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Rational Security

The “Anniversary Hot Take Takedown” Edition

Rational Security

The Lawfare Institute

Politics, Nationalsecurity, Government, Middleeast, News, Foreignpolicy

4.82K Ratings

🗓️ 7 September 2022

⏱️ 77 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott were joined by co-host emeriti Ben Wittes and Shane Harris for a very special anniversary edition of Rational Security that pits their national security hot takes up against each other.

Which of the following takes will the team find to be "too hot," which "undercooked," and which "just right"?

  • Americans (and especially progressives) will regret reviving the prospect of disqualifying people under section 3 of the 14th Amendment.
  • Over the next year, there will be a windfall of information regarding unidentified aerial phenomena, including some pointing to possible extraterrestrial origin.
  • A President Ron Desantis won't be as dangerous as President Donald Trump.
  • Russia's terminal decline presents one of the greatest threats to global security.
  • American democracy will be saved by social conservative minorities voting for the Republican Party. 

For object lessons, Alan endorsed his favorite children's book about affectionate penguins (of many), "I Like it When" by Mary Murphy. Quinta recommended Garret Graff's new eponymous book on Watergate, "Watergate." Scott urged D.C. area residents to visit Wheatland Spring Farm and Brewery on their next trip out to Purcellville, VA, and try their "Land + Waters" farmhouse ale for a true taste of Virginia. Ben thanked Scott for supporting him through his crippling dog shirt addiction, even though that support has now reached its limits. And Shane recommended a non-spy book by "the American LeCarre" Charles McCarry, entitled "The Bride of the Wilderness," as well as the famous used bookstore where he bought it: "The Bookstore" in Lenox, MA.


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Transcript

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0:00.0

So Ben and Shane, you have now over the past year gotten 52 or if you're about as

0:06.8

inefficient as we are, perhaps as many as 78 hours of your life back from not

0:11.2

viewing rational securities week, what have you done with that time to make it

0:14.9

worthwhile? Wordal. I've seen your Twitter. I know that's true. I have

0:21.6

entertained unreasonable requests and demands from law fair contributors and

0:27.5

editors, including me under after the security two point out a few times. No, it's

0:34.6

just it frees up more time to not answer emails. Excellent. You filled the empty

0:41.9

space with more empty space. That's correct. That's pretty zen. The real

0:46.4

question is do you to approve of what we've done with the joint? After after a

0:50.5

year, after a full year, now you know you've you have observed the wasteland

0:54.6

that is rational security two point out the smoldering ruin of your creation.

0:58.5

Sit in judgment. Alan has some tacky yard up on the wall. I've got a light

1:03.1

up saying Polly's girl sign Quentin's got marks volumes stacked up in every

1:07.4

corner. Like we have made a mess of this clubhouse. You guys are this was like a

1:11.0

very loaded question to me, I will say, but no, I think I like what you've done

1:15.0

with the place. I just want to say that the only response to this question is to

1:22.5

pour myself some scotch. Oh, and it is not just scotch. It is game of thrones.

1:29.7

Wow. Wow. Somebody sent us years ago during the Trump administration a game of

1:37.7

thrones house of Targaryen, Cardo, Gold Reserve, single malt scotch. And I think

1:44.4

the only way to sufficiently change the subject rather than answer this

1:49.0

question, which would require that I either praise or criticize is to pour.

1:54.6

This is how my father used to deal with the same problem. Just take a long long

...

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