The DSR Network

On the Thursday edition of the DSR Daily, we discuss Mitch McConnell stepping down from GOP leadership, the Supreme Court agreeing to consider Trump’s immunity claims, Putin threatening nuclear war, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The news that Mitch McConnell will step down as GOP senate leader later this year has led many to argue that he was fundamentally a foe of Donald Trump who is no longer welcome in the party of MAGA. But the story is more complicated than that: In crucial ways, McConnell’s own career trajectory helped bring about the descent of our politics into its current disastrous mess. We chatted with Congress...

Friends don’t let friends drive drunk, and friends don’t let friends support Russia. The increasingly erratic Republican Party has the US’s allies in Europe worried, especially as Russia gains momentum in its assault on Ukraine and Election Day draws near. Rosa Brooks, David Sanger, and Ed Luce join David Rothkopf to break it all down.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoice...

On the Wednesday edition of the DSR Daily, we discuss plans for Navalny’s funeral on Friday, the results of the Michigan primary, skepticism about a Gaza ceasefire, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In recent days we’ve learned that Stephen Miller is drawing up plans for a shockingly cruel second-term immigration agenda, complete with mass deportations and huge detention camps. Meanwhile, President Biden is set to visit the southern border—and is mulling a new asylum crackdown of his own. We chatted with Jason Houser, a former senior official at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement under...

Joe Biden brought an a-team of talent with him to the White House in 2021. Between repairing America’s damaged reputation and adapting to crises in Ukraine and Afghanistan, the administration has had its work cut out for it since day one. Alexander Ward joins David Rothkopf to discuss all this and more in his new book, the “Internationalists.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/a...

On the Tuesday edition of the DSR Daily, we break down the self-immolation of a US airman, Biden’s optimism that a temporary ceasefire could be coming soon, declining attacks by Iranian proxies, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Donald Trump’s victory over Nikki Haley in the South Carolina GOP primary has sparked another round of punditry about his supposed political dominance. Yet the primaries have revealed his weaknesses with independents, and he clearly fears his legal travails are a major liability that will get worse. So what if Trump is weaker than he appears? We chatted about this with political scientist Julia Az...

Alexander Smirnov has showed us that Russian ‘active measures’ are even more active than we thought. An FBI informant working with Russian intelligence is no small feat, but the extent of the Kremlin’s efforts is even greater. Former CIA officer Alex Finley joins Marc Polymeropoulos to break down how the Russian security threat at home and abroad. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone....

On the Monday edition of the DSR Daily, we cover the resignation of the Palestinian Prime Minister, Biden summoning Congressional leaders to avoid a government shutdown, Hungary ratifying Swedish NATO accession, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the first time in months, a pair of new polls has found that election-denier Kari Lake is trailing in the Arizona Senate race to the Democratic candidate, Representative Ruben Gallego. But she remains a MAGA celebrity phenomenon who cannot be counted out, making this race highly unpredictable with Independent Sinema Kyrsten Sinema also in the mix. So we chatted with Gallego about how he hopes...

Original Air Date: March 2, 2022 British journalist John Sweeney reports from Ukraine's besieged capital. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Original Air Date: February 24, 2022 In the late hours of Wednesday, Vladimir Putin began a war of choice in Ukraine. On Thursday, President Biden detailed a variety of harsh sanctions that the United States, our allies, and partners will place upon Russia for his actions. To make sense of these developments, David Rothkopf spoke with David Sanger of the New York Times, Andrea Kendall-Taylor of th...

In the 21st century, we should all know that putting nukes in space is a bad idea. Yet intelligence reports suggest that Russia is attempting to do just that. What does that actually look like, and what are the implications ranging from bad to worse? Experts Laura Grego and David Sanger join Heather Williams and Jon Wolfsthal to discuss all this and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit me...

The Republican crusade against families continues. The Alabama Supreme Court ruling equating embryos with babies makes clear the fact that they won’t stop any time soon. So what comes next? Norm and Kavita break down the ruling and the political fallout.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the Friday edition of the DSR Daily, we discuss Netanyahu’s plans for a post-war Gaza, the US sanctioning 500 new Russian targets, a measles outbreak in Florida, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fox News and other right wing media are currently engaged in absurdities that are as bad as anything they’ve attempted in recent memory. They are struggling to spin away everything from the collapse of an informant’s claims about President Biden to the GOP’s killing of a border security deal that Republicans themselves demanded. Yet in a darker sense, right wing media is also flourishing. We talke...

Right-wing Christian extremists want to roll back the clock on your rights. If the Alabama Supreme Court ruling is any indication, they’re succeeding. Legal expert Dahlia Lithwick joins David Rothkopf to discuss the carefully crafted assault on fundamental rights in America, and why the fight isn’t over yet. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the Thursday edition of the DSR Daily, we cover the worsening state of Ukraine’s military shortages, NY Attorney General Letitia James threatening to seize Trump’s properties if he doesn’t pay his fraud penalty, Japan’s soaring stock market, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s the question that won’t die among D.C. elites: Should President Biden step aside so another Democrat can run instead? Democrats have engaged in some remarkably public handwringing about Biden’s age that just won’t let up. One Democrat who has insistently sounded the alarm is veteran strategist David Axelrod. So we invited him on the show, where he allowed that an alternative is unlikely—while...

The unimaginable human cost of Israel’s invasion of Gaza may be about to rise to unprecedented levels. International organizations agree that a famine is looming as Israel continues to impede foreign aid from entering the area. President of Refugees International Jeremy Konyndyk joins David Rothkopf, Ed Luce, and Rosa Brooks to shed light on the coming crisis, and what can be done to prevent disas...

On the Wednesday edition of the DSR Daily, we cover the Alabama ruling that says that frozen embryos are children, the US vetoing the security council ceasefire resolution, the EU’s new round of Russia sanctions, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers signed a new set of maps for legislative districts in the state—an important and overlooked victory that came after a long struggle dating back well over a decade. We talked to Greta Neubauer, the 32-year-old Minority Leader of Wisconsin Assembly Democrats, who explained what Democrats did to prevail, why this was such a significant achievement, and how it...

Alexei Navalny’s influence cannot be overstated, and the impact of his death has sent shockwaves across Russia, and around the world. As Putin’s regime grows bolder by the day, we turn to journalist Julia Ioffe at the Munich Security Conference for her insight into Putin’s Russia, and how the country has continued to transform for the worse.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/ad...

On the Tuesday edition of the DSR Daily, we discuss the US proposing a temporary ceasefire resolution at the UN, Russia withholding the return of Alexei Navalny’s body, Julian Assange’s case returning to court, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices