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Hello, and welcome to the DSR Daily.
I'm David Rothkopf, joined by Riley Fessor and Minestine.
And if I see him a little hesitant, it's Monday morning. And I don't know where I am or what's going on in the world. It was an incredibly busy news weekend. So we have plenty to get to. You want to kick us off?
I would be honored, too. Okay.
So, Hungarian Prime Minister, Victor Orban, conceded defeat after 16 years in power as
Challenger Peter Myjar won a decisive parliamentary majority. The election reflected a voter frustration with economic problems, corruption, allegations, and Orban's increasingly authoritarian rule. Despite support from figures like JD Vance, and ties to Russia. Myjar's victory signals a major political shift with promises to restore democratic institutions,
and strengthen Hungary's relationship with the European Union and NATO. Yeah, this is a very big deal, because the way the EU works, if one state doesn't go along with something, it gets stopped. So, for example, they wanted to put together big aid package for Ukraine or Bonstaffed it. But it's also a big deal, because Orban, in 16 years, made Hungary kind of a global hub for this right-wing
ethno-nationalist anti-democratic movement that may have originated in the Kremlin, with whom, with which he had very close ties, but extended around the world, Donald Trump, to BB Netanyahu, to Narendra Modi, and India, to Bolsonaro when he was in Brazil, to Nilei, in Argentina, and so forth. And there were a lot of funds and other things that got channeled from Russian oligarchs through Hungary into other places. One of Modger's points was Orban and his people have to be held accountable, that they were corrupt.
This is an important message to Democrats, as they seek to defeat an Orban party here in the United States, because accountability does matter.
“But when investigations take place, will it have aftershocks for Russia, will it have aftershocks for the United States?”
Very likely. And so, you know, big defeat for this right-wing ethno-nationalist movement, big defeat for the Kremlin, a big defeat for the White House and JD Vance, and we'll get to that in a minute. And a big win for the things that Modger said he was running for democracy, he's pro-Europe, he's pro-NATO. He's a center-right candidate, so, you know, he may not be, you know, the liberal savior,
that a lot of people might have hoped for, but being pro-democracy, pro-Europe, pro-NATO, anti-corruption, and anti-this, you know, sort of global alliance of the far right, is a big, big change. And it has ramifications around the world.
“So, that's why everybody's talking about the election in Hungary for the first time ever in US history.”
And they should be. Following the collapse of peace talks at the United States is initiating a blockade of Iranian ports today. President Trump ordered the action to pressure Tehran after the fragile ceasefire ended. The US, the Central Command, clarified the blockade will specifically target Iranian maritime traffic rather than all transit through the Strait of Hormuz.
As American forces began a minor clearing operations to secure the area, Iran...
Move cause US.
“Stock features to fall in oil prices to surge.”
The markets partially recoup losses as investors turned their attention toward the start of bank earnings in season.
We're in the middle of the biggest energy crisis that the world has seen. And Trump has taken a move which is only going to make it worse. But the markets are like, well, maybe he may be able to change his mind. Maybe he'll talk to who knows. Kind of crazy.
Also kind of crazy that, you know, the US negotiating team of five people arrived in Islamabad for the talks with the Iranians, who sent 60 people. The US team had no experts on it. Nobody understood nuclear issues. Nobody who has ever successfully conducted an negotiation of this sort.
Led by J.D. Vance, no experience.
Steve Wittkov, bad track record, Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law. And they talked for allegedly 21 hours. And then they said, okay, fine, we're done. Because Vance laid down automata.
“And the Iranian said, what are you talking about, dude?”
We're not, that's not what we came here for. That's not an negotiation. And Vance said, okay, we're going home. It was a complete sham. The whole purpose of this negotiation was to distract attention
from Trump's genocidal threats on Tuesday morning. He had to find a way to get away from the we're going to destroy Iranian civilization. But of course, now, you know, 12 hours for 24 hours, 36 hours later, what do we have? We have Trump blockading a blockade.
I mean, really, among the stupidest moves that you've ever seen. Is a situation in which the Iranians say, we're going to make it more difficult.
“Royale to get in and out of the straight-of-war moves.”
And the United States said, oh, yeah, well, we're going to make it more difficult to. Problem is implementation and already military experts are pointing out that to conduct a blockade, but this is not like Venezuela. The president compares everything to Venezuela, which was not like anything will ever encounter again.
Super simple, not a big deal. Nothing really happened there. They traded one extortionate criminal leader for, you know, another from far away. This is different. Blockading Iranian ports, telling the difference between Iranian ships and ships from other countries,
stopping them, interdicting them in a way that doesn't cause global chaos. That's really, really hard to do. It is going to suck up US military assets.
And just imagine what's going to happen the first time they try to stop a Chinese ship
from coming in or going out of an Iranian port. Then this doesn't become an issue between the United States and Iran, or the US Israel and Iran. This becomes an issue between the United States and China. That is not a place the president wants to go.
