild-eyed rants about their “affordability” message. In one, he raged that this message is a “con job.” In  another, he seethed that it’s a “Democrat scam.” He’s angry because these attacks are working, and because he knows it means the GOP’s midterm woes are getting much...

Are we really going to war with Venezuela? Just how bad is Hegseth’s war criminal ethos? Can Europe pull itself together to save Ukraine and itself? These are the questions that keep us up at night, but our friends Ed Luce and Rosa Brooks join David Rothkopf to try and give us answers. Will their answers help us rest easy? Tune in to find out! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/a...

On the DSR Daily for Wednesday, we discuss a new pause on immigration applications for 19 countries, a new immigration crackdown in New Orleans, a Democrat loss in the Tennessee special election, and more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Suddenly, on many fronts at once, President Trump and his allies are demonstrating how central sheer sadism is to his agenda—and to how MAGA conducts politics. Trump just unleashed a hateful rant to the media about Somali immigrants to set the stage for a coming campaign to arrest them en masse. Meanwhile, MAGA excitement over the Caribbean Sea bombings is spiking: Pete Hegseth tweeted out a deepl...

How dead is old media? As more and more traditional outlets are swallowed by powerful individuals and corporations, it’s hard to determine what’s worth reading anymore. Are the New York Times and Washington Posts of the world still worth paying attention to? Jeff Jarvis and Dan Froomkin join David Rothkopf to explore these questions and determine who you can really trust in the era of new media. ...

President Trump has grown even more authoritarian and bold with each passing day in his second term. With illegal strikes on boats and the pardon of the former Honduran president, it’s clear that the administration is moving recklessly ahead with a dangerous agenda. So what can Congress do? And just as critically, what can every day citizens do to stem the tide of authoritarianism? Senator Jeff Me...

On the DSR Daily for Tuesday, we break down Trump’s pardon of the former president of Honduras, Hegseth and the White House scrambling in the fallout from a boat strike, Costco’s lawsuit against the administration, and more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Trump’s illegal boat bombings just got even worse. We’ve now learned that after demolishing a boat allegedly carrying drug smugglers in September, two survivors were left behind, and they were both blown apart in a second strike. That’s probably a war crime. On Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt struggled mightily to spin this as perfectly lawful. But all she revealed i...

On the DSR Daily for Monday, we discuss Benjamin Netanyahu requesting a pardon, Pete Hegseth’s potential war crimes, deadly flooding in Southeast Asia, and more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Trump dreads being seen as weak. He exploded in a long, crazed rant about a harsh new piece in The New York Times about his ongoing decline. Though the piece documented his deterioration in careful detail, Trump insisted in all kinds of ways that, no, really, he’s as physically energetic and cognitively sound as he’s ever been. We think this gets at a bigger story: The illusion that Trum...

Trump’s foreign policy can be summarized with one phrase: FUBAR. The administration’s commitment to Ukraine is laughable, and Trump’s politics are driving a potentially irreversible wedge between us and our closest allies. But if we can’t be thankful for the atrocious politics of our government, at least we can be thankful for the courage and resistance of those committed to democracy, both at hom...

On the DSR Daily for Wednesday, we discuss a leaked recording of Steve Witkoff, 20 states suing the administration over cuts to homeless housing funding, Trump backing Patel over reports on his potential ousting, and more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, the White House leaked plans to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies for some of the millions of people who stand to lose out from their expiration. But that’s on ice after Republicans declared it a nonstarter. That could hurt them in the midterms, and oddly, it comes as President Trump just exploded in a wild tirade about the elections. He falsely ranted that Democrats will open our bo...

As we approach Thanksgiving in our current political climate, Norm Ornstein and David Rothkopf ask - what is there to be thankful for? Donald Trump’s influence appears to be waning and Democratic leaders have started to push back on Republican policies in significant ways, yet there are many major challenges that remain. Tune in as Norm and David attempt to find thankfulness in the midst of politi...

On the DSR Daily for Tuesday, we discuss the dismissal of the cases against James Comey and Letitia James, Ukraine agreeing to a peace proposal, the Pentagon reviewing Senator Kelly over a video to troops, and more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This weekend, President Trump raged over a video from Democrats that warned against carrying out “illegal orders.” That led him to get his Defense Secretary to launch an investigation of one of those Democrats, Senator and former Navy captain Mark Kelly. But things kept spiraling downward for Trump when a judge tossed out his corrupt prosecutions of James Comey and Letitia James. The ruling—that h...

The relationship between artificial intelligence and government has been a contentious one here in the US. Yet the same can’t be said for countries around the world. Many in the global south are embracing AI to supercharge their governance in ways that are leaving wealthier nations behind. Apolitical CEO Robyn Scott joins David Rothkopf to explore how countries are taking advantage of AI, why ther...

On the DSR Daily for Monday, we cover the strange White House meeting between Trump and Mamdani, MTG’s shocking resignation announcement, progress on talks for peace in Ukraine, and more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Suddenly, media outlets seem to have figured out that President Donald Trump is really, really unpopular. There’s been a palpable shift in the discourse: The New York Times reports that Republicans are quietly looking beyond Trump, suggesting he’s losing his grip on the party. Axios claims that it’s “red alert” time for Trump and the GOP. Politico describes how Republicans are getting routed in sc...

On the DSR Weekly Wrap-Up for November 21, we cover the administration opening up new oil and gas drilling, Trump backtracking on tariffs, Eric Swalwell’s big for California governorship, and more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Thursday, President Trump called for the execution of a number of members of the opposition party. This came after Democratic lawmakers released a powerful video informing military and intelligence officials that they are not obliged to carry out illegal orders from Trump. Then he raged in several ranting tweets that this was “sedition,” punishable by “death.” Democratic leaders forcefully hit...