Life in the Post-Truth World
A damning but unverified report on Trump and Russia has recently surfaced. But do the American people even care?
On this week’s episode of The E.R., David Rothkopf, Rosa Brooks, David Sanger, and Kori Schake discuss the infamous “Trump dossier” that has been the talk of the town in Washington -- less than a week before the inauguration of President Donald Trump. Though much of what is noted in the memo has yet to be verified, the panel questions whether there’s more to it than just assertions: Is the FBI in the midst of an investigation into these allegations? Why brief Trump if there is no evidence that any of it is true?
On this week’s episode of The E.R., David Rothkopf, Rosa Brooks, David Sanger, and Kori Schake discuss the infamous “Trump dossier” that has been the talk of the town in Washington — less than a week before the inauguration of President Donald Trump. Though much of what is noted in the memo has yet to be verified, the panel questions whether there’s more to it than just assertions: Is the FBI in the midst of an investigation into these allegations? Why brief Trump if there is no evidence that any of it is true?
There’s something much bigger going on here, argues the team. With everyone up in arms over the unproven misconduct of President-elect Trump, who and what are we to believe anymore? It seems that we are on the verge of a major media and truth war, which is precisely what Vladimir Putin and Trump have wanted all along.
The panel then turns to the ongoing confirmation hearings. Many of Trump’s Cabinet picks — James Mattis, Mike Pompeo, and Rex Tillerson — have evinced significantly differing views on foreign policy than the president-elect. What kinds of friction will this cause in the new administration? Or do they have the power to persuade the future president of their way of seeing things?
David Sanger is the national security correspondent for the New York Times and author of Confront and Conceal: Obama’s Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American Power. Follow him on Twitter at: @SangerNYT.
Rosa Brooks is a senior fellow at the New America Foundation and teaches international law, national security, and constitutional law at Georgetown University. She is the author of the newly released book “How Everything Became War and the Military Became Everything.” Follow her on Twitter at: @brooks_rosa.
Kori Schake is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, where she focuses on military history, and a former foreign-policy advisor to Sen. John McCain. Follow her on Twitter at: @KoriSchake.
David Rothkopf is the CEO and editor of the FP Group. Follow him on Twitter at: @djrothkopf.
Subscribe to FP’s The E.R. and Global Thinkers podcasts on iTunes.
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