The DSR Network

On the DSR Weekly Wrap-up for February 6th, we discuss Iran/US talks in Oman, Senate negotiations over funding DHS, an impending fight over the SAVE America Act, and more. 

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The release of the Epstein files is the story of the year. Or at least it would be if this administration wasn’t responsible for a new story of the year every week. So how has our intrepid American media responded to each successive crisis? Not well. Dan Froomkin and Jeff Jarvis join David Rothkopf to explore why our media and journalists haven’t risen to the occasion and why they’re letting the First Amendment down. 

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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt lost her temper with a reporter who asked if Donald Trump intends to flood polling places with ICE agents during the midterms. She called the question “silly” and “hypothetical” and “disingenuous,” even though Steve Bannon, who’s influential in the White House, explicitly said this week that this will happen. This comes as Trump himself called for Republicans to “nationalize the voting.” Leavitt also struggled to spin this threat from Trump, suggesting that’s not what he meant, only to have Trump undercut her by reiterating his demand soon after. The White House is all over the place on this. So we talked to legal expert Rick Hasen, author of the excellent Election Law Blog. He separates the real from the fake in Trump’s threats, outlines the nightmare scenarios that Trump actually could attempt to pull off, and explains how we can gear up right now to fight back.

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Welcome to another week in Trump’s America. The President is “renovating” the Kennedy Center a la the East Wing of the White House, the Washington Post continues it’s descent into darkness, and MAGA cronies are looking for any way to undermine democratic elections this November. What is going on in America? David Rothkopf and Norm Ornstein discuss all this and more.

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On the DSR Daily for Thursday, we break down Trump’s growing campaign funds ahead of the 2026 midterms, ICE facing a setback from a federal judge in Oregon, the Supreme Court unanimously rejecting a GOP challenge to California’s election map, and more. 

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Donald Trump just claimed in an interview that the events in Minnesota suggest that ICE needs to use a “softer touch.” He also struggled to create the impression that he’s been working constructively with local officials there. While all this is just spin, it reveals an awareness that these events have put him in a politically weak position. Indeed, this comes as Trump’s plans for vast migrant prison camps are hitting angry opposition in unlikely places: In a deep red, partly rural county in Virginia; among Republican officials in other states; and even in Mississippi, where a GOP Senator has come out against a planned camp there. We talked to Brian Beutler, who’s been arguing on his excellent “Off Message” Substack that Dems need to take charge of debates like these. We dig into the surprisingly robust backlash against Trump on immigration, why the prison camps present a big opportunity for Democrats, and why they must abandon the idea that Trump’s 2024 win showed a big cultural shift against immigrants. 

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The Epstein files aren’t just about one man - they are a mirror reflecting the culture of shamelessness among the elite. Why are the wealthy elites above the law? Will this be the signature scandal of our times? Rosa Brooks, Ed Luce and David Rothkopf discuss the two-tiered justice system that persists in America, the implications of the Epstein files, and more.

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In a high-profile speech, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney recently declared "We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition." US government officials and many others interpreted the comment to refer at least in part to the dramatic developments in US-Canada relations in the past year. Meanwhile, the US and Canadian energy systems are deeply interconnected. Join host David Sandalow as he talks with AJ Goulding, a leading power market expert based in Toronto, to discuss power prices, data centers, the future of coal and solar power, and the implications of US-Canadian tensions on the energy systems in both countries. 

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On the DSR Daily for Wednesday, we cover a reduction of ICE officers in Minneapolis, Trump signing a bill to end the government shutdown, Israeli strikes killing 20 in Gaza, and more. 

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After The New York Times reported that President Trump has backtracked on a major demand he’d made on Harvard University, he spiraled out of control in three wild tirades. He angrily insisted on a correction from the Times, and levied unhinged new threats against Harvard, demanding a new billion-dollar extortion payment while calling for the university’s criminal prosecution. Harvard officials clearly leaked word of Trump’s backtracking to humiliate him at a moment of political weakness. It worked: Trump appeared panicked and weak as he fired off half-cocked threats. Which raises a question: Why don’t more institutions grasp that standing firm against Trump is the only way? We talked to Ryan Enos, a Harvard political scientist who has long argued for a strong stand. He explains the internal politics at Harvard leading to its current posture, why this fight’s outcome has broader significance amid our slide into authoritarianism, and what the prospects are for Harvard holding firm.

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