Background Briefing: May 30, 2024
Why We Should Care About the Trump Trial and, With the Tail Wagging the Dog, Biden Has to End the Gaza War, Which Netanyahu Plans to Continue for Seven Months
We begin with Israel’s National Security Advisor announcing that the war in Gaza will go on for at least another seven months, which could prove fatal to Biden’s re-election chances as Netanyahu has him twisting in the wind as the tail wags the dog and Biden’s red lines become meaningless. Joining us is Ryan Cooper, the Managing Editor at The American Prospect. He is the co-host of the Left Anchor podcast as well as the author of How are You Going to Pay for That? Smart Answers to the Dumbest Question in Politics. We discuss his latest articles at The American Prospect, “Why You Should Care About the Trump Trial” and “Joe Biden’s Dithering in Gaza Gets Absurd: The Netanyahu regime is making a mockery of American policy.” We also get an update on the New York trial with the jury, deliberating Trump’s fate for a second day, having reached a verdict, which presumably will be guilty given there is no hung jury. We discuss what appears to be a learned helplessness on the part of the Democrat Party and its supporters who have internalized the idea that Trump is immune from negative coverage. What if Obama or Biden were to be found to have paid off a porn star they had sex with to help get elected? The Republicans would go to DEFCON 5 and the press would pile on with a cacophony of indignation and calls for impeachment, making the Clinton-Lewinsky affair seem G-rated.
The War in Ukraine Has Gone From a Proxy War to a NATO Conflict
Then, with Putin threatening nuclear strikes on small Western countries with dense populations, we assess how the war in Ukraine has gone from a proxy war to a NATO conflict with Russia not so much the winner, but a spoiler. Joining us is Robert Young Pelton, an author, filmmaker, journalist, and explorer. He is the publisher of Dangerous magazine and has a first-hand perspective on the war on terror from direct contact with the world’s most infamous jihadi, rebel and insurgent groups. His books include: The World’s Most Dangerous Places, Come Back Alive, Three Worlds Gone Mad, Licensed to Kill: Hired Guns in the War on Terror and his autobiography, The Adventurist. He is working on a documentary about Jared Kushner’s secret deals ahead of the Abraham Accords, which lined Trump’s son-in-laws’ pockets.