Background Briefing: March 3, 2019
Deutsche Bank’s Shady Relationship with Donald Trump
We begin with the many mentions of Deutsche Bank in Michael Cohen’s testimony before the House Oversight Committee last week and investigate Trump’s ties to the only major bank willing to lend him money after defaulting on loans with his many bankruptcies. David Enrich, the Finance Editor of The New York Times and author of the forthcoming book “Unti on Deutsche Bank”, joins us to discuss the likelihood that congressional investigators will now focus on Trump’s dealings with a bank which has been sanctioned with large fines for money laundering. We will trace the history of this 150 year-old bank which helped the Nazis build Auschwitz and later pursued Wall Street riches, and in doing so, decided to back a self-promoting real estate promoter Donald Trump who most banks had blackballed. We will examine Deutsche Bank’s role in manipulating markets, violating international sanctions and laundering money for Russian oligarchs as well as the mysterious death of its American executive Bill Broeksmit, considered the conscience of the bank, who was found hanged in his London apartment.
How Democrats Can Re-Define “Socialism” Against Republicans
Then with Bernie Sander’s huge rally in Brooklyn and the gathering of Democratic candidates on Sunday in Selma, Alabama, we look into the growing number of candidates entering the race to replace Donald Trump and speak with Mike Lux, the President of American Family Voices and co-founder of Progressive Strategies whose latest book is “How to Democrat in the Age of Trump”. He joins us to discuss how best to neutralize the orchestrated Republican attack on progressive candidates labelled as socialists with socialism being defined as what is happening in Venezuela. He argues the candidates should focus on the reality that social democracy in Europe and next door in Canada has raised living standards for all citizens while in America we have socialism for the 1%.
Trump Vows to Strip Funding if Campuses Don’t Support What He Calls “Free Speech”
Then finally with Trump’s announcement at CPAC in the midst of a two-hour rant of grievances mixed with delusions over the crowd size at his inauguration, along with un-presidential obscenities, we examine Trump’s vow to issue an executive order that could strip colleges of funding if they don’t’ support what he calls “free speech”. Robert Jensen, a professor in the School of Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin and author of “Arguing for Our Lives: A User’s Guide to Constructive Dialogue”. joins us to analyze what free speech on campus means.