The DSR Network

With two weeks to go, the presidential race couldn’t be closer. But if Kamala Harris is to win, how exactly would that happen? Veteran journalist Ron Brownstein has a new piece in The Atlantic laying out what Harris’s path to victory looks like. The short version: She has to run up massive margins in cities and affluent suburbs, while limiting Trump’s gains among nonwhite and working class white voters. That may sound unsurprising. But the details on how this might unfold are complicated, fraught with uncertainties, and actually plausible, if very difficult. So we invited Brownstein on the show to demystify all of it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Skynet-type AI apocalypse is on everyone’s mind, but what about the very real problems happening right now? Professor of Technology and Regulation at the Oxford Internet Institute Sandra Wachter joins David Rothkopf to share what issues with artificial intelligence we should focus on, and why now is the perfect time to take action. 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the DSR Daily for Tuesday, we discuss Antony Blinken heading back to the Middle East, a leaked US assessment of Israeli strike plans, Trump’s flip-flopping on election interference, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The other day, Donald Trump playacted as a worker at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania. But he ran into trouble, evading a question about whether he would support a minimum wage hike, producing scalding headlines. Which gets at a larger scam: Trump enjoys public approval on the economy, even though his agenda for working people is borderline nonexistent, whereas Harris has a detailed economic agenda for working and middle class people alike. We talked to HuffPost senior reporter Jonathan Cohn, author of a good new piece on the McDonald’s saga, who explains how this stunt captures the fraudulence of Trump’s economic plans—and the authenticity of Harris’s middle class biography. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the DSR Daily for Monday, we cover ‘unprecedented interference’ in Moldova’s election and referendum, the House’s report on the Secret Service failures, Elon Musk’s new and probably illegal election giveaway, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At a rally in Nevada, Barack Obama offered a blistering new warning: Trump’s vows to persecute the “enemy within” should be taken with deadly seriousness. Trump’s displays are deeply dangerous in someone who would be president with no guardrails left. Yet even now, a sizable subset of voters just doesn’t take his threats seriously. We talked to veteran analyst Michael Podhorzer, author of a good new piece warning that we’re “sleepwalking our way to fascism.” He explains how this election could come down to whether those voters grasp the threat Trump poses—exactly what Obama seemed to be saying—and criticizes the media for failing to sound the alarm. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Original air date: October 27, 2023 With Russia conducting an unprecedented nuclear strike drill, China significantly expanding its arsenal, and the US unveiling a new nuclear weapon, we might just be witnessing the beginnings of a modern nuclear arms race. Heather Williams and Jeffrey Lewis join Jon Wolfsthal and David Rothkopf to dissect the intricacies of the changing landscape of nuclear weapons. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Original air date: October 20, 2023 Senator Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee subcommittee on the Middle East. In this exclusive one-on-one conversation, he discusses the President's funding request for Ukraine and Israel, the recent trip of President Biden to Israel, the risks associated with the conflict between Israel and Hamas including the risk of escalation and the broader issue of what America's role and priorities in the region ought to be. It's a must-listen podcast. Join us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Eliana Johns, Senior Research Associate with the Federation of American Scientists, joins Jon to discuss China’s latest ICBM tests and her recent geolocation project to locate them. What is the significance of these recent ICBM launches? What goes into open-source investigation projects? And how can one use mere images of bushes, dirt and blades of grass halfway across the world to pinpoint critical missile test sites? Find out all this and more here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former CIA paramilitary officer, station chief, and senior DoD official Mick Mulroy joins Marc to discuss the demise of Hamas leader Yayah Sinwar. Responsible for the death of 46 Americans, Sinwar’s death will be celebrated by the US counterterrorism community. Will this energize the now stalled hostage negotiations? And bonus content on a string of US intelligence community analytic failures, and what to do to rectify both shortfalls in analysis and collection. Must listen to episode on this dramatic day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the DSR Daily for Friday, we breakdown the killing of Yahya Sinwar in Gaza, the US charging an ex-Indian intelligence official for involvement in an assassination plot, North Korea sending troops to aid Russia, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Thursday, Donald Trump erupted with rage at Fox News over its election coverage, explicitly slamming Fox for making a Kamala Harris presidency more likely. Meanwhile, CNN reports that among Trump allies, plans for another fake electors scheme are in full swing. Which raises a question: What sort of chaos could erupt, if the voting is close and Fox and other right wing media start amplifying Trump’s inevitable lies about fraud in the election? We talked to election law expert Matthew Seligman, author of How to Steal a Presidential Election, who walks us through the potential nightmare scenarios that lie ahead, and what we can do about them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Early voting has started, and there are already great signs for the Harris camp. From early voting data to new voter registration to youth engagement, it looks like Kamala has the momentum. Tom Bonier, Tara McGowan, and Simon Rosenberg join David Rothkopf to provide a state of the race and share why things are still looking rock solid for the democrats as Election Day draws near. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One way or another, we’re getting a new administration come January. In the age of AI, the first 100 days of either administration will need bold policies to regulate this rapidly expanding industry. Executive Director of Data & Society Janet Haven joins David Rothkopf to share the key points that the next administration must hit in order to keep the US on top of AI regulation. 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the DSR Daily for Thursday, we discuss a judge striking down election rules in Georgia, Israel no longer processing commercial food shipments into Gaza, JD Vance claiming the 2020 election was not legitimate, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The word “fascist” has fully penetrated the presidential race. We just learned that a top general under President Donald Trump described Trump as “fascist to the core.” Trump has been threatening to unleash the military on the enemy within, which numerous observers describe as fascist politics. And at a Fox News event on Wednesday, Trump uncorked an unhinged, rambling response to all this, insisting that the real fascists are Democrats. We talked to David Austin Walsh, a historian and author of Taking America Back, who explains how the American right has overlapped with fascist movements throughout our history—and what that says about our MAGA moment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s nearly impossible to tell what’s true in the deluge of election coverage. Every day brings a new story or opinion piece that seems to contradict what came before. Ed Luce joins David Rothkopf to navigate the maze of polls and pundits to share predictions for the 2024 election and why we still feel pretty good going into November. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the DSR Daily for Wednesday, we cover the Biden administration’s demands for more aid in Gaza, Elon Musk’s super PAC, incredible early voting in Georgia, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is the media finally figuring out how to cover Donald Trump’s mental unfitness for the presidency? First, CNN’s Jake Tapper dressed down a Trump surrogate for whitewashing Trump’s threat to unleash the military on his enemies. Then Trump held a strange town hall at which he abruptly stopped answering questions, which generated aggressive media coverage. And Kamala Harris has directly engaged on Trump’s mental state in a new way, drawing media attention to it. We talked to Brian Beutler, who often criticizes the media on his Off Message Substack, about the increasing signs that the press is treating Trump’s mental decline as a big story. Listen to this episode here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the DSR Daily for Tuesday, we cover Netanyahu’s promise that Israel will strike Iranian military targets, Canada and India expelling diplomats, threats of violence against FEMA, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over the weekend, J.D. Vance tried to argue that Donald Trump will not target his political enemies if he’s reelected president. Yet at around the same time, Trump was confirming the opposite point with several new rants on Fox News, declaring flatly that he’ll use the military to target the “enemy within.” Indeed, Trump regularly says openly at his rallies that in a second term, he will persecute unnamed enemies of MAGA. We talked to Politico reporter Myah Ward, author of a great new piece on what he’s been saying at these rallies, about how blatant he is now being about his second-term intention to grotesquely abuse presidential power. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Original Air Date: November 27, 2023 Israeli officials have predicted two more months of fighting. With such a lengthy campaign ahead, is the IDF pursuing the best strategy? Former deputy director of the CIA Counterterrorism Center Darrell Blocker joins Marc Polymeropoulos and David Rothkopf to assess Israel’s approach so far and what could be on the horizon for the region. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Original air date: March 15, 2023 There is never a dull period for the Middle East. David and Rosa are joined by Alon Pinkus of Haaretz to discuss Iran and Saudi Arabia resuming diplomatic ties and the ongoing crisis in Israel. Do we anticipate big changes in the Middle East following this announcement? What does this say about America's role in the region? Is Israel in an (unwritten) constitutional crisis? All of this and more during this thoughtful discussion. Members get a bonus segment where David and Kim Ghattas, author of Black Wave, continue the conversation about the Saudi-Iran relationship. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s been a whirlwind of a week, and Norm and Kavita are back to discuss it all: Hurricane Milton in Florida, Republican FEMA hypocrisy, the public health disinformation spewing from the RFK Jr-Trump alliance, Trump’s mental deterioration, and more. Members will also get to hear exclusive insider content on Kamala Harris’ healthcare plans. