Deep State Radio

The U.S. has done plenty wrong in its history. There are millions around the world that have been victims of flaws in U.S. foreign policy. But since the early part of the 20th Century there has at least been a myth that Americans could cling to that we stood for what was right, for "the American way" and tried to shape the international system around those values. Now, in a week, the U.S. has attacked its allies and friends and embraced one of the world's most brutal dictators. Our president seems to be an amoral and corrupt man. And the result may translate into the undoing both of our standing and the international order that has helped uphold it. Our panelists Rosa Brooks of Georgetown, Mieke Eoyang of the Third Way and Ed Luce of the Financial Times discuss how the tectonic events of the G7 and Singapore summits may impact how America is perceived...and how the world works...for many years to come. Tune in.

The recent round of primary elections in the US don't seem to show a groundswell of public indignation over the fact that the president of the United States has obstructed justice, is a pathological liar, is profoundly corrupt and is, at the very least, surrounded by people and family members who may well have conspired with the Russians to tip the scales in the last election. So, that's a bummer. But if that weren't enough, the president is now playing the North Korea nuclear summit not for its arms control or geopolitical value but as a card in helping to stave off a Democratic victory in November. That's important to know, observe our experts, because...well, it means all the traditional foreign policy analysis you may hear will be completely irrelevant. Sam Vinograd, Asha Rangappa, Rosa Brooks, Kori Schake and David Sanger join to discuss this, Dennis Rodman, Seb Gorka and why Rudy Giuliani is driving Asha to drink and may offer Trump an inadequate counsel defense in the long run. It's a special 101st episode for DSR, join us!

On this, the historic, 100th episode of Deep State Radio (once called by Bridget Jones "the world's most important podcast") our usual band of troublemakers discuss just how much worse off the world is 100 podcasts later than it was we started. Could it all have to do with the man one NPR commentator referred to as "an escaped monkey from a cocaine study?" Which English monarch is most reminiscent of that monkey? (Ethelred the Cokehead?) And what can we expect 100 episodes from now? (The end of the euro? War with Iran? A Trump casino in Pyongyang? President Nancy Pelosi?) We not only answer all your questions but we announce a whole lot of ways we intend to show our love for Deep State Radio nerd nation...because we can't think of any other group of folks we'd rather spend the End Days with! Tune in!

Yes, this episode is about the rise of China and America's woeful unpreparedness for this epoch making event. But when guest Anna Fifield, Tokyo Bureau Chief of the Washington Post, sees a cockroach crawling through her Tokyo apartment during the broadcast, important lessons are learned. Tune in for the fun as Anna exits to another room and continues discussing the future of Asia and the world with Ed Luce of the FT, Rosa Brooks of Georgetown University and host David Rothkopf, who is himself somewhere in Asia at the moment.

Their courtship will go down in history with those of Romeo & Juliet, Tristan & Isolde, and Goldman and Sachs. Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un have had their spats to be sure...but what's a little pre-nuclear foreplay between true loves. Now, all that is behind them it seems and we are heading for the steamy consummation of their relationship somewhere in Singapore...possibly, fittingly, in a a Sheldon Adelson-owned hotel room. If only Shakespeare were alive today to offer up a sonnet, something to honor both of them. Maybe something like Sonnet 29. You know the one: "When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes..." But don't despair. Who needs Shakespeare when you have Ed Luce, Rosa Brooks and Anna Fifield of the Washington Post. Tune in!

The president's wife carries industrial strength disinfecting wipes wherever she goes because her man is a germaphobe. But when it comes to the growing ebola outbreak in Africa, he seems anything but prepared. (Pro tip for POTUS: The wipes won't help.). In fact, when it comes to the big crises that might come from left field--epidemics, climate crises, cyber attacks, and the like, Trump's America is even more unprepared than we usually are. Which is why Rosa Brooks, Kori Schake, Bonnie Jenkins and David Rothkopf end up discussing why it may be that in this day in age, we need bigger, better emotional support animals. Like hippos. Or maybe a dinosaur would be good. And our silo accepts service animals. So...come on down.

One thing about the tough guys in the Trump Administration, when it comes to foreign policy they sure do have colorful fantasies. Mike Pompeo's wish list for Iran is as far fetched as a fairy-tale but less likely to come to life. In North Korea, the president's hopes and dreams are just as impossible. But some of his advisors have imaginations that run to the dark side and are served by the president having wishes that will go unfulfilled. Which is why these fantasies might have an unhappy ending. Rosa Brooks of Georgetown, Kori Schake of IISS, and Bonnie Jenkins of WCAPS and Brookings join host David Rothkopf for a walk through the wonderland of Trump foreign policy. Tune in.

So much for the Nobel Peace Prize. So much for the celebration in Jerusalem. So much for teaching those Iranians a lesson. So much for witch hunts. So much for so much that our heads are spinning...much like this crazy world we all live on. On this episode of Deep State Radio Kori Schake, Rosa Brooks, Evelyn Farkas and Dan Benjamin discuss it all...and we have to be honest with you, the results aren't that uplifting. The president of the US is a pig. He is being played big time by a tubby millennial dictator who really may be the master of the art of the deal. The U.S. Constitution ain't what it's cracked up to be. And the NRA aren't just a murder lobby, they may be traitors too. Hope you're having a nice Spring everybody! Tune in.

