Asha Rangappa on the Iran War, Trump's Autocratic Overreach and DOJ/FBI Weaponization, the Administration's Incompetence, and How Democrats Need to Fight Back and Win in November

Asha Rangappa on the Iran War, Trump's Autocratic Overreach and DOJ/FBI Weaponization, the Administration's Incompetence, and How Democrats Need to Fight Back and Win in November

From The Back Room with Andy Ostroy by Produced by RFR and Andy Ostroy

May 31, 2026 · 45 min · Episode 510

About this episode

Asha Rangappa discusses the Iran War, Trump's autocratic overreach, DOJ/FBI weaponization, and the need for Democrats to strategize for upcoming elections.

Asha Rangappa is a lawyer, scholar, and media commentator. She’s held senior administrative and teaching roles at Yale University for nearly two decades, where her work including advising deans on governance and strategy helped guide institutional growth during periods of transition, and teaches courses on national security law, Russian information warfare, and leadership and ethics. Prior to Yale, Asha served as a Special Agent in the New York Division of the FBI, specializing in counterintelligence investigations. She's the author of The Freedom Academy, a bestselling online Substack publication that explores how to create democratic resilience in America’s social fabric, and the co-host of the legal podcast, It’s Complicated, with Renato Mariotti. Her next book, UNCOMPROMISED: Activating Your Moral Compass in an Age of Complicity, will be published in 2028. She’s a former legal and national security analyst for CNN and ABC News, and her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and other outlets. She is an editor for Just Security, a member of the Council of Foreign Relations, and a Security Fellow with the Truman National Security Project…

People in this episode

Host: Andy Ostroy

Guest: Asha Rangappa

Topics covered

  • Iran War
  • Trump's autocratic overreach
  • DOJ/FBI weaponization
  • administration incompetence
  • Democratic strategy
  • national security

Keywords

  • Asha Rangappa
  • Iran War
  • Trump
  • DOJ
  • FBI
  • Democrats
  • national security
  • politics
  • administration incompetence

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Yale University, FBI, CNN, ABC News, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Just Security, Truman National Security Project

Books & works: The Freedom Academy, UNCOMPROMISED: Activating Your Moral Compass in an Age of Complicity

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