Welcome to Beg to Beg to Differ,

The Bullworks Weekly Roundtable discussion featuring civil conversation across the political spectrum.

We range from center left to center right.

I'm Mona Charon, indicated columnist and policy editor at the Bullwork, and I'm joined

by our regulars Linda Chavez of the Niskanin Center and

Damon Linker who writes the sub-stack newsletter Eyes on the Right. Bill Galston had a

travel snafu today so the Bullworks own Will Salitan is sitting in for him and our

special guest is Benjamin Wittis co-founder of the Lothar site and also a senior

fellow at the Brookings Institution,

among many other titles.

So welcome, one and all.

This was a week in which you could say

that two reckless sociopaths on the world stage were backed into

corners and responded with dark threats.

One was Vladimir Putin and we'll get to him and the other was of

course Donald Trump. So let's begin with Trump. He had three major legal setbacks this week.

First, having requested a special master,

in the case of his having absconded with classified documents to Maralago.

The special master, Judge Raymond Deary,

put matters on a fast track, which

is exactly what the Trump team was hoping would not happen, and also demanded that Trump's lawyers show proof

that he had to classify documents in his possession which they had not done.

...