Background Briefing: November 12, 2024
The Greatest Failure of Federal Law Enforcement in History Thanks to Garland, McConnell and Roberts
We begin with the greatest failure of federal law enforcement in American history and look into how, if Trump had faced accountability for his crimes, he may not have appeared on the ballot, let alone be given so much power to enact political revenge. Joining us is Ankush Khardori, a senior writer for POLITICO Magazine and a former federal prosecutor at the Department of Justice, where he specialized in financial fraud and white-collar crime. We discuss his latest article at POLITICO, “Trump Got Away With it – Because of the Biden Administration’s Massive Missteps.”
Senator Murphy Agrees With Bernie That Democrats Have Abandoned the Working Class
Then we assess the extent to which the Democrats lost because as Bernie Sanders has said, “It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them.” We discuss seconding of this analysis coming from Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, “when progressives like Bernie aggressively go after the elites that hold people down, they are shunned as dangerous populists. Why? Maybe because true economic populism is bad for our high-income base.” Joining us is Jeet Heer, a national affairs correspondent for The Nation and host of the weekly Nation podcast, The Time of Monsters. He also pens the monthly column “Morbid Symptoms” and we discuss his latest article at The Nation, “Bernie Sanders Is Right: Democrats Have Abandoned the Working Class.”
Saudi Arabia and Iran Get Closer in Anticipation of a Trump Presidency
Then finally we assess the extent to which Saudi Arabia and Iran are getting closer with the military heads of the two rival countries meeting as the Saudi leader MbS calls what is happening in Gaza “genocide” at a summit of Arab leaders he is hosting. Joining us is Adam Weinstein, a the Deputy Director of the Middle East Program at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. A former Marine deployed to Afghanistan in 2012, he previously worked as a senior law and policy analyst at the National Iranian American Council.