Deep State Radio

Late at night in the office of Chief of Staff John Kelly. The phone rings. He picks it up and hears heavy breathing. Then a raspy voice…could it be Bannon…could it be Wolff…says “Have you checked the President?” Kelly lurches forward and grabs a secure line. “Trace the call!” Then, the chilling answer comes back. The call is coming from inside the White House!!! You think that’s a horror story? Then you haven’t been reading the news. Fortunately for you our special Deep State Radio guests have. Join Lawfare’s Susan Hennessey, the NY Times David Sanger, the Atlantic Council’s Evelyn Farkas and our own soon-to-be relocating author-teacher-expert Kori Schake for an exploration through the terrifying underbrush of the past few days on our latest episode.

Contrary to popular belief, according to quoteinvestigator.com, Sam Goldwyn did not utter the immortal line that is the title of this episode. Nor did physicist Niels Bohr to whom it is also attributed. Instead, the first person to offer it up was Danish pol Karl Kristien Steincke in his immortal work, "Farvel Og Tak", published in 1948. Which serves as a useful reminder that if we can't even get the past right there is no way we are going to guess what's happening next. Nonetheless, that won't stop the intrepid Deep State Radio panel of experts including Kori Schake, Rosa Brooks and David Sanger from trying. Keep them company as they take us through what might happen in the year ahead. And keep the box wine handy. It's not pretty.

Is it over yet? Can we come out of our basements now? Is the worst year ever over? Well...yes and no. Yes, dear Deep State Radio nerds, you can come out of your basements. It is 2018. But no, the worst may not be over. This week in two special episodes, we look back at the trends and unfinished business of 2017 in order to help us predict the catastrophes, screw-ups and near misses of 2018. Oh, and the good stuff too, if there is any of that. So join Team DSR--Rosa Brooks, Kori Schake and David Sanger--to ring in the new year.

In David Rothkopf’s absence this week, Rosa Brooks hosts and reminds listeners that the Deep State Radio crew will soon be retreating into the bunker for some holiday eggnog, before resuming in the new year. The Atlantic’s Julia Ioffe argues that Putin is overrated, and the BBC’s Kim Ghattis and Kori Schake argue that the new US National Security Strategy is also overrated (and incoherent). Julia confesses that she has lost all hope, Kori lends her the Tiara of Optimism, and Kim describes Arab schadenfreude over #MeToo.

With David Rothkopf away circling the globe this week on the Deep State Radio spy plane, Rosa Brooks and Kori Schake are joined by the Atlantic’s Julia Ioffe and the BBC’s Kim Ghattis. Joining in live from Beirut, Kim reveals that not everyone in the Lebanon is obsessed with US foreign policy, because most people are too busy snacking and getting ready for Christmas. Meanwhile, every single UN Security Council member state is snubbing the US over the Jerusalem resolution, and Iran is snickering on the sidelines. The Tiara of Optimism is temporarily lost.

It's easy to blame the pols. For the pols its easy to blame one another. (Or if you are Roy Moore, who used to be a Senate candidate in the U.S., you can blame the sinners. Or Mitch McConnell. Or Sassy, the horse. Take your pick). But when policies don't match the global situation and policy advisors don't have the courage to stand up to their bosses and countries like America end up with the White House heading one way (toward disaster) and the State Department heading another way (sometimes a different disaster), then who are you going to blame. Is it the nerds? Have the wonks let down America? Have we lost the narrative and our spines at the same time? We ask Hisham Melhem, Kori Schake, David Sanger and Ed Luce. Listen to what they have to say.

Was the Jerusalem deal a complete scam? Has it torpedoed US influence on the peace process? Was it not even the most important Mideast news of the past few days? Was that really Vladimir Putin's Victory Lap around the Middle East? Hisham Melham, David Sanger, Ed Luce, Kori Schake discuss. Join in!

In a week marked by a "stunning" announcement about U.S policy toward Jerusalem and more Russia revelations, is the biggest shock of all is that Trump's foreign policy is still so much like that of Barack Obama? Or is that just the policy of the State Department and the Department of Defense while the real difference is the president who is in his own orbit. Tune in to this episode of Deep State Radio with Dr. Evelyn Farkas, Rosa Brooks, and David Sanger to find out.

