Background Briefing: November 19, 2020

On By gram

 

Trump is Trying to Steal the Election in Plain Sight

We begin with Trump’s attempted theft of the election now in plain sight as he tries to prevent the certification of election results in Michigan in the hope the Republican legislatures in Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona and Georgia will follow suit and deny Biden enough Electoral College votes to overturn the will of the people. To that end Trump has invited a dozen Republican members of the Michigan State Legislature to the White House on Friday for a meeting after having “reached out” to two Michigan Republican canvassers Monica Palmer and William Hartmann who initially voted against certifying the results this Tuesday, deadlocking the Wayne County board of canvassers, 2 to 2.  After they backed down, Trump called them supposedly to thank them for their support, then surprise, surprise, the pair have now signed affidavits saying they want to rescind their certification of Wayne County’s results. Brian Kalt, the Harold Norris Faculty Scholar and Professor Law at Michigan State University and author of Constitutional Cliffhangers: A Legal Guide for Presidents and Their Enemies, joins us to discuss how American democracy now rests on how corrupt and cynical Republican lawmakers are.

 

The Consequences of a Strike on Iran Trump Requested

Then we speak with Juan Cole, Professor of Modern Middle Eastern and South Asian History and author of Muhammad: Prophet of Peace Amid the Clash of Empires and author of the blog Informed Comment where his latest article is “Trump’s Requested Strike on Iran Could Kill More People Than Atomic Bombing of Nagasaki.” We assess how much the man-child in the Oval Office who is sulking and stewing over the election he lost, is prepared to salt the earth and tie Biden’s hands with reckless and destructive moves that could have devastating consequences.

 

How to Stop “Truth Decay” and Build a Reality-Based Community in Post-Truth America

Then finally, we speak with Jennifer Kavanagh, director of the Strategy, Doctrine, and Resources Program at the RAND Arroyo Center who leads RAND’s Countering Truth Decay initiative who has an op-ed at The Los Angeles Times “How Biden can stop ‘truth decay’ and restore the public’s faith in politics.”