The DSR Network

Republicans leaking about the midterms are growing more alarmed. One GOP operative in Iowa says this: “It feels like it could be a wipeout.” In story after story, Republicans are confiding about their mounting panic. A GOP pollster who privately told donors that the Senate might hold was mocked by Republicans themselves as “delusional.” Meanwhile, over the last few days, Trump has unraveled in a series of panicky Truth Social posts. In one, he ranted at length about how great the economy is and ordered Americans to “VOTE FOR REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES.” In several other posts, he raged at the media for reporting “Fake Polls” while not reporting all the fabulous economic news. We talked to Melissa Toufanian, managing director at the progressive firm Navigator Research, which has done interesting polling on Trump supporters who now regret their vote. She explains what’s really happening with voters in red states with big races, what focus groups reveal about how Trump-backing constituencies see him now, and why politicians from both parties should listen carefully to what voters are really telling them.

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On the DSR Daily for Monday, we break down the results of the Trump/Xi meeting, Trump attempting to cancel $810 million of congressional spending, Trump’s planned meeting with AI leaders, and more.
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A few days ago, Donald Trump exploded in an extended tirade at news organizations. Why? Because they had suspended TV pool coverage of him to show solidarity with three news outlets he’d banned from the White House. This resulted in no TV footage of his reception of Xi Jinping at the White House. Trump absurdly raged that news orgs were trying to deny him coverage of a major success. But in saying this, he actually revealed that he badly needs the attention of news outlets. Without this attention, he shrivels. His fury shows that if news orgs collectively join together to resist things like his press ban—which has now been blocked in court—it can actually work. We talked to Paul Waldman, author of a good piece on Trump’s diminishing stature. We discuss the ways Trump’s power is a media creation, why this saga shows we need more collective institutional resistance to him, and what that might look like as he keeps shrinking. (After we recorded, Trump banned just CNN more narrowly, excluding it from Air Force One, but it’s unclear whether that will last.)

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Are the United States and China entering a new era? Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington has been all over the news in recent days, and for good reason. Between trade, climate challenges, and the growing role of the tech industry in politics, US-China policy is shaping the geopolitical landscape as we know it. Jessica Chen Weiss, David M. Lampton Professor of China Studies at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies, joins David Rothkopf to discuss the current state of US-China relations and the optics behind Donald Trump’s meeting with Xi Jinping.

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On the DSR Daily Live for Friday, Tara McGowan joins us to discuss Trump’s extravagant dinner with Xi Jinping, the White House reinstating access to banned outlets, new polls ahead of the 2026 midterms, and more.
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