Month: August 2024

The FBI Cracks Down on American Kremlin Propagandists as Russian Election Influence Operations Ramp Up

We begin with FBI raids on the homes of Scott Ritter and Dimitri Simes and investigate the Kremlin’s influence operations underway to help reelect Trump and hurt the Harris/Walz campaign. We discuss the Justice Department’s efforts underway along with Canada and The Netherlands to take down 968 inauthentic accounts the Russians have created pushing Kremlin propaganda on social media accounts using commercially available artificial intelligence tools. Joining us is Casey Michel, the Director of the Combating Kleptocracy Program at the Human Rights Foundation, as well as a writer, analyst, and investigative journalist working on topics ranging from kleptocracy, illicit finance, dark money, foreign lobbying, and foreign interference to the legacies of Russian and Soviet colonialism. He is the author of American Kleptocracy: How the U.S. Created the World’s Greatest Money Laundering Scheme in History and Foreign Agents: How American Lobbyists and Lawmakers Threaten Democracy Around the World, his new book out next week.

Last Night’s Star Turns at the DNC From Tim Walz and Kenan Thompson on Project 2025

Then we look into last night’s rousing speech at the DNC by Tim Walz during which his son tearfully pointed to the VP nominee and said “that’s my dad”, an endearing moment the MAGA world is viciously ridiculing. Joining us to discuss last night and preview tonight at the DNC is Jacob Heilbrunn, the Editor at the National Interest and a non-resident senior fellow at The Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center. His books include They Knew They Were Right: The Rise of the Neocons and America Last: The Right’s Century-Long Romance with Foreign Dictators, and we discuss his article at The National Interest, “Project 2025: The Real Star of the Democratic Convention.”

Trump’s Anti-Semitic Attacks on Governor Josh Shapiro

Then finally we speak with David Klion, a Brooklyn-based writer and a contributor to The Nation, The New Republic, Jewish Currents, and other publications. He is working on his first book, a reconsideration of the history and legacy of neoconservatism and we discuss Trump’s attack on Governor Shapiro as the “highly overrated Jewish Governor” and posting on Truth Social that “Shapiro has done nothing for Israel, and never will. Comrade Kamala Harris, the Radical Left Marxist who stole the nomination from Crooked Joe, will do even less.”.