The DSR Network

On the DSR Daily for Wednesday, we cover Kash Patel’s contentious Senate hearing, Trump’s state visit in the UK, a Republican midterm election next year, and more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Trump seems even more angry at the media than usual. His lawyers just filed a lawsuit against The New York Times that First Amendment lawyers are dismissing as a total joke. The suit, however, is also chock full of angry rants that appeared dictated by Trump himself. And he announced it with a Truth Social tirade that boiled with fury. Meanwhile, Trump himself snapped directly at reporte...

The Supreme Court has officially ruled that Donald Trump’s stormtroopers could stop anybody based on their race, accent, or whatever they damn well please and force them to prove their citizenship. They also recently ruled that the President can fire anybody on the Federal Trade Commission, upending all legal precedent. What is the Supreme Court doing? Where is the Democratic response? The New Rep...

Amory Lovins has been a leading thinker on energy policy for more than 50 years. Several months ago he wrote an article with the provocative title "Artificial Intelligence Meets Natural Stupidity." As the title suggests, Lovins is skeptical about AI in a number of respects – in particular about the electricity it will require. Listen as host David Sandalow talks with Lovins about AI power demand f...

On the DSR Daily for Tuesday, we break down Israel’s assault on Gaza City, Trump suing the New York Times, VP Vance condemning those celebrating Charlie Kirk’s death, and more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a surprise, Fox News is reporting that the knives are out for FBI director Kash Patel due to many recent missteps, including the botching of key facts about the hunt for Charlie Kirk’s assassin. That this is being featured by Fox News may be a sign of how dire Patel’s internal standing has truly become. Yet we’re in the middle of a complicated moment. Even as Patel’s tenure is beset with follie...

On the DSR Daily for Monday, we discuss Trump vowing to declare a national emergency in DC, Governor Hochul endorsing Mamdani for mayor, Brian Kilmeade’s unbelievable comments on Fox News, and more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In an appalling move, President Trump went on Fox News and openly suggested that far-right political violence is typically justified as a response to left-wing extremism. This functionally tells Trump supporters that it is now open season on the liberal-left after the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Trump also signaled he will use the power of the state to exact retribution on Trump-MAGA's designat...

Original air date: September 17, 2024 From Charlottesville to Springfield, Donald Trump has been spewing language and misinformation that has incited real world violence. How have the candidates been using or abusing language in their campaigns? Norm and Kavita are back to break down this flurry of language in the media and show that words really do matter. Bonus content for members also includes...

On the DSR Weekly Wrap-Up for September 12, we discuss the conviction of Jair Bolsonaro, the arrest of a suspect in the murder of Charlie Kirk, a meeting between Trump and the Qatari PM, and more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How might this administration and future administrations approach the critical issue of AI and energy demands? This is the question the second of TRG Media and MIT Technology Review’s AI Scenario Exercises tries to answer. Leading experts come together to role play as key actors in government, private industry, and more to simulate how public policy might take shape in the coming years. This first...

Questions are mounting about President Trump’s decision to bomb a small boat in the Caribbean Sea, killing all 11 people on board. The administration says these were drug cartel members who posed a threat to the United States, but many legal experts have concluded the bombing might have been illegal or a war crime. And this saga just got darker. Senator Tim Kaine and two dozen other Democrats just...

Yesterday, on September 10th, 2025, Charlie Kirk was assassinated. Today, September 11th, marks the 24th anniversary of the largest terrorist attack in U.S. history. Laurie Garrett joins David Rothkopf and Norm Ornstein in a sincere conversation to memorialize 9/11, as well as discuss the tough challenges we’ve faced since, including the alarming upwards trend of political violence. Looking for Mo...

On the DSR Daily for Thursday, we break down the assassination of Charlie Kirk in Utah, the UK firing the ambassador to the US, worsening inflation in the US, and more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

GOP Congresswoman Nancy Mace lost her temper on the House floor on Wednesday. It all started when Mace unleashed a long, vile tirade about transgender Americans. After that, Congresswoman Sara Jacobs, a Democrat, offered some cutting criticism of the absurdity of GOP anti-trans rhetoric. That prompted Mace to fly into a fury and start shouting. We think this is a telling moment: We’re all supposed...

Israel’s surprise strike on Qatar is yet another in a series of Israeli attacks fueling turmoil in the Middle East. What is Netanyahu’s strategy here? Why is Israel now so flagrantly attacking American allies? What does this all reveal about Trump’s foreign policy and the respect (or lack of) other leaders have for him? Middle East scholar Shibley Telhami and former Israeli diplomat Alon Pinkas jo...

On the DSR Daily for Wednesday we discuss Israeli strikes in Qatar, a Supreme Court ruling pausing a lower court order on foreign aid, Russian drones shot down in Poland, and more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

House Democrats have released Jeffrey Epstein’s “Birthday Book,” and it’s brutal for President Trump. His note to Epstein is real and it appears to bear his distinctive signature. There’s also an image of Epstein holding a big check that discusses selling a “fully depreciated” woman to Trump. On Tuesday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt, visibly irritated, offered some truly absurd spin about Trum...

After a pause over the summer, we’re restarting the AI, Energy and Climate Podcast with a conversation between Jennifer Granholm, former U.S. Secretary of Energy and Governor of Michigan, and host David Sandalow. Sec. Granholm explains why she’s an “AI optimist,” sounds several notes of caution on AI and describes where she agrees and disagrees with Trump administration policies.  AI for Climate C...

On the DSR Daily for Tuesday, we break down the evacuation order for Gaza City, the House Oversight Committee releasing more Epstein-related documents, a significant Supreme Court ruling, and more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There’s been an amusing turn in the saga involving President Trump’s vile effort to remove Lisa Cook as governor of the Federal Reserve. Trump has relied on his flunkies to cook up allegations of mortgage fraud against Cook—and other foes as well—but now news organizations have blown big holes in the scam. They’ve reported that numerous Trump officials, and even relatives of his top ally in the an...

On the DSR Daily for Monday, we discuss Trump’s gestures at war over National Guard deployments, detained Hyundai workers to be flown back to South Korea, the killing of six in a deadly shooting in Jerusalem, and more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Donald Trump’s losses in court are suddenly piling up on many crucial fronts at once. Most of his tariffs were just ruled illegal, prompting him to explode in fury. An appeals court blocked Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act for deportations. And a judge invalidated Trump’s cancellation of grants to Harvard. There’s a big through line here that deserves attention: Judges are taking a v...

On the DSR Weekly Wrap-Up for September 5, we discuss Trump’s intentions to rename the Department of Defense, White House plans to expand military action in South America and the Caribbean, the big takeaways from RFK Jr.’s Senate hearing, and more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Original air date: September 25, 2024 Escalating to de-escalate might not be Israel’s goal in Lebanon after all. But as strikes between Israel and Hezbollah continue to intensify, we have to wonder — what is Israel’s goal? Rosa Brooks, Kori Schake, and Ed Luce join David Rothkopf to examine the situation in the Middle East, discuss the results from UNGA, predict the outcome of the Vice Presidentia...