The DSR Network

There are reasons for optimism as we head into the 2026 midterms. Polling is showing that people are fed up with Trump and his policies, courts are holding firm against the president, and some Republicans are beginning to distance themselves to a greater degree than we have previously seen. Yet winning in November will not mend the cracks in our democracy alone, and real challenges in our political system remain. Author and Historian Timothy Snyder joins David Rothkopf and Norm Ornstein to reflect on our democratic system and the need for political resilience against tyranny.

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On the DSR Daily for Thursday, we break down the White House removing CNN from the press pool, new details from the terrifying FlyDubai flight, skyrocketing bond levels, and more. 
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Donald Trump has been running propaganda ads starring, well, himself as a way to help the GOP in the midterms. The ads are government-funded, and one official even suggested that the payment scheme is partly designed to get media attention to the ads, amplifying them further. It’s appallingly corrupt and potentially illegal. But, amusingly, they’re backfiring: A new Quinnipiac poll shows that Trump is more toxic for the GOP than we thought. It finds his approval at an abysmal 34 percent, and at 31 percent on the economy, a record low for him. Worse, Democrats now lead Republicans on the economy, international conflicts and immigration, three traditional GOP strengths, underscoring just how big a drag he’s become. We talked to David Corn, author of the new book How Russia Won and a New Republic piece on Trumpian propaganda. We discuss how badly Trump is screwing the GOP, why those TV ads are destined to fail, why he’ll grow more dangerous as Election Day approaches, and how to prepare for it.

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Time is running out for Donald Trump and he, and the rest of the world, knows it. This is concerning - how much more damage will he wreak knowing the end is near? Will nations like China and Russia see these coming years as a window of opportunity, a way to take advantage of Trump’s imbecility on the global stage to further their own geopolitical agendas? Max Boot of the Council on Foreign Relations joins David Rothkopf and Rosa Brooks to take a look at foreign relations as we approach the end of Trump 2.0 and how they may ultimately be the most dangerous yet.
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On the DSR Daily for Wednesday, we cover Jack Smith’s Senate hearing, damning audio from Ken Paxton, $20 million taxpayer dollars going to Trump ads, and more.
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Donald Trump’s ban on a range of Canadian imports just went into effect, and The New York Times calls this a sign that the trade war has grown “vicious.” In a rambling tirade this week, Trump upped the ante in a dark way, calling Canada “one of the worst countries in the entire world.” Trump also said almost in passing that we get along with China better than we get along with Canada. We think it shouldn’t pass unnoticed just how casually Trump will toss aside a longtime ally. Trump also unleashed his top trade adviser to say sneeringly nasty things about Canada and Canadians, another sign that MAGA nationalism is growing more malicious. Meanwhile, Republicans tell the Los Angeles Times that the trade war is really bad news for the GOP. In one focus group, almost all swing voters in Michigan opposed it. We talked to New Republic contributing editor Virginia Heffernan, who’s been writing well about the economic roots of GOP midterm woes. She explains why it’s so dumb of Trump to order Americans to hate Canada—and why it’s all tailor made to get MAGA-adjacent “diesel class” voters to turn on Trump. 

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On the DSR Daily for Tuesday, we discuss Pete Hegseth’s orders for the military to defend the midterms, US bans on Canadian imports taking effect, Alito backing out of a blockbuster Supreme Court case, and more.
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Republicans leaking about the midterms are growing more alarmed. One GOP operative in Iowa says this: “It feels like it could be a wipeout.” In story after story, Republicans are confiding about their mounting panic. A GOP pollster who privately told donors that the Senate might hold was mocked by Republicans themselves as “delusional.” Meanwhile, over the last few days, Trump has unraveled in a series of panicky Truth Social posts. In one, he ranted at length about how great the economy is and ordered Americans to “VOTE FOR REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES.” In several other posts, he raged at the media for reporting “Fake Polls” while not reporting all the fabulous economic news. We talked to Melissa Toufanian, managing director at the progressive firm Navigator Research, which has done interesting polling on Trump supporters who now regret their vote. She explains what’s really happening with voters in red states with big races, what focus groups reveal about how Trump-backing constituencies see him now, and why politicians from both parties should listen carefully to what voters are really telling them.

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On the DSR Daily for Monday, we break down the results of the Trump/Xi meeting, Trump attempting to cancel $810 million of congressional spending, Trump’s planned meeting with AI leaders, and more.
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A few days ago, Donald Trump exploded in an extended tirade at news organizations. Why? Because they had suspended TV pool coverage of him to show solidarity with three news outlets he’d banned from the White House. This resulted in no TV footage of his reception of Xi Jinping at the White House. Trump absurdly raged that news orgs were trying to deny him coverage of a major success. But in saying this, he actually revealed that he badly needs the attention of news outlets. Without this attention, he shrivels. His fury shows that if news orgs collectively join together to resist things like his press ban—which has now been blocked in court—it can actually work. We talked to Paul Waldman, author of a good piece on Trump’s diminishing stature. We discuss the ways Trump’s power is a media creation, why this saga shows we need more collective institutional resistance to him, and what that might look like as he keeps shrinking. (After we recorded, Trump banned just CNN more narrowly, excluding it from Air Force One, but it’s unclear whether that will last.)

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Are the United States and China entering a new era? Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington has been all over the news in recent days, and for good reason. Between trade, climate challenges, and the growing role of the tech industry in politics, US-China policy is shaping the geopolitical landscape as we know it. Jessica Chen Weiss, David M. Lampton Professor of China Studies at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies, joins David Rothkopf to discuss the current state of US-China relations and the optics behind Donald Trump’s meeting with Xi Jinping.

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On the DSR Daily Live for Friday, Tara McGowan joins us to discuss Trump’s extravagant dinner with Xi Jinping, the White House reinstating access to banned outlets, new polls ahead of the 2026 midterms, and more. 
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AI dread has spread. Even CEOs of major AI companies are forecasting doom and gloom, including the potential end of mankind. But how much of what they say is an honest appraisal, and how much is driven by ulterior motives? NYU’s Paul Barrett joins David Rothkopf to discuss his recent piece for Tech Policy Press and explain why we can’t let doomer CEOs or competition with China distract from sensible AI regulation.

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Iowa radio host Steve Deace just unleashed an extraordinary social media screed. He confided that GOP pollsters have informed House Republicans that GOP +15 districts are now straight toss-ups, and GOP +10 districts are now “underwater.” He said he regrets this deeply—he badly wants Donald Trump to succeed—but critically, he also declared bluntly that Trump and his Iran war are fully to blame for this fiasco. In a serious humiliation for Trump, he sharply criticized the war’s rationale and warned that this is “risking what’s left of the Trump presidency.” Ouch! This state of play is confirmed by Trump’s own super PAC, which is sinking money into deep red Iowa districts. So we talked to Iowa Democratic Party chair Rita Hart. She discusses whether the landscape is as bad as Deace says, why Trumpy areas are turning on the president, and how to convert this moment into durable gains in rural America. 

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Donald Trump gave Xi Jinping quite the welcome after his arrival in Washington. At the same time Trump is trying to cuddle up to Beijing, he continues his attacks against freedom of the press by banning certain media outlets from the White House. Trump is actively trying to turn the United States into some amalgamation of China, Russia, and North Korea, and he is consistently enabled by his cronies in Congress, including our “Lickspittle of the Week:” Tommy Tuberville. Norm Ornstein and David Rothkopf discuss Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington, Trump’s admiration for authoritarianism, and those in power responsible for enabling it.

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The White House ban of CNN, MS NOW, and Politico has sent shockwaves through the media. The brazen attempt as silencing dissenting media has resulted in incredible pushback not just through the legal system, but through solidarity from major broadcasters including Fox News. So what makes this latest play by the White House so dangerous, and what can it tell us about Trump’s plans for the future? Journalists and experts Dan Froomkin and Jeff Jarvis join us to answer all these questions and more. 
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On the DSR Daily for Thursday, we cover the White House’s defiance of a court order on their media ban, the US and China extending a trade truce ahead of Xi and Trump’s meeting, Netanyahu’s upcoming speech before the UN, and more. 
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Out of the three news organizations that Donald Trump has banned from the White House, he reserves special fury for CNN. He erupted at reporter Kaitlan Collins, posting that she’s an “unhappy person” and a “SLEAZEBAG” who suffers from a “TRUMP addiction.” He also tried to humiliate Collins in person at the United Nations. And he posted a video mocking CNN reporters in truly dumb and juvenile terms. This comes as legal experts have picked apart the White House’s case for the ban. It now rests partly on specious claims about national security, and the details are monumentally absurd. We talked to New Republic staff writer Timothy Noah, who has written well on this saga. We discuss why the White House legal case is so weak, how Trump’s ongoing diminishment is encouraging institutional resistance to him, why his decline will worsen, and why people should stop treating him as invincible. (After we recorded, a judge seemed skeptical of the White House’s arguments.)

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Donald Trump’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday was nothing shocking. Threatening to annihilate Iran, asserting peace between Russia and Ukraine is coming, “to the victor belong the spoils”… this is nothing new from our president. Serious questions remain around the United States’ role on the global stage. And with Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington, issues such as AI regulation and international cooperation are at the forefront. Rosa Brooks, Ed Luce and David Rothkopf discuss Trump’s UN speech, his upcoming meetings with China, and our changing geopolitical landscape in the world of AI.