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’ve all played around with AI, generating pictures our audio to send to our friends. But when happens when someone uses AI to generate images of you? Renée DiResta, an expert on how adversaries exploit digital platforms, joins David Rothkopf to share how the accessibility of AI has blown the door wide open for disinformation and exploitation, and the ways we can protect ourselves. We also ask the most important question of all: what’s the deal with Shrimp Jesus? 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the conflict between Israel and Iran escalates, so does concern over the current state of Iran’s nuclear capabilities. Is Israel likely to target nuclear facilities? How close is Iran actually to having a bomb? What role does the United States play in all this? Kelsey Davenport, Director of Non-Proliferation Policy at the Arms Control Association, and Eric Brewer, Deputy Vice President at the Nuclear Threat Initiative, join Jon to talk all things Iran, nuclear policy, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the DSR Daily for Friday, we break down the Israeli strikes on Beirut, the impact of Hurricane Milton, Obama rallying voters for Kamala in Pennsylvania, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In recent days, Donald Trump has escalated his attacks on CBS News, raging at the network over something they supposedly did involving Kamala Harris’s interview on “60 minutes.” He has now stated repeatedly that CBS should lose its broadcasting license. We think this is a clear warning about what a second Trump term would look like. We talked to Michael Sozan, author of a new report for the Center for American Progress Action Fund on Project 2025. He gets specific about how an authoritarian Trump presidency could use government power to bring independent media to heel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Could the 2024 election be decided by Gen Z voters? The Harris campaign seems to think so. With so much effort placed on turning out young voters, expert John Della Volpe joins Riley Fessler and Minnah Stein to explain what makes this group the key to victory in November. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former USG Intel analyst and current Washington Institute for Near East Policy senior official Matthew Levitt (@Levitt_Matt) joins Marc to discuss an extraordinary several weeks in the region. From Israel conducting “open heart surgery” on Hizballah, a Gaza with a significantly reduced Hamas but no “day after” plan, to what to do about the burgeoning Iranian nuclear program, Matt’s views are essential to assessing the CT landscape in the Middle East and ultimately unpacking the policy challenges for both the US and Israel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the DSR Daily for Thursday, we discuss Hurricane Milton’s impact on Florida, a Russian strike on a Ukrainian port, the latest polling from Reuters/Ipsos, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s a big question in the presidential race: Will Republican and independent voters who backed Nikki Haley in GOP primaries support Donald Trump at the levels he needs? New data suggests the answer may be No. The Bulwark reports that a new poll taken by a Democratic firm finds a surprisingly large percentage of voters who backed Haley defecting to Kamala Harris. And a New York Times national poll finds her making new inroads among GOP voters. How real is all this? We talked to the Bulwark’s Marc Caputo, who’s well sourced among Republicans, about the perils this poses to Trump and what top Republicans think about the race. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Elon Musk isn’t taking disinformation seriously. The owner of X has made the platform a cesspool of fake news, bots, and trolls — seemingly by design. Kori Schake, Rosa Brooks, and Ed Luce join David Rothkopf to discuss the grave consequences of disinformation for the election in November and beyond. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the DSR daily for Wednesday, we cover FEMA’s warning on disaster relief disinformation, Hezbollah clashes with IDF forces, a lawsuit alleging Virginia is purging legitimate voters, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a new book, Bob Woodward reports that Donald Trump sent covid tests to Vladimir Putin at the height of the pandemic, and that after leaving office, Trump had up to seven private phone calls with Putin. This drew a harsh response from Kamala Harris, who pointed out that Trump kowtows to Putin because he aspires to be a dictator himself. Which highlights something important: The direct connection between Trump’s authoritarian aspirations at home and the axis of global autocrats rooting for him to prevail. We talked to international relations professor Nicholas Grossman, who writes on these issues, about all these shadowy links, and whether Harris can highlight all this in the home stretch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the DSR daily for Tuesday, we cover the Florida governor ignoring calls from VP Harris, the Supreme Court dealing another blow to abortion rights in Texas, Russia charging a US citizen for fighting in Ukraine, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a new interview, Donald Trump unleashed an ugly, crazed rant about Kamala Harris, calling her “low IQ” and “stupid.” And almost no leading journalists took it seriously. Which points to a larger story: Trump regularly targets Harris with vile attacks that are unapologetically misogynist, yet it barely attracts notice anymore. We talked to writer Susan Milligan—who does good work for The New Republic on Trump’s misogyny—about how overtly anti-woman Trump’s strategy has become, and what Harris can do to exploit this in the race’s final days. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

