Deep State Radio

This week, former MSNBC journalist Mehdi Hasan launched a new digital media company called “Zeteo,” which is Greek for “to seek.” Hasan intends this as an answer to the failings of the mainstream media, which he says is enabling Donald Trump’s effort to “usher in a new era of fascism in the United States.” We chatted with Hasan about his new project’s goals, his belief that the conventions of political reporting are failing to meet this moment, and why the far-right information space is flourishing while the small-L liberal media is in crisis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’re not just disappointed — we’re mad. The Supreme Court’s decision to hear Trump’s immunity claims has dealt another blow to efforts to hold Trump accountable for his numerous misdeeds in office. Experts Norm Eisen and Allison Gill join David Rothkopf to break down the implications of the decision.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

American society is more polarized than ever before, and disinformation is pouring gasoline on the fire. As we head into an existentially important election, this issue becomes even more pronounced. Barb McQuade joins David Rothkopf to discuss her new book, “Attack from Within,” and how we can fight back against the flood of disinformation.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the Thursday edition of the DSR Daily, we discuss Mitch McConnell stepping down from GOP leadership, the Supreme Court agreeing to consider Trump’s immunity claims, Putin threatening nuclear war, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The news that Mitch McConnell will step down as GOP senate leader later this year has led many to argue that he was fundamentally a foe of Donald Trump who is no longer welcome in the party of MAGA. But the story is more complicated than that: In crucial ways, McConnell’s own career trajectory helped bring about the descent of our politics into its current disastrous mess. We chatted with Congressional scholar Norman Ornstein, who was among the first to identify McConnell as key to the GOP slide into dysfunction and extremism. He helped us assess McConnell’s real legacy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Friends don’t let friends drive drunk, and friends don’t let friends support Russia. The increasingly erratic Republican Party has the US’s allies in Europe worried, especially as Russia gains momentum in its assault on Ukraine and Election Day draws near. Rosa Brooks, David Sanger, and Ed Luce join David Rothkopf to break it all down.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the Wednesday edition of the DSR Daily, we discuss plans for Navalny’s funeral on Friday, the results of the Michigan primary, skepticism about a Gaza ceasefire, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In recent days we’ve learned that Stephen Miller is drawing up plans for a shockingly cruel second-term immigration agenda, complete with mass deportations and huge detention camps. Meanwhile, President Biden is set to visit the southern border—and is mulling a new asylum crackdown of his own. We chatted with Jason Houser, a former senior official at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement under Biden, who explained how operationally absurd Miller’s fantasies truly are—and why new asylum restrictions are a very bad idea. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joe Biden brought an a-team of talent with him to the White House in 2021. Between repairing America’s damaged reputation and adapting to crises in Ukraine and Afghanistan, the administration has had its work cut out for it since day one. Alexander Ward joins David Rothkopf to discuss all this and more in his new book, the “Internationalists.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the Tuesday edition of the DSR Daily, we break down the self-immolation of a US airman, Biden’s optimism that a temporary ceasefire could be coming soon, declining attacks by Iranian proxies, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Donald Trump’s victory over Nikki Haley in the South Carolina GOP primary has sparked another round of punditry about his supposed political dominance. Yet the primaries have revealed his weaknesses with independents, and he clearly fears his legal travails are a major liability that will get worse. So what if Trump is weaker than he appears? We chatted about this with political scientist Julia Azari, co-author of a new piece arguing that the long shadow of his 2016 victory is still badly distorting our understanding of the present and the majority coalition that continues handing him and the MAGA movement defeat after defeat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alexander Smirnov has showed us that Russian ‘active measures’ are even more active than we thought. An FBI informant working with Russian intelligence is no small feat, but the extent of the Kremlin’s efforts is even greater. Former CIA officer Alex Finley joins Marc Polymeropoulos to break down how the Russian security threat at home and abroad. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the Monday edition of the DSR Daily, we cover the resignation of the Palestinian Prime Minister, Biden summoning Congressional leaders to avoid a government shutdown, Hungary ratifying Swedish NATO accession, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the first time in months, a pair of new polls has found that election-denier Kari Lake is trailing in the Arizona Senate race to the Democratic candidate, Representative Ruben Gallego. But she remains a MAGA celebrity phenomenon who cannot be counted out, making this race highly unpredictable with Independent Sinema Kyrsten Sinema also in the mix. So we chatted with Gallego about how he hopes to defeat Lake and Sinema, why Democrats should level with voters about the border, and what’s really driving the southwest’s evolution in a Democratic direction. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Original Air Date: March 2, 2022 British journalist John Sweeney reports from Ukraine's besieged capital. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Original Air Date: February 24, 2022 In the late hours of Wednesday, Vladimir Putin began a war of choice in Ukraine. On Thursday, President Biden detailed a variety of harsh sanctions that the United States, our allies, and partners will place upon Russia for his actions. To make sense of these developments, David Rothkopf spoke with David Sanger of the New York Times, Andrea Kendall-Taylor of the Center for a New American Security, and Joe Cirincione of the Quincy Institute. What comes next for Ukraine? Is Putin a rational actor? What more can the United States do to push back? All these questions and more answered on this episode. Don't miss it! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the 21st century, we should all know that putting nukes in space is a bad idea. Yet intelligence reports suggest that Russia is attempting to do just that. What does that actually look like, and what are the implications ranging from bad to worse? Experts Laura Grego and David Sanger join Heather Williams and Jon Wolfsthal to discuss all this and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Republican crusade against families continues. The Alabama Supreme Court ruling equating embryos with babies makes clear the fact that they won’t stop any time soon. So what comes next? Norm and Kavita break down the ruling and the political fallout.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the Friday edition of the DSR Daily, we discuss Netanyahu’s plans for a post-war Gaza, the US sanctioning 500 new Russian targets, a measles outbreak in Florida, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fox News and other right wing media are currently engaged in absurdities that are as bad as anything they’ve attempted in recent memory. They are struggling to spin away everything from the collapse of an informant’s claims about President Biden to the GOP’s killing of a border security deal that Republicans themselves demanded. Yet in a darker sense, right wing media is also flourishing. We talked to Matt Gertz of Media Matters, who helped us unravel the tangled web those sources are weaving. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices