Background Briefing: October 30, 2022
After Being Demonized by Trump and Republicans, Pelosi Was Targeted by a “Stop the Steal” Q-Anon Follower
We begin with the home invasion attack on the husband of Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House who is third in line as head of state behind the president and the vice president. Having been demonized by Trump and the Republicans, Pelosi was sought after by the mob that stormed the capitol calling out to kill or capture Nancy and the Q-Anon and “stop the steal” follower who bludgeoned Paul Pelosi with a hammer, he also was calling out “where’s Nancy”. Joining us is Wendy Via, the President and Co-Founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism and we discuss the warlike dangerous descent of our divisive political discourse and the lust for violence being stoked by Trump and spread by the reactionary right wing techno-capitalists who control social media. Wendy’s work focuses on the effects of extremism on our society, systemic racism, economic inequality, immigration, criminal justice reform, and LGBTQ rights and previously she was the Chief Communications and Development Officer at the Southern Poverty Law Center.
In the Name of Free Speech, The World’s Richest Man Just Turned a Public Company Into His Own Private Media Megaphone
Then we look into Elon Musk’s final $44 billion acquisition of Twitter which he tried to get out of and for which he overpaid and speak with Jacob Silverman, a contributing writer for The New Republic and a contributing editor for The Baffler, covering tech and national security. He’s the author of Terms of Service: Social Media and the Price of Constant Connection, and he often writes about the politics of tech, privacy, surveillance, and media, and is currently working on a book about cryptocurrency. We will discuss his latest article at The New Republic, “The Quiet Political Rise of David Sacks, Silicon Valley’s Prophet of Urban Doom” and his latest article at The Baffler, “Musk of the Spheres: Elon’s doomed-to-succeed Twitter buy.”
How America Was Saved From Trump and How the GOP May Save Putin
Then finally we speak with David Rothkopf, a columnist for The Daily Beast and the founder and CEO of The Rothkopf Group, a media company that produces podcasts including Deep State Radio, hosted by Rothkopf. He is the author of a number of books including Traitor: A History of American Betrayal from Benedict Arnold to Donald Trump. His latest book, out this week, is American Resistance: The Inside Story of How the Deep State Saved the Nation, and we discuss his article at The Daily Beast, “Putin’s Last Hope to Win in Ukraine Is a GOP Victory in November.”