That's not a place the world wants this to go. But where we are now, suggest further break down this likely. And today, earlier today, Monday, BB Netanyahu said he thought the ceasefire was as good as over. He hasn't actually honored it. But anyway, they've been fighting on in Lebanon since this process was announced.
But this situation is more dangerous today. The potential disruptions the global economy are greater. And the only potential outcomes for this thing are guaranteed to be less than what we had before this were started. More Iranian control over the straight. More Iranian autonomy with regard to their nuclear enrichment program.
More Iranian ability to destabilize the region in the world. And if there are any terms with regard to the Iranian nuclear program, they are virtually certain to be less good than the terms that we had with the JCPOA. That was partially negotiated by the Obama administration in 2015.
That Trump pulled out of a couple of years later.
For more on this, we're going to be a special need to know podcasts with our two nuclear experts and guys with a lot of experience in the region.
“One of whom was actually involved in negotiating the Iran nuclear deal.”
We'll do that later this afternoon. Jocer and C.O. and John Willstall will join us. We are going to focus a lot of our programming this week on what's going on in Iran and the implications. And if you're interested, I wrote a column yesterday for the Daily Beast on Trump's blockade strategy,
in which I assert that he is the most powerful idiot in the world history.
And I make the case, and you know, you may think that's a little good. He's an idiot. What he's doing is idiotic. Dressing it up is anything other than that or demented. And we'll get to demented in a moment is his crazy. I also then wrote a piece for sub-sac,
the need to know sub-stack, which you can go and look and subscribe to. On J.D. Vance's worst week ever, because J.D. Vance has done nothing as Vice President.
And he was given two assignments this week.
The assignment number one, go help Victor Orban, assignment number two, go negotiate this piece. This is his, you know, vice presidential resume. So he goes to Hungary. He tries to boost Orban. And Orban's polls actually go down in the wake of advances visit. They fell three percent simply because Vance went there.
And then he goes to Islamabad. He's apparently not given the authority to negotiate. He has to keep coming out of the room each time to go and call Trump for permission to proceed. Trump, by the way, who we should point out, spent Friday night while the negotiations were breaking down. At a UFC match, Kage fighting match in Miami with Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State and National Security Service.
“Could they have been involved with trying to make a piece happen?”
They could, anyway, I wrote about Vance's defeats and why they were more significant than just an embarrassment for one of the most odious politicians we ever seen. And what they might mean long-term for American politics and geopolitics. So I encourage you to go and read both of those and listen to the podcast we've got coming. But as I said, we can go from idiotic to demanded pretty darn quickly here. And I have faith that money is going to prove it.
Donald Trump publicly criticized Pope Leo calling him weak and ineffective on foreign policy after the Pope condemned US rhetoric and actions related to the Iran war. Trump also uploaded an AI-generated picture of himself as Jesus. The Pope had previously denounced threats against Iran as unacceptable and urged peace, creating a sharp disagreement between the two leaders. Pope Leo dismissed President Trump's social media attack stating he is not afraid of the administration and will continue to speak out against war during his ten-day tour of Africa.
The point of emphasizes his comments to the gospel and peace rejected. Better, better go back on that pontiff. The pontiff emphasized his commitment to the gospel and peace rejecting Trump's characterization of him as a politician while critiquing the administration's stance on global, and stance on global conflict.
“Yeah, I think Trump has picked the wrong guy from Chicago to pick a fight.”
He wants him to fight with JB Pritzker, fight. You know, he wants him to fight with the former mayor of Chicago, ramen manual, fight.
The Pope, famous Chicago White-Sucks fan, is much tougher than these guys. The Pope, it's also the Pope, the Pope has one billion followers around the world.
This is not the kind of person American political leaders get into battles with. But the Pope is not shying away from it. I think Trump may have thought he wasn't going to respond. He did a, you know, and Trump went after him for ludicrous reasons, like he's a weak on crime, and said he really likes his maga brother better. And the Pope came back at him and just sort of shut him down and made a snider mark about, I mean, you know,
You know, deaf, but snider mark about the name true social and, and playing t...
And said, you know, his job was not to get involved in political fights. It was to, you know, preach the gospel as he saw it.
“You got to think, you know, what's going on in Trump's brain here?”
Because in the course of the past few weeks, he has mocked a billion Muslims around the world.
Made fun of them with his praise be to Allah remark. Of course, he's the same guy who started his last presidency with effectively a Muslim ban on immigration to the United States. So it goes after a billion Muslims, this attack goes after a billion Catholics, and Catholics, by the way, voted for Trump something like, you know, 5543 in the last election. So it's a group that once did support him, and it's certainly going to be alienated by this.
Of course, last week he also said that any Jew that didn't vote for him was stupid.
And so in the days between Ramadan, Passover, Easter, and yesterday, Orthodox Easter,
“the Trump has attacked three of the world's major religions, and we've never seen anything like that.”
Because it's insane, it's insane, but then to follow this up with an image of himself, as Jesus, as God, as the Savior, this is literally imagine what would happen if your uncle or your aunt circulated a picture of themselves as Jesus. What would you do? What would you do, Riley? Of a sudden, your uncle sends a picture and says, "Look, this is me, I'm God now."
I'd probably check him into our home. You know, of course you would, or you get psychological help for the guy, this guy is not just an idiot.
He's also deeply disordered, and he's the president of the United States, and he's the most powerful man in the world.
And nobody, nobody in his own party, or close to him, is standing up to him on this. And you know, you talk about J.D. Vance's worst week ever. J.D. Vance has a book out now talking about how important his Catholic faith is. Has that gone? He said that this administration has been battling with the Vatican since J.D. Vance met with Pope Leo.
When Hedge Seth went out and started talking about God and wore Leo uprated him when we got this, this kind of battle going on. Do you think J.D. Vance said, "You know, Mr. President, I just can't stand for your attacking the Pope?" What about other Catholics in his administration? You know, Marco Rubio, famous for running Bible coax all the time.
“You think he told the president he didn't think this was a good idea?”
What about famously Catholic RFK Jr. from the famously Catholic Kennedy family? What about the others? There are many in his administration. They all bend down at kiss the hem of Trump's garments. They all play to his idolatry and his blasphemy and his sacrilege and his prejudice and they enable it. They've donated a centerpiece of U.S. politics of American leadership at the moment.
In tolerance and hate. There has not been an English-speaking leader in the world. More actively at war with the Vatican since Henry VIII reflect on that criminal. Representative Eric Swallwell ended his California Governor campaign amid sexual assault allegations which he denies, saying he will fight them up personally rather than through a campaign.
His candidacy collapsed quickly as major Democratic supporters, including Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff, with Drew backing and numerous staffers resigned. Investigations and potential congressional consequences are mounting, leaving the governor's race uncertain in just weeks before the primary.
This is deeply disturbing story.
It's not just because of the crimes that Swallwell committed.
“But because, as it comes out, it becomes clear that his abuses were open and open secret within the Democratic Party.”
And yet Democratic leaders didn't bring them up. Didn't stop him. Didn't do what they should have done the minute they heard of. And Swallwell thought he could get away with it. Think of that for male entitlement.
And this happened to many women for many years, and none of them felt secure within the Democratic Party to come forward and say, "What is wrong?" Our friend Mike Temasty, the editor of the New Republic with whom he do a daily podcast, has a piece out today on what this reveals that is broken in the Democratic Party.
I like to think that Democratic Party, at least, is grappling with this, rather than elevating sex abusers, rapists, and pedophiles to the presidency. But that's not enough. Being anti-Trump is not enough.
“We actually have to create an environment that's safe for women,”
and where our leaders act in a way that's consistent with our values. Mehta is developing a photorealistic AI powered 3D version of Mark Zuckerberg, designed to interact with employees and represent his strategic thinking. Zuckerberg is personally involved in training the digital character using his voice, mannerisms, and public statements to stimulate his presence.
So my guess is that the AI will also be completely devoid of personality. If the experiment succeeds, the technology may eventually be expanded to allow creators and influencers to build their own digital twins. However, the initiative has sparked concerns among some staff members
who fear that increased AI integration can ultimately lead to job cuts.
As if one Mark Zuckerberg was not enough. Let's create another one. We could create millions of them. We could even create Mark Zuckerberg's with AI that, you know, actually knew how to speak to him in beings and who were not a horrible, ridiculous people. This is weird.
I just, you know, the idea that the rich or the empowered could go and create versions of themselves to whom those they don't want to deal with are directed. Oh, sorry, Riley. I know you have an issue here, but don't call me. Speak to my clone.
Speak. Yeah, I mean, that's, you know, I mean, you might prefer that. I can tell. No, no, no. We've been begging for an AI.
Do you have a version of you to be our new boss? Yeah, well, we met a got to it before us. Well, they're leading the way on this kind of thing. But, you know, it's just, it's like, it's like sort of going up to a door and sort of open and slightly to see what's going on behind it.
And seeing something so terrifying in terms of what it implies for when the door
is open all the way that you immediately shut it and never want to go back.
But I think this is where we're headed.
“I think one of the great hurdles of our lives is going to be getting through to real people”
and interacting with real people rather than their armies of AI of bots who will intervene on their behalf. And frankly, many people won't even know that it's a bot. It's creepy story. It's in the financial times today.
Read it. Don't emulate it. All right, well, that's it for today. Thank you very, very much. We'll follow all these stories.
We've got a big, full leak of experts on all of our podcasts. We've got a big, fast-standing, interesting stuff. And we will connect with you on all of that. Very soon. Until then, thanks, Mita.
Thanks, Riley. This is the real DJR signing off. Thank you.
