Background Briefing: March 26, 2025
Heading Into the Generational Fight Against MAGA Fascism
We begin with alarming statements coming from pro-Democracy activists abroad that “Washington has already fallen” and accept the challenge that beyond winning the next election, we’re in for a generational fight against MAGA fascism and need to create a transnational anti-fascist movement as massive demonstrations against autocrats in Serbia, Hungary and Georgia show us the way. Joining us is Lincoln Mitchell who teaches in the political science department and the school of international and public affairs at Columbia University. His latest book Three Years Our Mayor: George Moscone and the Making of Modern San Francisco will be published on April 8 and he is also the writer of the popular Substack “Kibitzing with Lincoln.”
Can Social Security be Saved From Musk’s Wreck Then Rob?
Then we examine whether Social Security can be saved before Musk destroys the program which has been unfailingly paying retirement benefits already paid for by recipients since 1940. Joining us to discuss the urgent need to push back against Musk, who is moving fast to break Social Security by wrecking then robbing it, is Michael Hiltzik, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and columnist at Los Angeles Times. He received the Pulitzer Prize for articles exposing corruption in the entertainment industry. Currently he writes a twice-weekly column covering business and economic issues relevant to life in California. His books include The New Deal: A Modern History and Iron Empires: Robber Barons, Railroads, and the Making of Modern America and his latest book is Golden State: The Making of California. We discuss his latest article at the LA Times, “Acting commissioner’s disastrous reign shows that Social Security needs protection from Trump.”
Trump’s Executive Order to Rig Elections in His Favor He Claims Have Been Rigged Against Him
Then finally, with Trump issuing an Executive Order to rig the elections he previously claimed had been rigged against him, we speak with David Daley is the author of Antidemocratic: Inside the right’s 50-year plot to control American elections, as well as the national best-seller Ratf**ked: Why Your Vote Doesn’t Count, which has been credited for kickstarting the national movement to reform redistricting. He is the former Editor-in-Chief of Salon, a senior fellow at FairVote, and has taught political science and journalism as a fellow at Wesleyan University, Boston College, Smith College and the University of Georgia.