DSR Daily for August 12: Trump Tightens Grip on DC

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth faced striking questioning from Democratic Senator Elyssa Slotkin on Wednesday. She grilled him on whether he had given an order allowing members of the military to shoot unarmed protesters if necessary. She also pressed him on whether the military has the authority to arrest protesters. Hegseth stonewalled. What his obfuscation ended up revealing, though, is this: He knows that in response to Democratic questioning, he cannot be seen reassuring the broader public about the military’s intentions toward civilians and especially toward Blue America. Trump would perceive this as weakness and as capitulation. Which itself reveals something deeply unnerving about the Trump-MAGA threat. We talked to Guardian columnist Moira Donegan, author of a great new piece about Trump’s military parade. about Trump’s military parade. She digs into the darker implications of Hegseth’s testimony and explains why the sheer spectacle of authoritarianism is so central to the Trump-MAGA project. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

19 Juni 27min

At this point, it’s anyone’s guess as to what the US will do next in Iran. Apparently, not even our President knows what’s coming next. Will we enter the war? More importantly, should we? Esteemed guests Rosa Brooks, Kori Schake, and CSIS’s Max Bergmann join host David Rothkopf to try and answer these questions and more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

18 Juni 38min

On the DSR Daily for Wednesday, we discuss Trump’s demands for unconditional surrender, the arrest of NYC mayoral candidate Brad Lander, doubts over the passage of a GOP-backed megabill, and more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

18 Juni 23min

President Trump appears dead set on joining Israel’s war with Iran. After a period of negotiations, Trump has now tweeted that he wants Iran’s “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” The New York Times has a deep dive into his deliberations, and the findings are shocking. Trump is ready for war even though our own intelligence assessments don’t support the case for it. And incredibly, the Times reports, Trump was influenced on all this by what he saw on Fox News, which broadcast relentless imagery of Israel’s “genius” bombing of Iran. This led Trump to want “some credit for himself” for the attack, after which he “began hinting that he had played a bigger behind-the-scenes role in the war than people realized.” He then leaned more towards escalation. We talked to veteran national security hand Matt Duss, executive vice president at the Center for International Policy, who has a great piece for Foreign Policy magazine on the situation. He explains why the case for war is so weak, how Trump is getting manipulated into it so easily, and what to expect as all this unfolds.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

18 Juni 17min

On the DSR Daily for Tuesday, we cover the latest from the Iran/Israel conflict, a federal judge ruling against some NIH grant cuts, the Department of Homeland Security restarting raids on farms, hotels, and restaurants, and more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

17 Juni 13min

After the horrific assassination of a Democratic state legislator in Minnesota, President Trump at first correctly stressed that such violence is absolutely intolerable. But then he uncorked a long, vile, unhinged tirade on Truth Social, threatening to unleash ICE raids more directly on Democratic cities while denouncing them as radical, dangerous and “sick.” Coming after the assassination, this was almost akin to a call for more targeting of Democrats and liberals. It’s no accident this came right after we saw enormous outpourings of peaceful “No Kings” protests across the country. The contrast between these and Trump’s North Korean-style military parade (not to mention the assassination) amounted to a fiasco for Trump. As Kim Scheppele, a scholar of authoritarianism, noted in a good piece for The Contrarian, a big story about this weekend’s events was the spectacle of peaceful dissent meeting menace from Trump-aligned forces. We talked to Scheppele about how political violence is overwhelmingly aligned in this country with the MAGA right, and why we’re now sliding into what she calls the “danger zone.” Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

17 Juni 22min

On the DSR Daily for Monday, we break down the arrest of the suspect in the assassination of State Rep. Melissa Hortman, Israel’s warning to Tehran, the spectacular failure of the military parade in DC, and more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

16 Juni 26min

In a little-noticed rant, President Donald Trump furiously vowed on Truth Social that he will now carry out something called “remigration.” This idea is widely prevalent among global white nationalists who see it as key to their vile goal of building white ethnostates, so his open endorsement of it is significant. That comes as a U.S. Democratic Senator has been violently tackled and handcuffed, as Trump dispatches troops into Los Angeles, and as his Homeland Security secretary suggests those troops will “liberate” L.A. from its elected Democratic leadership. We talked to Will Sommer, senior reporter at The Bulwark and author of a great piece on the fresh levels of bloodlust all this is inspiring in MAGA media. We discuss the centrality of sadism and violent lawlessness to the MAGA movement—and why this is pushing us toward a watershed moment. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

16 Juni 21min