Background Briefing: December 4, 2025
France’s Fifth Government in Three Years Collapses as the Far Right in Europe Rises
We begin the collapse of France’s fifth government in three years fueling the rise of the far right National Rally party while Germany’s nativist AfD party grows in strength and the UK’s ruling Labor Party blows its mandate losing voters as fast as the anti-immigrant Reform Party gains them. Joining us is David Broder, a historian of the Italian far-right. He is a regular contributor to the New Statesman and Internazionale as well as the Europe editor for Jacobin. His books include The Rebirth of Italian Communism: Dissident Communists in Rome, 1943-44, First They Took Rome: How the Populist Right Conquered Italy and, most recently, Mussolini’s Grandchildren Fascism in Contemporary Italy. We discuss his op-ed at The New York Times, “They Were Supposed to Save Europe. Instead, They’re Condemning It to Horrors.”
A Film That Takes You Inside the Battlefield Under Russian Fire as Ukrainian Soldiers Fight and Die Defending Their Land Putin Claims As His
Then we speak with the filmmaker whose powerful documentary puts the audience inside the battlefield under Russian fire as Ukrainian soldiers fight and die defending their land Putin claims as his own. Joining us is Mstyslav Chernov is a Ukrainian photojournalist, filmmaker, war correspondent and novelist known for his coverage of the Revolution of Dignity, War in Donbas, the downing of flight MH17, Syrian civil war, Battle of Mosul in Iraq and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, including the Siege of Mariupol, his video materials of which became the basis of his film “20 days in Mariupol.” An Associated Press journalist, the President of the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers and a member of “Ukrainian PEN,” he has been wounded several times while working in war zones and has both won and been a finalist for numerous awards, including having shared the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2023. His new documentary, just out, is “2000 Meters to Andriivka” which just premiered on PBS Frontline and is now available to stream online.
Trump Breaks Records Pardoning Crooked Congressmen, Scammers, Embezzlers, Fraudsters and Fanatics
Then finally, with Trump pardoning crooked congressmen, scammers, embezzlers, fraudsters and fanatics in record numbers, we will speak with Casey Michel, the Director of the Combating Kleptocracy Program at the Human Rights Foundation, as well as a writer, analyst, and investigative journalist working on topics ranging from kleptocracy, illicit finance, dark money, foreign lobbying, and foreign interference to the legacies of Russian and Soviet colonialism. He is the author of American Kleptocracy: How the U.S. Created the World’s Greatest Money Laundering Scheme in History and Foreign Agents: How American Lobbyists and Lawmakers Threaten Democracy Around the World. His forthcoming book is United States of Oligarchy: How America’s Wealthiest Ally with Dictators, Weaken the U.S., and Destroy Democracy.