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On the DSR Daily for Wednesday, we discuss President Trump’s UNGA appearance, Trump’s looming meeting with Xi Jinping, the DOJ defending the White House media ban, and more. 
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The polling just keeps getting worse for the GOP. A new Reuters survey finds Donald Trump’s approval at 32 percent—the worst in Reuters polling of both his terms. He’s at only 73 percent among Republicans, and on cost-of-living he’s at an astonishing 17 percent, both potential disasters for the GOP. This comes as a CNN poll finds voters souring on the war in unheard-of numbers. Meanwhile, panicky GOP leaks are turning into a flood: GOP operatives tell Politico that the races in North Carolina and Georgia are rapidly slipping away. Others privately admit they’re badly on defense in red states and districts. One GOP operative candidly declares: “The bottom is beginning to fall out.” Is it really this bad? We talked to Morgan Jackson, the veteran North Carolina Democratic operative on Roy Cooper’s Senate campaign. He explains why Trump’s collapse with independents is an underappreciated story, why what’s happening in North Carolina and Georgia could have major long-term political consequences, and why he still expects North Carolina to be very, very close.

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On the DSR Daily for Tuesday, we break down the major media networks standing in solidarity against Trump, Trump’s plan for the UNGA, Hegseth’s bizarre stunt with the Logan brothers, and more. 
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Donald Trump’s efforts to ban news organizations from the White House are backfiring. Trump said straight out that he barred them because their coverage displeased him, and when the outlets sued on Monday, they cited his own words as proof that he’d retaliated against their reporting. That’s likely to work. And other news outlets sided with them, suspending pooled coverage and resulting in Trump getting less TV attention. Meanwhile, Axios reports that Trump advisers confide that they fear he’s feeling “powerless” as his losses pile up and a likely midterm defeat approaches. He’s retreating “to his worst impulses” and this “helps explain” his press ban, per Axios: Because Trump feels his power slipping away, he “lashed out” at these organizations and banned them. That’s surely correct, and it’s humiliating. We talked to Kristy Parker, counsel at Protect Democracy. She explains why Trump’s ban probably won’t survive the courts, why his lashing out at moments of feeling powerless makes him so dangerous, and why she’s cautiously optimistic about our system holding. 

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A striking new poll finds Democrat Mary Peltola leading GOP Senator Dan Sullivan by 46-41 in the Alaska Senate race. This is big news: Because quality polling of Alaska is so rare, it’s a real indicator that a Senate majority is now truly gettable for Democrats. The poll also finds Trump badly underwater and absolutely tanking with independents—in Alaska! The kicker? The survey was done for AARP by Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio, along with Democratic pollster John Anzalone, so Republicans will take it very seriously. Indeed, GOP panic is worsening: Republicans are privately talking about pulling money out of the Georgia Senate race. Other GOP operatives warn that the party is bleeding Latinos. One GOP strategist expressed the state of play by sending a poop emoji to a Huffpost reporter. And GOP Representative Nancy Mace said: “The midterms are going to be a f--king bloodbath.” We talked to John Anzalone, the Democratic pollster on the Alaska survey. He explains what the numbers really show about Trump’s collapse, why he thinks Texas is “real,” and what he still fears could go wrong. 

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On the DSR Weekly Wrap up for this week, we are joined by special guest Mary Trump to break down Trump threatening to tear down the Kennedy Center, RFK Jr.’s anti-vax promises, Xi Jinping’s upcoming visit, and more.
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The primary elections have told us one thing loud and clear: Democratic voters want fighters. Progressive and moderate candidates alike who promise to fight back against this corrupt and anti-democratic administration succeeded across the board. The Contrarian’s Jen Rubin joins David Rothkopf to discuss what Democratic politicians must do in the lead-up to the midterms—and after—to ensure not only the party’s success, but the country’s as well.
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Fox News is having profound trouble coping with the spate of terrible stories hitting Donald Trump. Lately the network has been mostly avoiding discussion of the Iran debacle. Fox largely ignored the report of a Russian oligarch funding Don Jr.’s wedding. It didn’t appear to cover Karl Rove’s highly newsworthy warning about racism in the GOP. Meanwhile, a new Fox poll just delivered crushing news to Trump and the GOP: It finds that 63% say Trump made the economy worse; Democrats are substantially leading the GOP on most major issues and in the generic ballot; Democrats are benefiting from a big enthusiasm edge; and much more. Fox often downplays its own polling when it’s bad for Trump, but this time, it seems to be breaking through into the coverage. As Matt Gertz of Media Matters details on this episode, Fox is really in crisis mode amid Trump’s mounting failures and cratering public standing. Gertz takes us inside how Fox deals with bad news for Trump, discusses how Trump-MAGA propaganda functions, and anticipates what’s coming on the right if a big midterm loss badly diminishes him. 

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On the DSR Daily for Thursday, we cover a UN report on potential war crimes in Iran, talks between Canada and the EU, a stunning new report on DOGE, and more. 
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Donald Trump is shutting down the Kennedy Center because he can’t put his name on it. Why? He wants “Donald J. Trump” on the building to steal presidential glory because he’s not getting it on his own. Meanwhile, the Republicans in Congress are silent about his flagrant narcissistic transgressions. Norm Ornstein and David Rothkopf are back to discuss the lunacy surrounding the Kennedy Center, Trump’s obsession with his legacy, and the Trump family’s mafia-esque connections with criminals at home, in Russia, and elsewhere.

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