Eric and Eliot survey a wide range of jackassery, highlighting Trump's bizarre attack on longtime Mitch McConnell aide Robert Karem. They discuss Trump's gross mismanagement of the Department of Defense as exemplified by the US Army budget shortfall due to National Guard deployments to US cities and the border. They debate the intelligence community's leaked assessment of Iran's surviving missile and launcher capabilities and what advice they would give to a hypothetical "normal" administration on how to successfully extricate from Iran. They also review the Trump-Xi Summit in China, assess trump's designs on Cuba, and discuss the broader implications of Turkey's newly unveiled ICBM.

Eric on the Reagan Defense Build Up (Gift Link):
https://thedispatch.com/next-250/peace-through-strength-reagan-250/?gift_key=e0d7f3be6686eb5a&gift_ref=3886671&utm_source=giftlink&utm_campaign=membergift&utm_medium=copy_link

Eric on Turkey's New ICBM:
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/turkey-new-missile-is-a-symbol-of-gobal-chaos-erdogan-yildirimhan-icbm-saha-trump-europe-russia-ukraine-iran-israel-nato

Shield of the Republic is a Bulwark podcast co-sponsored by the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia.