Background Briefing: February 21, 2024
Increasing Signs That Christian Nationalists Plan to Impose an American Theocracy
We begin with the increasing signs of the rise of American theocracy with a theocratic Supreme Court in Alabama ruling that frozen embryos are people and to think otherwise invites “the wrath of God,” Mike Johnson’s invocation of God at a House Republican retreat over the weekend that turned into a sermon not a strategy meeting and reporting from Politico that reveals Trump’s choice for a Chief of Staff is an ardent Christian nationalist Russell Vought who would radically change the US from a democracy to something akin to the government in Iran. Joining us is Amanda Marcotte, a feminist author, blogger, and a politics writer for Salon. She is the author of Troll Nation: How The Right Became Trump-Worshipping Monsters Set On Rat-F*cking Liberals, America, and Truth Itself, and we discuss her latest article at Salon, “Donald Trump may not believe in God, but he still plans to turn America into a Christian theocracy.”
Evidence That The Source For the “Biden Crime Family” Case is a Dissembler Working for Russian Intelligence
Then we examine the evidence now emerging that the source for the House Republicans and Fox News’s impeachment case against the so-called “Biden crime family” is a dissembler working for Russian intelligence. Joining us to discuss Putin’s increasingly brazen use of assassination with Navalny killed to coincide with the Munich Security Conference is Robert Baer, one of the most accomplished agents in CIA history, and a winner of the Career Intelligence Medal. He is the author of four New York Times bestsellers, including Sleeping With the Devil: How Washington Sold Our Soul For Saudi Crude. He is considered one of the world’s foremost authorities on the Middle East and is an intelligence and national security affairs analyst for CNN and his latest book is The Fourth Man: The Hunt for a KGB Spy at the Top of the CIA and the Rise of Putin’s Russia.
A Plan to Reinvent Our Polarized and Dysfunctional Government
Then finally we explore a plan to reinvent the polarized and dysfunctional US government to make our democracy more representative and functional. Joining us is Maxwell Stearns, a Professor of Law at the University of Maryland Carey School of Law. He has authored dozens of articles and several books on the Constitution, the Supreme Court, and the economic analysis of law. His latest book, out soon, is Parliamentary America The Least Radical Means of Radically Repairing Our Broken Democracy.