From 2009 to early 2017, Ben Rhodes was side by side with Barack Obama, helping to formulate

and sell his foreign policy to the country and the world.

But now, more than three years later, Rhodes is disillusioned by everything that has happened

since, the rise of authoritarian regimes, the harsh and brutal suppression of dissent,

and the bloody conflicts that still ripped through the Middle East, most notably of late

the horrific violence between Israelis and Palestinians, a clash that has divided the Democratic

Party.

But perhaps nothing has left Rhodes more depressed than what has taken place in this

country, with a Republican Party that is still so wedded to Donald Trump that GOP senators

on Friday blocked passage of an independent commission to investigate the January 6th assault

on the US Capitol.

We'll talk to Rhodes about his current state of depression and his new book after the

fall on this episode of Skull Duggery.

On my Galicia Gov Chief Investigative correspondent for Yahoo News.

And I'm Victoria Bacetti, a fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice.

It is pretty striking to listen to Ben Rhodes, a guy who, after all, was a spin doctor for

a president who got elected on the promise of hope and change.

Talk about the world and the country now that when you hear him and you read what he's

writing in this book, he seems almost devoid of hope and a path to changing the world back

in the direction he wants it to go.

And I got to say, as we talk, as we tape this on Friday, just minutes after the Senate

voted down the January 6th commission, we've not able to get the 10 Republicans needed

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