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Hello, welcome to the DSR Daily.
“I'm David Rothkuff, I'm joined by Riley Fessler, and I'm going to stay and we're looking at what's going on in and around the world today.”
Mina.
Iran launched missile strikes with cluster warheads on Tel Aviv, saying it was retaliation for Israel's killing of senior official Ali Lerjani, as the conflict continues to escalate.
The widening war between Iran and Israel in the United States has caused thousands of deaths disrupted global oil flows through the state of Hormuz, and driven sharp increases in energy prices.
“With both sides rejecting ceasefire efforts in regional attacks spreading officials warn of growing risk of global risks to global stability, including economic shocks and potential nuclear dangers.”
That's obviously shaken you up quite a bit, but we're three weeks into this thing, almost, and Trump seems each and every day to desperately be looking for an off ramp. Of course, he has discovered which everybody knew, which that which everybody knew, and that is he doesn't get the only vote in this thing, and Iran will determine how it intends to play it. He also thought he was going in doing an air war, and now there's, you know, challenges because Iran is decided to wage economic war in the state of Hormuz to strike all the countries in the region periodically.
And so on, Trump in a sort of act of desperation, you know, throughout a true social post this morning, which essentially said, "Well, what if I just left?" And then all the countries that care about the state of Hormuz can clean up that, and, you know, of course not in any way acknowledging that he and he alone started this war. But of course, that doesn't actually work because the way the global economy works is that disruptions in oil flows cause oil prices to rise no matter where you get your oil from.
They cause food prices to rise because everybody depends on fertilizer, and they cause markets to go down and they cause recession. And of course, that doesn't have anything to do with what Iran chooses to do in terms of unconventional or even conventional forms of warfare. So what other kinds of attacks there are, do they go after embassies as they seem to be doing? Do they choose terrorism? Trump threw the on switch, feeling like it was pretty sure he could throw the off switch against the advice of a lot of the people around him.
And now it's desperately, you know, it's like he's hit my off button and it just won't work. Why people don't do this kind of thing? Is it a fiasco? Yeah, it's a fiasco. Rather, Senator Mark Wayne Mullin is testifying before congressional committee today as he seeks confirmation lead the Department of Homeland Security under President Trump. The former MMA fighter and veteran lawmaker was a tab to replace Christi now following him. Only in only in America, do you get to describe somebody as the former MMA fighter and veteran lawmaker and that's what makes the country so great.
It does, you know, did he go to college?
It does. Exactly. Well, he was an MMA fighter. This is only in security. If bad guys come here, folks, he could kick their butt.
“And he's actually threatened to do that in mid congressional or Senate testimony not too long ago. So what a guy and what an interesting hearing this should be.”
Sorry, Riley, didn't mean to interrupt you. Mullin faces the immediate task of navigating a funding impasse that has caused airport security shortages while defending the administration's signature mass deportation policies. If the committee advances his nomination, a full Senate vote later this month will determine if he takes the helm of the sprawling agency.
Yeah, should anybody who cares about the future of, I don't know, the United States first amendment freedoms like the ability to demonstrate publicly.
“The rule of law, due process are standing in the world. Should anybody have the people care about those things vote for this, dude? Of course not. Of course not. It'll be interesting to see whether he gets a single Democrat vote.”
Lions that he will. Why? Because he's in the Senate and Senators, I don't know. It's a club and they all get sort of intoxicated with being collegial with one another even though this guy is, you know, a fuck who has no business being in the Senate or getting this job. Well, see, and of course, if he doesn't get confirmed, Trump will just put some acting person in charge of it for a year and you know, that's impossibly far in the future in Trump's mind and he'll just say okay, don't have to worry about that under the next thing.
You know, the way to do it that regard to all of this, particularly if any of you are planning to fly anywhere, is when, you know, funding will be restored to this agency, because the delays now, TSA delays and airports and things like that are huge and getting longer hours and hours and hours of waiting in line for TSA, Democrats keep going up and saying, well, we'll fund that we're just not going to fund ice until there are these changes. There is a crack in this, though, and word has been passed from the White House to a couple of key moderate Republican senators that the White House was willing to agree to certain concessions like police officers will or officers of these agencies will be identified.
“What of the concessions that they agreed to make was not to deport American citizens?”
That's a concession. Yeah, I mean, it's like that's illegal. They don't have the right to deport American citizens, but that's one of the concessions, which gives you a sense of just has sincere, this is, although the fact that they're offering a list like this suggests they would like to get out of the mess.
They'd gotten themselves into because, hey, are you paying attention?
Literally every single step this administration has taken since it took office, but all the steps that has taken in 2026 have blown up in their faces. They're on one of the biggest longest losing streaks any administration in US history, but I'm sure there's more to come. Well, our next story is going to back up what you just said. Prove you actually know what you're talking about. That shut down affected. Many people, many people who know me thought that was impossible, so let's go.
Here to set the record straight, a shutdown affecting the transportation security administration has led to severe staffing shortages with officials warning that some US airports could be forced to close if unpaid workers continue to call out. The partial government shutdown tied to a political standoff over immigration policy has left TSA agents working without pay, causing resignations and absentee rates to surge. As disruptions worse than and long security lines grow, airlines and officials are urging Congress to reach a deal before air travel is significantly impacted, even more so than it already is.
Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't. I mean, the idea of waiting in line for like four hours to get through TSA just on untenable, unappetizing, uneverything. But that's where we are, and as I said, the impasse doesn't look like it's going to end anytime soon because of course the areas where
Democrats demand concessions given the behavior of eyes, the administration s...
The Mullen testimony will obviously focus on that, and Mullen will testify as Trump appointees tend to, performing for one guy and one guy only, and that's Trump.
Will he then say inflammatory things saying, well, this is on the Democrats and this shutdown is on you and, you know, we need you're making this country more, you know, at risk in a time of war.
“Yeah, he'll say all that. Will that make the situation worse?”
Probably. Probably. We'll see if I know what I'm talking about, but my guess is this, this, this, the tension will rise. Following his testimony. By Amazon, we come to know how I've worked every year, four thousand five hundred euros per week.
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Carrie Lakes attempts to dismantle the agency arbitrary and capricious. The ruling found that Lake lacked the legal authority to effectively shut down the network and had ignored a clear congressional intent to fund and maintain its global broadcasting operations. During her tenure, Lake significantly reduced a VOA's language services and sought to be aligned its editorial voice. Setting a twenty twenty five executive order focused on minimizing the agencies at footprint. While the decision restores full-time staff and leadership, hundreds of contractors remain in limbo.
As their cases must be resolved through separate administrative labor courts. Yeah, again, you know what we're seeing now, a year later, is a lot of the impact of the crazy decisions of dosing the administration early on. And their whole approach was clear, we're going to fire people, we're going to shut things down. Of course, I don't do this later on, we will have disrupted things a lot. And, you know, of course, had they gone to the Congress, which seems to be willing to do whatever they want.
And, you know, had a debate and ended the funding for these things the way it's supposed to be done.
“We wouldn't be going through this. Where does this all lead?”
It leads to dysfunctional agencies, and of course, a lot of hardship and the life of people who are serving the US. But, as we have also seen in the case of USAID, it damages not only our standing in the world, but leads to millions of deaths, and all likelihood around the world. In the case of this agency, this is one of the principal tools we have to deal with countervailing narratives of authoritarian regimes.
It is an extremely important role in US diplomacy. It has always been highly valued.
And, of course, it was just shut down. And, that's a story that we've seen throughout the government. I do think it's worth everybody remembering just how draconian and crazy and stupid and damaging. Elon Musk and Doge and the cuts that were made in this administration's first days really were.
“Because now, you know, Elon's off doing his own thing, and we're like, "Oh, yeah, I don't really remember all that."”
It was really, really bad, a real case of, you know, it's malfeasance in governance by the president and those closest to it. Daniel Biss won the Democratic primary in Illinois's 9th congressional district, despite facing scrutiny over past controversies,
Including acknowledging an inappropriate relationship with a former student a...
His victory highlighted a broader split between progressives and moderate Democrats, as candidates like Donna Miller and Melissa Bean,
“also won with support from heavily funded, more pro-Israel aligned groups.”
The races were shaped by major outtides spending and sharp divisions over Israel policy, underscoring ongoing ideological tensions within the Democratic Party. Yeah, I mean, his victory was a defeat for a pack. The victory of Melissa Bean, a comeback was funded by a pack money. A pack is seen as toxic to an increasing number of Democratic voters.
And for good reason, because they are supporting policies that are not in the U.S. national interest. They're supporting policies that have led to genocide and war throughout the Middle East. They are a malignant force in U.S. politics in my view. And I was good to see kind of split decision on this, but it also reveals just how dysfunctional our political system is that entities with very narrow agendas can come in and spend millions and millions of dollars
to try to influence outcomes and to effectively influence those outcomes. Another group that was trying to do this in these illinois primaries were crypto groups that have been very active and trying to get legislators who would allow their activity. They did very poorly as well.
In fact, one analysis I saw said that 14 million dollars are something that was put into these races
by a pack and the crypto groups only about 2 million of it are 3 million paid off and the rest of the money didn't work. That's good news. It's good news that special interests are not at least fully able to pick or influence who's in the United States Congress at this point, but they still have too much influence
“and campaign finance reform is an absolutely essential structural form in the United States”
if we are ever to get back to anything like being a functioning democracy. Is that it? Is that all you've got? For today at least.
Well, keep an eye in the congressional hearings, keep an eye on the war in Iran, keep an eye
and how it spreads around the world, keep an eye on Trump who, you know, we pick headlines because there's specific stories, but I don't know if you guys watched his press conference yesterday with the leader of Ireland. This Trump is broken. You know, it's often set, but if he was your grandpa, you would be having him seen by a neurologist.
You'd put him in his slippers, in his PJs, be able to watch the TV. He was watching the TV last night because he clearly watched the baseball game between the United States and Venice. Well, which, an interesting geopolitical twist, and the Venezuelo beat the heavily favored US team.
“How did Trump respond to that? Did I, either of you see it?”
I did not see. Don't say Nazi like that in this context. But the Trump, thanks for laughing at that. Trump, that's good. Trump said he'd put out a two or tweet, the one word with exclamation points was "statehood."
That was his response. And playing Venezuela should now be made a state, as we've taken it over in. Since they won this, maybe they should be a US state. Watch what, watch what, what, what he may have in mind right, right Cuba folks. Since he fears the Democrats coming in and trying to make DC in Puerto Rico a state,
this may not be a big joke. Anyway, there's all this stuff to keep an eye on. We've got our flagship, deep state radio podcast later today. So go and tune into that words matter tomorrow. The Daily Show from the TNR that we do.
We've got lots of stuff coming your way.
Stand by, and we'll keep you up to speed.
Thanks for now, Riley. Minna. Bye-bye.
“Have you ever read this school from school?”
Or have you ever read it from school?
No, not at all. How can I read it? Do you have any idea? Yes, exactly.
How can I read it from school?
Do you understand?
How can I read it from school?
How can I read it from school? How can I read it from school?
