The “Five Dollar Footlong-Gate” Edition

Rational Security

The Lawfare Institute

Foreignpolicy, Nationalsecurity, News, Government, Politics, Middleeast

4.8 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 20 July 2023

⏱️ 65 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott got together to NOT talk about that ONE big story that's not quite ripe yet. (You know the one. It involves sandwiches.) But they did chat through some of the week's other big national security news, including:

“Against the Grain.” Russia backed out of the Turkey-facilitated Black Sea Grain Initiative this past week, which had allowed much needed Ukrainian grain to arrive in markets, largely in the developing world. Now not only is that avenue cut off, but Russian forces are attacking grain facilities in Odessa, threatening the global food supply. How does this brutal act fit into Russia’s global strategy? And how should the United States and its allies respond?
“It’s a War on War.” The culture war is now taking on actual war, as House Republicans have passed a National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) laden with provisions that target Defense Department policies relating to abortion, DEI, and LGBTQ+ issues — measures that are certain not to make it through the Democrat-controlled Senate and may end up putting the annual bill at risk of not being passed at all. How big is the risk of such an impasse? What could it mean for U.S. national security?
“Coups are Like Pancakes.” Earlier this week, the New York Times published a report about how former officials in the Trump administration are declaring the first Trump administration a mulligan and outlining plans to dramatically expand presidential power and purge the executive branch if and when Trump returns to the White House for a second time. How seriously should we take these proposals? And what would they mean for democracy if implemented?

For object lessons, Alan plugged the most unlikely Netflix documentary, “Tour de France: Unchained.” Quinta noted Haaretz's entirely unprecedented story about Israel's inability to get cultural artifacts that it had lent to the Trump administration back from Mar-a-Lago where they appear to have somehow ended up. (The report is unclear on whether they are being kept in the bathroom or ballroom.) And Scott got back in the cocktail game by flagging the brilliantly weird (and somewhat ominously named) cocktail, the "Growing Old and Dying Happy is a Hope, Not an Inevitability.”

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	So, Scott, I have reason to believe that you are uniquely situated to provide insight
0:06.6	onto the ongoing investigation that's being conducted by a special counsel, the Wizard
0:12.2	himself, Jack Smith, into Donald Trump, because you, I hear, have eaten at the subway that
0:20.9	is at the center of this week's national conversation.
0:24.6	What does it all mean, Scott?
0:26.2	Tell us please.
0:27.2	It's a big sign, it's a sign that Jack Smith is hungry for justice, that he appreciates
0:35.1	a good value.
0:36.9	You know, anybody who has worked at any of the city or federal court has an DC, is probably
0:42.7	eaten at that subway a dozen times, because I'm 98% sure it's the specifics of way I'm
0:47.4	thinking of, because there are so few places to eat near the courthouse that are half decent
0:52.2	that are like carry outable.
0:53.7	I'm notoriously, I actually quite like subway for their breakfast sandwiches, where you
0:57.2	can get like an egg sub and just make it your own, it sounds good, but you're vegetarian,
1:00.7	it's kind of great.
1:01.7	And so I have notoriously kind of sweet talk slash bully the people who work there and
1:06.0	the serving me the breakfast menu for lunch, at least half a dozen times, with like 50%
1:10.6	success rate.
1:11.6	I myself am a double chicken salad guy at subway.
1:15.0	I want to, I want to see Jack Smith at one of the little food trucks that's around the
1:19.8	mall that are right there, like maybe getting like a popsicle, like an ice cream bar.
1:25.0	The dream, I will say the meatball sub is a ballsy move, which is what I understand
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Lawfare Institute, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Lawfare Institute and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.