As panelist Kori Schake recounts, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers once noted that if you staff an administration exclusively with "C" people you will get a "D" staff. He never contemplated the situation we find ourselves in today. As we in the Third Sub-basement of the Ministry of Snark contemplate the Flynn plea deal, the statements of Trump's lawyers, the foreign policy pronouncements of Jared Kushner and more events of the past week, we yearn for the days of "D" staff. Rosa Brooks of Georgetown, Kori Schake of Stanford and David Sanger of the New York Times join for a cold hard look at some stone cold losers. Tune in!

You would think that Deep State Radio would have a special celebration for our 50th podcast. You probably imagined a giant blow out in silo somewhere with confetti and an interpretative reading of the Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo. Well...that happened. But you were invited. You don't have the clearance. Invitations were extended purely on a need-to-party-basis. But if you need a consolation prize...listen to this; With Kori Schake of Stanford (calling in from Rome) and Rosa Brooks of Georgetown and Ed Luce of the Financial Times in our studio in the third sub-basement of the Ministry of Snark...discussing the good old days when Nazis were considered the bad guys. Listen in. Drink up.

In Sochi, Russia, Iran and Turkey got together to divvy up parts of the Middle East. It was eerily similar to a meeting 780 miles and 72 years earlier...in Yalta, where the allied powers met to discuss the face of post-War Europe. But this time: no USA. America was sidelined...as it has been worldwide since the beginning of this administration. On this episode of Deep State Radio, Kori Schake of Stanford, Rosa Brooks of Georgetown and Ed Luce of the Financial Times discuss the consequences of the U.S. becoming just a spectator with regard to most key issues on the global stage...and who is stepping up to fill the void left by the U.S. Also: as an added bonus...we discuss the royal wedding and Rosa and Ed's experiences with the Queen. Tune in.

What are Deep State Radio nerds thankful for this Thanksgiving? We poll our experts and we get just the responses you would expect. One said he is thankful we have not had a nuclear war with North Korea...yet. Of course, many said they were grateful for Robert Mueller. And while others mentioned being grateful for all the faceless bureaucrats of the Deep State themselves...almost all of our experts showed a lot of love all our Deep State Radio nerds. Break out the box wine, pop a ear bud into your ear, and covertly listen along instead of having to endure your crackpot relatives around the Thanksgiving table. Happy Thanksgiving from all of us down here in the third sub-basement of the Ministry of Snark to all of you out there living the Twilight Zone reality that has become our daily lives.

You may think election meddling is as Russian as borscht but it is also as American as apple pie. We have been doing it for years. The question is do new technologies me more of the same or do they suggest entirely new threats, deeper threats that may make democracy harder and harder to protect? And with an eye toward that future we have to ask: what tools do we need to protect ourselves, our institutions and our values? Join us for the latest Deep State Radio in which these issues and others are explored by our panelists Laura Rosenberger, Kori Schake and David Sanger along with host, David Rothkopf.

With Trump just back from an Asia trip that ran the gamut of outcomes from negligible to awful, the question turns again to what's going on with U.S. foreign policy. Specifically, we take a look at the gutting of the State Department and the president's pronouncement that "l'etat c'est moi." (Was that him or Louis XIV? I always get them confused. Suffice it to say it was someone whose tastes ran toward gold bathroom fixtures.) We go there--with special guest, former Bush Administration Under Secretary of State and distinguished career foreign service officer Ambassador Nicholas Burns, Stanford's Kori Schake and Georgetown's Rosa Brooks. Tune in.

The President is returning from Asia. He says it was the greatest trip there since Marco Polo. His defenders note that he didn't start screwing up too badly until a few days in. But then again, once he started screwing up...he really went to work flip flopping on trade with China, kissing up to Putin, insulting Kim Jong Un, making nice with the murderer who currently runs the Philippines, insulting the US intelligence community, watching as the nations of the region did TPP without the US and so much more. Our panel of experts, Rosa Brooks of Georgetown, Kori Schake of Stanford and David Sanger of the New York Times discuss...and also take a deep dive into Sanger's recent reporting on the crisis at the National Security Agency. Tune in!