DSR Daily July 7: The Curious Case of the Missing Mitch McConnell

Really? I'm talking about my story, total.

“The story, how do you feel about the story?”

Yes, I have a lot of time to experience it. Do you have connections or texts? No, just like the story. Wow, that's easy. Yeah, the taste is all automatic.

I feel so completely different. It's exciting. Hold your money to go. Upgab is 31 years old. What?

I'm talking about the story with the story. Oh, yeah. Hello, and welcome to DSR Daily. I'm David Rothkoff. I'm joined by Riley Fessor.

Oh, my god. He showed up for work.

Well, that's a breakthrough.

Right there. That's news. And Minestine. Who's always here? Because Minestine is dedicated,

and Riley is a deletment. No. Couldn't have said it better myself. Yeah. No.

You're not a deletment.

“I was really enjoying time in America's Heartland for our 250th anniversary.”

Did you celebrate the 250th in Dayton? I did.

I went to our Americana Festival, which is very fun.

And I have to say, I didn't see any omega gear while I was there, which absolutely stunned me. So perhaps the worm is turning. Perhaps nature is healing. Yeah. Nature is healing.

Beautiful. You put that in a beautiful way. And in the Midwest, like, where they don't really have, like, the stuff that we have in cities. Like, what do you do? Like, light a sparkler and have a piece of shortcake, and that's kind of the old deal.

No, we have a big street festival in my hometown, which is apparently the biggest single day festival in Ohio. And it was pretty fun. Apparently Will Ferrell was spotted in my hometown while I was there promoting some Netflix thing. And I don't know if that's true. It's an unconfirmed rumor, but I like to believe that he was there.

And he'd like used to be a TV star, like what 20 years ago. And films Will Ferrell come on. No, no, I'm giving these movies. I know my wife and my wife loves Will Ferrell. I find him stupid.

All right. We should get to, we should get out of, sorry. Sorry, everybody. I'm sure you love Will Ferrell.

“But why do we get to the news, which is really what we do here?”

Well, I'm starring a soft with a weird, weird story before we get into more serious stories. Prominent MAGA figures are demanding that Senator Mitch McConnell's AIDS provide proof that he is still alive. Nearly a month after being hospitalized following an apparent cardiac arrest. His team's lack of detailed updates has fueled widespread speculation, including claims that he is in a vegetative state. And allegations that his office is hiding his condition to avoid a trigger special election.

Although Senator Mike Lee stated that lawmakers knew nothing about the situation. Senate Majority Leader John Thun said that McConnell sounded good when they spoke shortly after his admission to hospital. And you can include me on the list of prominent MAGA figures demanding some kind of proof. Did you feel the same way when Representative Tom Kane disappeared for six months? Yes.

Yeah, probably crazy, but I don't think our members of Congress should just disappear for months at a time without explanation. Yeah, my sister sent me something last night and it was a very tasty joke, given that Mitch McConnell's a dead story step. But she said that she had heard that Mitch McConnell known to everybody as the turtle has just entered rigor tortoise. Riddle? That's pretty funny, I thought. I'd like Mitch McConnell's one of the most evil figures in modern American political history.

He more than any other person is responsible for our corrupt Supreme Court in the stripping away of our rights. He who's allegedly despises Trump and I'll take him at his word that he does. He also supported him and didn't stand up to him and could have pushed through with impeachment. Think of Mitch McConnell in the wake of January 6th said, "No, we got to impeach this guy." Think of our lives. Think of how different it would be.

But he didn't because, you know, he is not just a Republican operative, but, you know, sort of mindless party robot. But, you know, who also celebrated things like, I don't know, the Confederate flag and the white supremacist roots of the of the party. I do think it's a little weird that within hours of his having whatever he had a stroke or heart attack or both his wife was spotted in China. I mean, she didn't rush to his side, but, you know, it's it's all a very weird story and it says something better time.

I'm actually going to bring down the mood next.

That's not unusual for you. It's not. Debbie Garner.

“But, I am going to talk about something that is disappointing, but not surprising.”

Main Democrat Senate candidate Graham Platner faces widespread calls to end his campaign after a woman he previously dated.

And your campaign. Yes, sorry publicly accused him of a 2021 sexual assault top Democratic leaders like Chuck Schumer, Kristen Gillibrand and Elizabeth Warren quickly rescinded their endorsements and demanded his immediate withdrawal from the pivotal race against incumbent Republican senator Susan Collins. The main Democratic party in high profile representatives like Rokana have also pulled their support with Senate leadership explicitly threatening to cut off all campaign funding if Platner remains on the ballot.

You know, we have a policy here again saying, I told you so on our podcast. So let's just have 15 seconds of silence.

“During that 15 seconds, that's where we would have said we told you so over and over and over again because when you're running for a job like the US Senate.”

They're just certain little red flags that people ought to pick up on like, oh, I have a Nazi tattoo.

I don't like that there is no excuse for a Nazi tattoo folks. I was dumb and drunk and young young is done excuse for having a Nazi tattoo. It may be if you're trying to get a job in a bar, but not if you're trying to get a job in the Senate. And also in the Democratic party and frankly, everywhere you are, you know, we have a motto right, which is believe the women. So when these reports come out, you know, believe the women. Okay, over and over and over again, it was clear that this was a terrible candidate.

But there were some people who were really dug in on it and they also began to use these techniques saying, well, okay, if you're going to criticize him for something small like being a Nazi, you must be in a pack. I mean, if fucking kidding me, it's a Nazi tattoo. He didn't remove it. He had it on his body for his whole life side one point. He thought, oh, yeah, I'll have this for my whole life. Okay, and it's just good rinse. You're done, Graham. You're cooked.

“Stick a fork in it. Go back to oyster fishing. You did it with a week to spare because I think you have to the 13th of July and Maine Law to put somebody else on the ticket.”

Find somebody good who can beat Susan Collins. And by the way, if you listen to our show last week with Simon Rosenberg and Tara McGowan, the need to know show, it looked like platinum was losing ground and was going to lose. It wasn't that he was also such a super strong candidate to flood. Okay, at all the people, you know, I was good to see some of these prominent Democrats who had backed him say, I was wrong. I withdraw. It's it's important on it, say you made a mistake move on. I know you never liked you never liked Graham Platten or did you write. I mean, before his 8,000 controversies, I thought it was good, but each each controversy kind of was a big blow to my enthusiasm. I have to say, huh.

Well, that's just your paying attention. All right. Well, you probably have a story. You know, I've got a story about our wonderful president, which this might be the longest we've gone without covering him. Did you do to do to do to do to do to do to do, which is crazy. Yeah, I would we would have sound effects. You know, like in our radio show you've a sound board somebody says, it ailment of the cheap marketplace. We don't have you doing the sound effects. I don't need that. No, no, that's just me. I'm just doing them in the background, but people don't know. They think it's probably high tech. It's not it's just me.

Amen. Hey, it's David and I hate to interrupt the podcast, but I want to tell you some exciting news. We are now on Substack through Substack. We're going to be able to provide you with even more benefits, including live streamed episodes, access to new content ways to save money and getting content from us better quality content from us. It's a revolution. It's terrific, but it's even better than that because to celebrate, we're going to offer a special offer to new subscribers.

In other words, they cost the same. So you will essentially get two for one. That's one year of DSR or need to know absolutely free, just to take advantage of this deal.

And support us, which we appreciate, go to DSRnetwork.substack.com, or David Rothkuff, that's me, dot substack.com, and sign on for membership. And you'll get two for one.

“Anyway, thank you for your support. We are 100% sure you're going to think this is a terrific development, and that's why we're going to get as many people as possible to subscribe to it.”

And while you're at it, go subscribe to us on YouTube. So you get great videos on YouTube. The more subscribers we've got, the more support we've got, the more good independent journalism we can do. So we rely on you. We are grateful. Join us on Substack. Thanks. Well, the man himself is attending a NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey. I'm at ongoing tensions regarding his demands for European members to immediately increase their defense spending.

And new reports that he had previously considered reducing NATO troop numbers in Europe by a third to prevent the alliance from fracturing NATO leadership is working to keep Trump engaged.

As you would have talked about it. Yeah, right exactly. What did they do? They got him a coloring book, and he's sitting there and there's a whole new box of crayons. And that's like he can go and color, and everybody else will have a meeting for the grownups.

“Yeah, that's how I imagine it goes, or at least there's a lot of colors in the slideshow, but they're showcasing recent spending increases and discussing a structural shift toward a greater European security itself alliance.”

While Trump has expressed frustration with allies over the war in Iran, his positive relationship with host President Erdogan is expected to help buffer at these diplomatic strains.

Well, this morning he did a little interview that he said he wouldn't have gone to this summit if it wasn't being hosted by Erdogan. So, "Futnote, Erdogan's not a good guy, right? Erdogan's not a pro-democracy leader. The only reason Trump is at the NATO summit, therefore, is that it happens to be being hosted by one of the most authoritarian leaders in NATO.

“Yeah, it's not a good reason. He get what I'm saying. It's not a good reason. He also said that he has looked seriously at cutting at troop levels dramatically.”

And we know that there was a story circulating that Pete Hackseth had presented a big plan for that. But the military and Republicans on the hill and the law all pushed back on that. So he hasn't been able to do it yet. But watch this space. Trump's going to fuck up NATO every possible way that he can because that's kind of the prime directive from his real boss. And we may talk about the NATO summit like it's an abstraction, but it's not an abstraction NATO and the U.S. are the primary supporters of non-NATO member Ukraine, although it should be a NATO member.

And, you know, providing what it needs or should be providing what it needs to push back on the Russians who launched an attack on Ukraine and that by extension and attack on Europe. And Western democracies and Trump has done all that he could to shift the less into the pro-Russia call, cut support for Ukraine, cut support for NATO programs that help Ukraine. And it has Zelensky, a supposed to show up at this meeting, pleading for things like Patriot missile batteries to protect Ukraine against Russian missile attacks of which there have been many recently. It's a very ugly story. It is leading to real-time deaths and suffering. And it's on Trump.

He's also, you know, because he's a clownish character in addition to being a male-levelant character, doing the kind of things that make summits like this really uncomfortable, like right before he leaves posting a true social saying that he may need a restraining order to keep the Italian prime minister George and Maloney away from him. Because he earlier had lied that she was desperate to have a photo taken with him. She called out the law. He also flew there on grift force one. The plane probably knew it's way back to the Middle East just by years of training, a dog returning home. But the whole thing is ugly.

Because, by the way, Riley is the head of the standards and practices department here at the DSR network. He makes sure there is no vulgar language.

“And that we don't say anything that could get us into big legal trouble. Isn't that right, Riley?”

That's right. Yeah, but we better respect me because I can make you say anything I want really. Yeah, no, it's true. He is the puppet master. That is meant and I refer to him as the puppet master when he's not around. And we live in fear of him when the cameras are off. I do. I just even think he let him get a little nervous stomach. Well, my next story is also about Trump. So we're back in it.

Okay, this is a very, very special programming.

Yeah. All about Trump. So I hope you enjoyed your two story break. Yeah. It's now we're back. Okay. I could take it. President Trump, Clay.

“Wait, is it about how he'd like tried to cheat to have the US men's soccer team in last night?”

And they got their asses kicked. And millions of Americans who otherwise would have been rooting for our team,

but realized that if they won, and it was Trump could claim credit for it would have been discoverable, ended up rooting for the other side because Trump spoils everything. Is it, is it that story? Probably. It's not, but that is definitely a story from yesterday. That I'm glad he touched on. Yeah. My story is actually that President Trump claimed yesterday that Walmart implemented recent price cuts at the specific request of his administration to celebrate the nation's 250th birthday.

And assertion he used to counter public backlash over elevated inflation under his watch. However, Walmart issued a statement clarifying that the price rollbacks on summer staples were designed solely to help customers maximize the season, making no mention of any interaction with or involvement by the White House.

“Huh. I mean, are you saying that the president of the United States would try to take credit for something he had nothing to do with?”

It appears so in a shocking turn of events. I'm so, I'm really disappointed because, you know, he's a leader we look up to and we depend on what he says. I mean, you may have noticed that his social media platform is called true social. And you know what that means, don't you? It means that what he says is the truth. I'm right, isn't that true? Maybe I'm just big gullible. Maybe I'm just think gullible.

Good for you Walmart, shame on you, Don. What are summer staples, by the way? Like, sound block? I don't know. Beach balls. Tables. Beach balls. I consider that a staple in the summer. It is a summer staple. Oh, yes. You can buy as many beach balls as you want this summer. We're bringing the beach balls back. You can use them in the reflecting pool if you're brave enough.

If you make beach balls great again, I think there are to something there, Riley. Come on. There's got to be one more story. I've one more story and mercifully it's not about our president, but it's not to say it's a good story. Explosions at Rock of Damascus on Tuesday, wounding at least 18 people during a landmark visit by French President Emmanuel Macron to meet with a serious new president. Macron remained safe during the blast and the leaders proceeded with their meeting to sign several economic infrastructure agreements intended to help rebuild the war torn nation.

And it's a very important thing to do with the fact that the war has been changed to the new Syrian government as it seeks international legitimacy and stability following the ouster Bashar al-Assad. So that will continue to play a leading role because there is no alternative because the US is not viewed as constructive or liable and other forces like Israel or viewed as destructive. I have an article today actually in a place I write for every so often called to arts, which is the leading Israeli newspaper with an English language edition has a kind of a big reach.

And I go into some detail on how public opinion on Israel has changed so much in the democratic party among independence, but even within the republican party.

How Democrats are essentially weighing whether to cut back dramatically in the US Israel relationship the support within the relationship or to end it all together. There's no status quo, there is no mild alternative. It's going to be the biggest change that the relationship has seen and it'll begin right after the November elections. And it's going to change the way the world works and a US presidential candidate, Roman manual is going to give a speech in Israel tomorrow and he is viewed as a centrist.

And his speech is going to say Netanyahu screwed this up and there should be no more unconditional aid.

And one of the points I make is that when Roman manual says that.

“What you need to take away from that is that's your best offer Israel.”

Your options that you're going to get from US Democratic presidential candidates and some republicans. Is are going to be worse. And when I say some republicans, I mean, you know, you've had JD Vance tacking, you know, saying things need to change with Israel. But Tucker Carlson has said, you know, he's done with Israel.

So there's this kind of subset of people within the right wing that are disgusted with what happened with the Iran War.

Democrats are disgusted with that. But they're more disgusted with what happened in Gaza is happening in the West Bank.

“So lots changing in this part of the world will obviously track it extremely closely.”

Anyway, we've got all of our usual podcasts coming up. We've got to need to know later today. We've got DSR. We've got words matter. We'll have a silicone justness right, Riley.

I'm sure there's one in the office. Oh, we've got a full slate. A full slate. Riley is back from Dayton, Ohio. He had a cotton candy.

He has energized.

“Did you eat street food at your celebrations in Dayton?”

You know, I actually didn't really. I had a Cuban sandwich from a truck, which I mean, I wouldn't count that as normal street food. That's where most people go today go to Dayton, Ohio, for the Cuban sandwiches. By the way, Cuban sandwiches are great. I mean, I do want to make sure that people realize I'm not saying anything anti-cuban sandwich.

They're really good. Anyway, and when we take over Cuba, just band-to-app and soon, Cuban sandwiches for everybody, says father Trump. Yay! Okay, enough follow-through, I'll see you around. Bye, everybody.

Thanks, Riley. Thanks, Mina.