Background Briefing: July 15, 2020

On By gram

 

Since Trump Blew Our First Chance, We Have To Contain Covid Now Because We Won’t Get a Third Chance

We begin with our nation in the lethal grip of ignorance and stupidity as states led by pro-Trump dolts like Florida’s governor see record coronavirus infections as the country, led by a serial liar and spectacular fool who wishes away the deadly scourge while advising American to drink bleach to cure Covid, leads the world in deaths and infections. John Barry, a professor at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and author of the bestseller The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History joins us to discuss his article at The New York Times “The Pandemic Could Get Much, Much Worse, We Must Act Now: A comprehensive shutdown may be required in much of the country.” We assess what can be done to make up for the lack of national leadership in the face of a worsening crisis as the pandemic grows across 39 states, many in the Red State Sun Belt. With Trump having blown our first chance to contain the virus, we are now faced with a second chance to get the growth of the virus under control, because unless we get it right now, we will not get a third chance.

 

Instead of Antifa, Police Should Focus on the Boogaloo Bois Who Are Killing Cops to Start a Civil War

Then with the release of an extensive cache of law enforcement documents and communications known as the “Blue Leaks” which show how federal, state and local law enforcement are influenced by the top-down drumbeat from Trump and AG Barr demonizing the leaderless Antifa group as the main threat instead of far-right extremists some of whom like the Boogaloo movement are killing police to start a civil war in America. Ryan Devereaux, an award-winning investigative journalist who covers national security and criminal justice at The Intercept where he has an article “Leaked Documents Show Police Knew Far-Right Extremists Were the Real Threat at Protests, Not ‘Antifa'”, joins us.

 

How Newt Gingrich Changed the GOP Into a Party of Nasty Disrupters

Then finally we speak with Julian Zelizer, a Professor of History and Public Affairs at Princeton University and the co-host of the Politics and Polls podcast and a CNN Political Analyst, joins us to discuss his latest book Burning Down the House: Newt Gingrich, the Fall of the Speaker, and the Rise of the New Republican Party. We discuss how Gingrich has not just influenced Trump but has changed the GOP into a party dominated by nasty disruptors who don’t legislate but attack with ruthless partisanship in pursuit of power without principle.   
Burning Down the House