The DSR Network - The DSR Network

Latest Episodes:

The Daily Blast: Trump Seethes Darkly at Media as MAGA Bloodlust at Bombings Boils Over Dec 03, 2025

Show notes

Suddenly, on many fronts at once, President Trump and his allies are demonstrating how central sheer sadism is to his agenda—and to how MAGA conducts politics. Trump just unleashed a hateful rant to the media about Somali immigrants to set the stage for a coming campaign to arrest them en masse. Meanwhile, MAGA excitement over the Caribbean Sea bombings is spiking: Pete Hegseth tweeted out a deeply sadistic cartoon celebrating these extrajudicial killings. A prominent MAGA personality just declared her desire to see bombing victims “bleed out.” And MAGA figures are raging at reporters who broke the story of the follow-up strike killing two men in the water. We talked to Paul Waldman, who has a good piece on his Cross Section Substack about all of this. We discuss the centrality of hate and bloodlust to Trump-MAGA politics, how the administration’s social media strategy utilizes sadistic imagery, and why the public backlash to all these depravities is heartening.

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NTK: After the Fox: The Search for Who to Trust in the New Media Era Dec 03, 2025

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How dead is old media? As more and more traditional outlets are swallowed by powerful individuals and corporations, it’s hard to determine what’s worth reading anymore. Are the New York Times and Washington Posts of the world still worth paying attention to? Jeff Jarvis and Dan Froomkin join David Rothkopf to explore these questions and determine who you can really trust in the era of new media.

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NTK: How to Combat Authoritarianism in the US: A Conversation with Sen. Jeff Merkley Dec 02, 2025

Show notes

President Trump has grown even more authoritarian and bold with each passing day in his second term. With illegal strikes on boats and the pardon of the former Honduran president, it’s clear that the administration is moving recklessly ahead with a dangerous agenda. So what can Congress do? And just as critically, what can every day citizens do to stem the tide of authoritarianism? Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon joins David Rothkopf to answer all these questions and more.

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DSR Daily December 2: Trump Pardons Former Honduran President Dec 02, 2025

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On the DSR Daily for Tuesday, we break down Trump’s pardon of the former president of Honduras, Hegseth and the White House scrambling in the fallout from a boat strike, Costco’s lawsuit against the administration, and more.

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The Daily Blast: Trump Press Sec Spin Implodes as Fresh Boat Bombing Horrors Rattle GOP Dec 02, 2025

Show notes

President Trump’s illegal boat bombings just got even worse. We’ve now learned that after demolishing a boat allegedly carrying drug smugglers in September, two survivors were left behind, and they were both blown apart in a second strike. That’s probably a war crime. On Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt struggled mightily to spin this as perfectly lawful. But all she revealed is how hard it is to defend all this when actual facts are known. Meanwhile, the latest turn in this saga is clearly rattling some Republicans, who feel forced to appear as if they want to exercise more oversight. We talked to Jennifer Rubin, editor-in-chief of The Contrarian, about her good new piece on this latest fiasco. She explains why we should take GOP angst over the bombings seriously, why people inside the chain of command should fear they’re on the hook for illegal acts, and what it will really take to impose accountability.

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DSR Daily December 1: Netanyahu Asks for Pardon Dec 01, 2025

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On the DSR Daily for Monday, we discuss Benjamin Netanyahu requesting a pardon, Pete Hegseth’s potential war crimes, deadly flooding in Southeast Asia, and more.

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The Daily Blast: Trump’s Fury at NYT Explodes amid Fresh Concerns about Mental Decline Dec 01, 2025

Show notes

President Trump dreads being seen as weak. He exploded in a long, crazed rant about a harsh new piece in The New York Times about his ongoing decline. Though the piece documented his deterioration in careful detail, Trump insisted in all kinds of ways that, no, really, he’s as physically energetic and cognitively sound as he’s ever been. We think this gets at a bigger story: The illusion that Trump is strong, powerful, and wields absolute mastery over foes is essential to his political mystique. As his wildly unhinged overreaction to the piece demonstrates, he knows this better than anyone. Yet that eruption only confirmed the thesis: The whole fracas even got medical professionals to weigh in on his obvious mental decline. We talked to David Lurie, who writes for the Public Notice Substack, about his new piece depicting Trump as a “lame duck dictator.” We discuss the collapse of Trump’s aura of strength, how the combination of his political debilitation and consolidation of authoritarian power poses new dangers, and the importance of depicting him as the naked emperor figure he truly is.

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This Year We're Thankful for Courage and Resistance Nov 26, 2025

Show notes

Trump’s foreign policy can be summarized with one phrase: FUBAR. The administration’s commitment to Ukraine is laughable, and Trump’s politics are driving a potentially irreversible wedge between us and our closest allies. But if we can’t be thankful for the atrocious politics of our government, at least we can be thankful for the courage and resistance of those committed to democracy, both at home and abroad. Max Boot of the Council on Foreign Relations joins David Rothkopf and Rosa Brooks to discuss America’s place in the world on the eve of Thanksgiving.

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DSR Daily November 26: Witkoff/Russia Audio Leaks Nov 26, 2025

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On the DSR Daily for Wednesday, we discuss a leaked recording of Steve Witkoff, 20 states suing the administration over cuts to homeless housing funding, Trump backing Patel over reports on his potential ousting, and more.

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The Daily Blast: Trump Erupts in Frantic Tirade over 2026 as GOP Slips into Fresh Panic Nov 26, 2025

Show notes

This week, the White House leaked plans to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies for some of the millions of people who stand to lose out from their expiration. But that’s on ice after Republicans declared it a nonstarter. That could hurt them in the midterms, and oddly, it comes as President Trump just exploded in a wild tirade about the elections. He falsely ranted that Democrats will open our borders and unleash DEI, and urged the Indiana GOP to hurry up and gerrymander to stop Democrats. Meanwhile, Republicans tell Punchbowl News that they’re losing the House, that resignations are coming, and that “morale has never been lower.” But if so, why not renew ACA subsidies to try to save yourselves, Republicans? We talked to New Republic staff writer Monica Potts about her good new piece on the GOP predicament. We discuss the roots of GOP anti-ACA hatred, why Republicans bank on election-rigging, and how it all explains GOP plutocratic politics in the Trump era.

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