With boatloads of trouble at home and a Congress unlikely to actually do anything between now and the election, Donald Trump needs to come up with some way to distract from the Mueller investigation and his deepening legal woes. Live Tweeting Fox & Friends is obviously not doing the trick nor is The Rudy Show. So why not blow up the Iran deal, open an embassy in Jerusalem and negotiate a nuclear deal with a guy who blew up his uncle with an anti-aircraft gun as an alternative? What could go wrong--after all Javanka can handle Israel and John Bolton and Mike Pompeo can do the rest? Our panel of David Sanger, Daniel Benjamin and Rosa Brooks discuss...and then head for the silos to wait it out until Trump decides to go back to beauty contests or something safer.

The president lies. He lies all the time. He can't help but lie. That's why his lawyers consider any move by Robert Mueller to be a perjury trap for Trump. Because any question Mueller and his team will ask is certain to produce over-heated prevarication, deception, and deception presented on a bed of utter bullshit. What does this mean for America? For our democracy? For our standing in the world? Kori Schake, Rosa Brooks, Ed Luce and host David Rothkopf try to answer that question. Through their tears. Tune in!

It's a mad whirl these days with more mad than whirl going on. This week alone offers everything from the Iran deal (the one new NRA president Ollie North did back in the day) to the Iran deal (the one Donald Trump hates). It offers a debate about the use of torture (re: the Gina Haspel confirmation hearings) as well as a debate about the use of torture (having to watch Rudy Giuliani on television 24-7 as he dissolves into a mental pudding.) Rosa Brooks, Kori Schake, Mieke Eoyang and Ed Luce discuss and offer lots of insights. (Including, of course, Ed offering up the correct pronunciation of the word Lieutenant. Or so he says.). Tune in!

How are we supposed to concentrate on nuclear weapons dramas in the Middle East and the Koreas, new U.S. special forces deployments, Bibi Netanyahu doing his best Gallagher prop-comedy impression and all the other lunacy going on in the world with all the even more distracting lunacy going on in Washington? Can a strong mastery of acronyms help? Or is beer a better choice? Ploughshares Fund’s Joe Cirincione, Rosa Brooks of Georgetown University Law School and David Rothkopf go a little off the rails trying to figure out how to cope. The best answer they came up with is to look at the whole Trump presidency as a historical belch. (Look away and pretend it didn’t happen.) Tune in!

Move are afoot--everywhere. In the Koreas, North and South are posturing pre-negotiations while back in the U.S. the president is writing his Nobel Prize acceptance speech. In the Middle East, Israel is working with the U.S. (and maybe the Saudis) to try to find a way to torpedo the Iran nuclear deal...and the Europeans are pushing hard in the other direction. Somewhere between the two U.S. policy masterminds (one with a bushy mustache) are trying to figure out how to blow up one nuclear deal while striking another (so the president can start packing or his trip to Oslo to pick up his hardware). Who is guiding these processes? Could it be Sarah Huckabee Sanders through her mascara laden tears? We discuss on this episode of Deep State Radio with David Sanger of the New York Times, Ed Luce of the Financial Times, Kori Schake of IISS and host, David Rothkopf, lost in New Jersey.

Not since Chevy Chase's European Vacation has an American brought so much mayhem to U.S. Trans-Atlantic Relations. Perhaps new Secretary of State Mike Pompeo can start to make amends on his first trip as America's chief diplomat. But if the recent visit of French President Macron is any indication, it seems unlikely. For all the diplomatic foreplay between the two leaders, Macron achieved none of his goals...and the outlook for German Chancellor Merkel's trip is worse if anything. And don't even get us started on what's likely to happen when Trump visits the U.K. in a couple months. Rosa Brooks, Kori Schake, Julie Smith and Evelyn Farkas discuss...and throw in a few words on Kim Jong Un, Ric Grenell and Bill Cosby as well. (Hint: Kim comes out best.)

With John Bolton loose in the West Wing, what will happen to US foreign policy? Deep State Radio's Rosa Brooks hosts in David Rothkopf's absence, joined by regulars Kori Schake of the International Institute for Strategic Studies and Ed Luce from the Financial Times, with a special guest appearance by Stanford University's Colin Kahl. Colin assures DSR listeners that Bolton's a nixer, not a fixer, and suggests we kiss the Iran nuclear deal goodbye. Ed and Kori wonder if there's any such thing as a Trump Whisperer, and contemplate the likely (non)-impact of French President Macron's visit to Washington. Rosa provides prophecies of doom and suggests that Trump's election was all Ed's fault. In this episode of Deep State Radio, the Ministry of Snark team covers the terrain from Mike Pompeo and Gina Haspel to prospects for progress on North Korea. Tune in!