The DSR Network

On the DSR daily for Friday, we break down the first presidential debate of 2024, Iran’s presidential election, Oklahoma requiring schools to teach the Bible, and more.

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MAGA personalities raged at CNN when it refused to allow a Donald Trump propagandist to smear journalists on air. They exploded again when CNN announced that the debate would be fact checked. We think this provides an unexpected glimpse into what Project 2025’s implementation might look like. This thought was driven home by a must-read thread from writer David Roberts about Project 2025’s true aims. So we talked to Roberts about what MAGA’s hostility to neutral journalism portends for a second Trump term—one that wrecks the professional, fact-based civil service and transforms government into a tool for manufacturing propaganda.

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Despite popular belief, the business community at large is not a fan of the failed businessman president. Jeffrey Sonnenfeld joins David Rothkopf to discuss his recent article on what CEOs really think about Trump and why the former president has few fans in corporate America 

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On the DSR daily for Wednesday, we discuss the latest Supreme Court decisions, the dominance of the French far-right in recent polls, an attempted coup in Bolivia, and more.

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President Biden and Donald Trump are set to hold their first debate, after Trump and his allies spent weeks mocking Biden’s age with doctored videos and dumb jokes about Biden’s supposed plan to rely on performance-enhancing drugs. Is all that agitprop just chum for the MAGA masses, or does it reflect a genuine belief that Biden actually is so deep into his dotage that he can’t possibly be a worthy debate adversary? We talked to veteran reporter Marc Caputo of The Bulwark, who has a good new report on Trump’s debate prep. Caputo is highly illuminating on what the Trump brain trust is really thinking as we head into the first showdown. 

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All eyes have been on Gaza for months, but trouble is brewing on Israel’s northern border. Tensions with Hezbollah and other militant groups are heating up and fears are mounting of a broader regional conflict. Alon Pinkas, Rosa Brooks, and David Sanger join David Rothkopf to break down the likelihood of a wider conflict, what it means for the US/Israel relationship, and more. 

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On the DSR daily for Wednesday, we discuss the big results from Tuesday’s primaries, NATO’s next Secretary General, Ukraine and Moldova’s EU talks, and more. 

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This week, Judge Aileen Cannon gave Donald Trump two more big assists. She agreed to hold a multi-day hearing on the constitutionality of the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith. And she appeared skeptical of Smith’s demand for a gag order on one of Trump’s most deranged attacks on law enforcement yet. We talked to law professor Corey Brettschneider, author of a new book called The Presidents and the People: Five Leaders Who Threatened Democracy and the Citizens Who Fought to Defend It. He vividly explains how Cannon is enabling Trump to attack the rule of law itself— and the dark antecedents this has in U.S. history. 

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The Supreme Court is about to deliver some monumental verdicts, but some of the most consequential cases in the country have been delayed time and time again. Norm and Kavita are here to break down the biggest cases that are still on the horizon and why some justices keep dragging their feet.

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On the DSR daily for Tuesday, we cover the ICC issuing warrants for two more Russian leaders, Israel’s Supreme Court ruling on Ultra-Orthodox draft, Julian Assange’s guilty plea, and more.

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