transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:00] To stay up to date on all the news that you need to know, there's no better place than right here on The DSR Network. And there's no better way to enjoy The DSR Network than by becoming a member. Members enjoy an ad-free listening experience, access to our Discord community, exclusive content, early episode access, and more. Use code DSR26 for a 25% off discount on sign up at thedsrnetwork.com. That's code DSR26 at thedsrnetwork.com/buy. Thank you and enjoy the show.

Speaker 2:
[00:54] Hello, and welcome to The DSR Daily. I'm David Rothkopf, your host, joined by your other host, Riley Fessler, Minnestein. We're gonna look at the news. Who's gonna kick us off?

Speaker 3:
[01:06] I'm gonna start us today where we start most days with Iran. A US delegation led by JD Vance is set to hold new peace talks with Iran in Islamabad, but Iran has not confirmed participation as a fragile ceasefire nears expiration. Fears among Gulf states have intensified after comments by Dmitry Medvedev were made, insinuating that the Iran-United States talks appear to focus too much on the Strait of Hormuz and not enough on achieving broader regional de-escalation. And with all of that being said, this morning, Trump said he does not want to extend the ceasefire with Iran, arguing the US is in a strong position and expects to secure a favorable deal. So...

Speaker 2:
[01:59] Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You know, he says one thing, he says the other thing, he was on CNBC, he's like, I'm not going to extend, but it's going to be a great deal. It'll be good for them. It could be great for them. You know, he sounds a little bit like, you know, some snake oil salesman because he's a snake oil salesman. And he wants a deal, he desperately wants a deal, but he wants to appear tough. So he's got to talk out of both sides. He's got to say, oh, this great deal, it's going to be great for them. It'll be great for us. It's going to happen any minute, but we'll bomb the hell out of them if it doesn't happen so that I have leverage, so that I could get to the great deal because I really want out of this deal. And if I don't get out of this deal, then I'm going to have real problems here at home. And this is kind of more existential for me in the Republican Party than it is for Iran because Iran knows they can wait us out. But I don't want to acknowledge that. Also, I don't want to look bad. So I want to be able to say that something good is coming out of this whole thing. And so I'm going to go and I'm going to present it this way and then the people will buy it because they always buy what I say because I'm a great salesman. And it's going to be a great deal. And what a great day it's going to be. And then I'm going to go on and I'm going to take Cuba next. And if that sounds just like a whole lot of bullshit, that's because we're in the whole lot of bullshit phase of Trump trying to extricate himself from a mess of his own making. I mean, also on CNBC this morning. And why did he go to CNBC? What do you think he was doing? Who did he want to talk to? Didn't want to talk to Fox. He want to talk to the markets, right? He wants to tell the markets, calm down, calm down. Everything's going to be fine. But the markets are kind of like, dude, we know you're going to get out of it. You're going to pull out of this thing sooner or later. So, we're a few months ahead of you. Anyway, the Iranians haven't said they're going to show up yet. So, how do we know that this is actually going to turn into anything sometime soon? We don't. Could be a few days, could be a couple of weeks, could be, oh, we're making progress. I'm going to extend, even though I said it wasn't going to extend. Could be, bomb, bomb, bomb. Now, let's try again. It's unclear. What is clear is that they want to get out of this thing. That is been our position and we remain with the position. The fact that they sent JD Vance again is a sign that they're serious about this. So, we'll keep an eye on it and we'll talk about it. We'll talk about it on Deep State Radio tomorrow. We'll talk about it on A Need to Know this week. We'll talk about it in a variety of places to give you expert perspectives. But let's move on to another story.

Speaker 1:
[04:48] Another cabinet official is gone. Labor Secretary Laurie Chavez de Riemer has resigned from the cabinet following a wave of, you guessed it, misconduct allegations ranging from a favor of this cabinet, an affair with a subordinate, to misuse of staff for personal errands, as well as another favorite of being drunk on the job. While she officially transitions to a private sector job and attributes investigation and nervous contact to deep state actors, not us, not affiliated with us, Deputy Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling has been tapped to lead the department in her absence.

Speaker 3:
[05:30] They're coming for our brand.

Speaker 2:
[05:32] Well, let them come. We're not actors. We're the real thing. But as far as this goes, Riley's right to point out there's a pattern here. Drunken, corrupt, incompetent, abusive, people getting caught up in their drunk and corrupt and competent abuse. Oh, with sexual abuse side effects too. And not just, by the way, in her case, but also in the case of her husband. One does have to observe that Trump has let go three people in his cabinet in the course of the past couple of weeks, and they've all been women. And there's so many deserving men. I mean, Cash Patel, he should have been fired long ago. He should never have been hired. He's a dead man walking. He's not going to be around much. Pete Hegs, I guess they're afraid to fire this incompetent, also drunk, also with the sexual abuse history, et cetera, et cetera, in the middle of this thing. RFK Jr., complete raving lunatic. I predict they'll all be fired before the end of the year, but it is kind of weird that Trump feels compelled to fire women first. It kind of reflects his misogyny and his overall weakness and so on.

Speaker 3:
[07:06] Yeah, I was going to say, is it weird, though? I feel like...

Speaker 2:
[07:10] No, no, this is all very much in keeping with Trump and company.

Speaker 3:
[07:16] Well, we're going to take a mid-story break to talk about something that might give us some help, so some brevity, or not brevity, a breathing moment.

Speaker 2:
[07:27] I thought you said we're getting for levity.

Speaker 3:
[07:30] Levity or a breathing moment, which I combined into one word, which was brevity, which is not what I meant.

Speaker 2:
[07:37] Yeah, well, that happens. That happens. Someday too, you could be president and it'll happen all the time. Anyway, please, don't let me stop you.

Speaker 3:
[07:45] Virginia voters will decide today whether to temporarily redraw the state's congressional districts, a move that could shift Virginia's house delegation from a narrow Democratic majority to as many as 10 Democrats and give Democrats a strategic edge in the national battle for house control amid Trump's redistricting push. Well, redistricting isn't good, but in today's world, that's considered good news.

Speaker 2:
[08:13] Yeah, well, look, at this point, with the country poised at the precipice of disaster, with a lunatic corrupt incompetent running the country, anything that gets us closer to Democratic control, constraints on the president and the ability to control local events, which happen to also end up controlling elections, that's good news. And so let's hope, Knockwood, spit, spit, that the people in your parents' adopted home state of Virginia do the right thing in this election and that we have some good news tonight because, God knows, we could really use it.

Speaker 1:
[08:59] Well, The Onion has a new scheme to take over Infowars, which is a story close to my heart, and we know they tried it before and a judge slapped it down.

Speaker 2:
[09:10] Because you're a big Infowars fan?

Speaker 1:
[09:12] Because I'm a big Onion fan.

Speaker 2:
[09:14] I was on Infowars once.

Speaker 1:
[09:17] I didn't know that.

Speaker 2:
[09:18] I was on one of those shows once. Anyway, go on.

Speaker 1:
[09:23] Well, they have a new scheme. Supposedly, this time it will actually work to acquire Infowars and turn it into a parody site, which it somehow already isn't. This new deal will provide financial support for the Sandy Hook families, the families of victims, though Alex Jones continues to legally resist this takeover. As a reminder, the whole reason this is happening is because he got sued into oblivion and had to liquidate all his assets to pay off these families.

Speaker 2:
[09:56] Because he was lying. Right, because he was lying and said it was all fake. He is one of the worst people who ever lived, and any bad things that happens to him is a good thing for the world. But having said that, the idea that The Onion will take it over and take something that was a source of misinformation and hate and turn it into something that's a source of parody and humor and a pleasure for all of us, that also at the same time, tweaks with every moment of its existence. Alex Jones, all the Infowars listeners, it's beautiful. It's just one of those little moments, a little bit of poetry in our day. We'll give a little bit of a spring in our step. It's good news. Mena, what's your last story?

Speaker 3:
[10:45] I'm closing the loop on our stories. We're ending back with CNBC. Donald Trump said, he said this to CNBC, that he will remember companies that choose not to seek refunds for tariffs he imposed that were later ruled illegal by the Supreme Court.

Speaker 2:
[11:04] But I don't understand, is he saying he's going to remember them like watch out, or he's going to be grateful because they didn't seek the refunds?

Speaker 3:
[11:11] I think he's insinuating that if you don't seek the refund, there'll be some like a favor or a reward for not seeking the refund.

Speaker 2:
[11:20] Yeah. So right. It's usually when he says, I'll remember you, it's negative. But in this particular case, it's like, hey, let us keep the money that we illegally took, and there'll be some other benefit for you in the long run. You've already passed the cost on to your consumers, so they're already fucked. So why don't you let the government keep the money and then we'll, I don't know, give you some other regulatory goody. This is corrupt. It's horrible. It's on brand. And because there are so many big, giant, awful stories in our day, this smaller, nonetheless ugly story is going to fall through the cracks. But I'm glad you brought it up because it does show how this president and this country works in so many ways to make our lives miserable and undermine our institutions and do the wrong thing whenever they can, whenever they have the opportunity to do the wrong thing, they do it. Well, that's it for today. Good luck, Virginia voters. Do the right thing, Virginia voters. And of course, we've got a whole variety of different kinds of podcasts coming your way. And if you don't subscribe to us on YouTube, please subscribe to us on YouTube. And I did a podcast yesterday for The Daily Beast. You can go and look at that at The Daily Beast channel. And we've got sub stacks. We got all sorts of things for you. So when you need a lift or you need reality or you'd like an expert perspective, visit us at thedsrnetwork.com or The DSR Network on YouTube or other social media platforms. Until soon, Riley, Mina, see you later. Bye bye, thanks.