National security correspondent and HUMINT Substack author Sasha Ingber @SashaIngber joins Marc to cover today’s foreign policy challenges from the Middle East to Europe. Additionally, Sasha discusses her entry into journalism and pivot towards the national security beat, as well as her experiences and pressures as a reporter covering conflict zones. Members will also get to hear an after action report from Sasha’s trip to Ukraine as well as a deeply moving story of veteran suicide after the fall of Kabul. Must listen to episode with a rising star in the national security beat Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the DSR daily for Monday, we discuss the new Hurricane coming for Florida, the Supreme Court’s upcoming term, new barriers to voting for college students, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Sunday, The New York Times published an extraordinary piece detailing Donald Trump’s deteriorating mental state, singling out his deranged fabrications and outright fabulism as central to its expose. Meanwhile, Trump held a weekend rally in Pennsylvania where he lied angrily in ugly new ways about the federal response to Hurricane Helene. Can Democrats capitalize on all this in the home stretch? We talked to Democratic strategist Maria Cardona, who suggests new ways to close out this race by highlighting Trump’s profound mental unfitness for the presidency—and depicting his lying about disaster response as fundamentally disqualifying. Listen to this episode here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Original air date: August 11, 2023 With the sound defeat of Issue 1 in Ohio, Norm and Kavita discuss whether Democrats can apply the lessons learned to 2024. Also on the agenda are the latest developments with Trump’s documents case in Florida, and whether or not the myriad legal woes will actually help Trump in the next election. Don’t miss it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Original air date: October 10, 2023 Saturday, October 7 will likely go down as one of, if not the worst day, in Israel’s history. While Israel was focused on the West Bank and moving toward normalization with Saudi Arabia, Hamas was planning and plotting this attack right under Benjamin Netanyahu’s nose. We discuss the extraordinary events with our experts, Rula Jebreal and Alon Pinkas. Will Bibi survive this attack politically? And how should the United State respond? Tune in to find out the answers to these questions and more on this special episode of Deep State Radio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

AI development will soon be a major component of the global economy. So how can emerging economies keep up with the US and China? AI governance and ethics expert Dr. Chinasa Okolo joins David Rothkopf to discuss why this issue is so critical and how to avoid a global AI gap. 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Special Counsel Jack Smith’s 180-page report, filed on Wednesday, provides damning evidence against Donald Trump which could carry serious legal implications - why is this not the banner headline of every major media outlet? What does this report show, and what ramifications could it have on the election and beyond? Norm and Kavita are back to discuss this and more. Members will also get a discussion of the Harris campaign’s strategy and the VP debate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the Friday edition of the DSR Daily, we discuss emails from the early days of Israel’s Gaza operations, Melania Trump’s pro-choice stance in her memoir, a deal being struck in the port workers strike, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Donald Trump keeps pushing the vile claim that federal officials are withholding disaster aid from GOP areas devastated by Hurricane Helene. This has now backfired, focusing media attention on Trump’s own hyper-politicization of disaster relief as president. To wit: Two former Trump officials told Politico that Trump initially refused to approve disaster aid for California after wildfires in 2018 due to the state’s Democratic lean. We talked to one of those officials—Olivia Troye, a senior homeland security official in the Trump administration and now a leading critic of the former president—about Trump’s disastrous tenure, and what she told is is not pretty. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s the final countdown for the 2024 Election, and that means it’s time for a check in with our favorite experts to analyze the state of the race. Tom Bonier, Simon Rosenberg, and Tara McGowan join David Rothkopf to clue us in on the Harris campaign’s strategy, what the polls are saying, and how we can help Kamala win it all. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At the vice-presidential debate, the CBS News moderators fact-checked one of JD Vance’s lies—and that was all it took to trigger an epic attack on CBS from Donald Trump and his MAGA allies. Which highlights a larger story: The degree to which Trump’s campaign is built on an immense superstructure of endless, shameless lying. Bullying the media into not fact checking Trump and Vance is essential to that project. We talked to Jamison Foser, who writes about the media and the right on his Finding Gravity Substack, about the ways our institutions are capitulating to authoritarian attacks and threats—and what can be done in response. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Middle East is at its most dangerous point in decades. With an Israeli retaliation against Iran imminent, what can the US do to prevent the situation from spiraling out of control? Noga Tarnopolsky, Barbara Slavin, and Rosa Brooks join David Rothkopf to assess the administration and what comes next for Israel and the region. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the DSR Daily for Wednesday, we give our thoughts on the VP debate including the highlights, lowlights, and everything in-between. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices