The DSR Network

In a brilliant bit of turnabout, John McCain's last act was to use his own funeral to bury Donald Trump. By excluding him from the ceremonies and featuring leaders of both parties extolling values and virtues alien to Trump, McCain made an eloquent point. But will it have any lasting impact? Within just a couple of days the President was back Tweeting, his Supreme Court nominee was being rammed into office and a new book by Bob Woodward was dominating the headlines with new revelations of the president's unfitness to serve. Join our panelists David Frum of the Atlantic, author of Trumpocracy, Rosa Brooks of Georgetown University School of Law and Ed Luce of the Financial Times as they discuss a tumultuous few days in the nation's capital. Tune in!Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/deepstateradio. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

4 Sep 201850min

Donald Trump's track record as an international deal-maker is perfect. He still has not made one major deal of any sort anywhere with anyone (except maybe with a nice gentleman in Moscow, but we'll leave that be for now.). He has undone a bunch of deals--from the Paris Accord to TPP to the Iran nuclear deal. He has announced some deals that weren't really deals--from the "breakthrough" with North Korea to the "breakthrough with Europe" on trade to the "breakthrough" with Mexico on trade. And he has also promised some deals that never materialized--from getting Mexico to build the wall to a Middle East peace agreement. On this episode of Deep State Radio join David Sanger of the New York Times, Rosa Brooks of Georgetown University Law School and Evelyn Farkas of the Atlantic Council as they discuss why Donald Trump may be the worst dealmaker in modern American presidential history. Who could've predicted such a thing?! Tune in!Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/deepstateradio. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

30 Aug 201838min

Donald Trump has wrapped himself so tightly in the flag he could be America’s first July 4th mummy but while his true colors may be red white and blue it increasingly appears they may look more like the Russian flag than Old Glory. First, he showed this when at a school appearance he was unable to color in a flag properly. Next, despite all his attack on NFL-ers for disrespecting the flag, he broke the law to keep the flag over the White House flying at full-staff despite the death of beloved hero Senator John McCain. Our experts David Sanger of the New York Times, Evelyn Farkas of the Atlantic Council and Rosa Brooks of Georgetown University discuss McCain, Trump, patriotism, hypocrisy and coloring inside the lines. Join us!Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/deepstateradio. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

28 Aug 201838min

While the intelligence and law enforcement communities reel from the president's attacks, Donald Trump has sent further signals that he expects personal loyalty above loyalty to the nation from all of his team across the whole of government. He has even go so far as to trash the once hallowed concept of independence of the Fed. But it may be that the biggest problem affecting the government is not the president's impulse to suppress dissenting views but rather is his lack of intellectual curiosity and his professed skepticism of expertise. It's not that he wants political loyal intelligence analysts, for example, it is that he wouldn't read what they wrote no matter what their political views were. On this episode, veteran CIA analyst Nada Bakos, Georgetown's Rosa Brooks and the Financial Times Ed Luce, discuss--and Rosa follow's in the footsteps of a giant pre-historic chicken!Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/deepstateradio. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

23 Aug 201849min

This week in important Steven Tyler news, the Aerosmith front man demanded that Donald Trump stop playing his band's song "Livin' on the Edge" at their rallies. And he makes a good point. Trump is past that point and may want to consider more appropriate alternatives for upcoming rallies, like "I Fought the Law (And the Law Won)" or "Jailhouse Rock." Certainly, that seemed to be the message prosecutors and jurors were sending this week as the Trump re-elect effort lost the votes of both Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen who will now, as convicted felons, never be able to vote in a federal election again. What does this mean? Where will it lead? Is this the beginning of the end? The end of the beginning? What can we expect? Our experts David Sanger of the New York Times, Katie Phang, an attorney and a legal analyst for NBC and MSNBC and Sharon Weinberger, DC Bureau Chief for Yahoo News answer these questions and more in this special limited collector's edition of Deep State Radio in which we also ask: Is Australia the only country in the world whose politics are more screwed up than America's? Tune in!Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/deepstateradio. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

23 Aug 201859min

As reports have come in of Russia escalating its attacks on American democracy, our President has hopped into action escalating his war against the people who are protecting us from the Russians. Trump has begun a campaign of stripping security clearances from America's most experience national security officials in an effort to punish them for disloyalty. Our experts, Susan Hennessey of Lawfare, Rosa Brooks of Georgetown University Law School and Ed Luce of the Financial Times, discuss which of the effects of this misguided policy will be worse--chilling free expression, alienating the security community, reducing the expertise available to the government or just ushering in more authoritarianism. But don't worry. You don't have to choose. All will be bad. Also: we discuss the president's lawyers and why they may mean he needs more lawyers.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/deepstateradio. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

21 Aug 201849min

With great fanfare Donald Trump did the presidential equivalent of stuffing a pair of athletic socks down his pants and announced the new defense spending bill. It was, as might be expected, yuge. Once again we will outspend China by four or five times and Russia by perhaps a dozen times. Are we safer? Does it matter that if we spend that much we can't have the schools, roads and health care system we need? Does it matter that the future of warfare may be a lot cheaper than the old-style industrial military we keep building and rebuilding? Kori Schake, Rosa Brooks and David Sanger discuss and debate. Tune in!Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/deepstateradio. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

16 Aug 201845min

Nothing is more core to the life of the Deep State than marking documents classified. After all, if just anyone could read them, who'd want to? On the other hand, if documents are classified, they can't be shared which is a bit of a problem in the cyber era when our most important defenses may be in the private sector. What's a secret-loving country to do? The NY Times' David Sanger, Georgetown University's Rosa Brooks and IISS' Kori Schake discuss. (And, yes, they also discuss Omarosa and Peter Strzok and all that other mishigas as well. So tune in for goodness sake!)Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/deepstateradio. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

14 Aug 201849min