Background Briefing: August 1, 2023
We had just posted today’s program before we learned that Donald Trump has been indicted on four criminal counts by a DC grand jury for the January 6th insurrection and election interference. We will cover this news tomorrow.
The GOP’s Long Quest For an Imperial Presidency. Now They’re About To Crown Trump King Donald the First
We begin with the GOP’s long quest for an imperial presidency starting with Nixon but now accelerating with frightening plans developed by Trump’s inner circle and the Heritage Foundation that envision an even more powerful imperial presidency crowning Trump King Donald the first as America’s first elected dictator. Joining us is Joseph Lowndes, a Professor of Political Science at the University of Oregon and an expert on conservatism, the Freedom Caucus, social movements, the GOP, race and elections. He is the co-author of Producers, Parasites, Patriots: Race and the New Right-Wing Politics of Precarity. And his forthcoming book is Adventures in Post-Democracy and we discuss his article at The Washington Post, “Trump wants no limits on presidential power. That’s not new for the GOP.”
What Broke the American War Machine That Now Hobbles Ukraine
Then we look into the 70-year history of the Military Industrial Complex’s consolidation, privatization, outsourcing, job cuts, federal inaction, and a hunt for larger profits that has created a perfect storm which now hobbles security assistance for Ukraine, and potentially for future conflicts as well. Joining us is Michael Brenes, Interim Director of the Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy and Lecturer in History at Yale University. He is the author of For Might and Right: Cold War Defense Spending and the Remaking of American Democracy and we discuss his article at Foreign Affairs, “How America Broke Its War Machine: Privatization and the Hollowing Out of the U.S. Defense Industry.”
How Italy’s PM Giorgia Meloni Leads the Far Right in Europe
Then finally, following Giorgia Meloni’s friendly visit to the White House last Thursday, we investigate the true face of the Italian party she leads and its fascist roots and speak with David Broder, a historian of the Italian far-right. He is a regular contributor to the New Statesman and Internazionale as well as the Europe editor for Jacobin. His books include The Rebirth of Italian Communism: Dissident Communists in Rome, 1943-44, First They Took Rome: How the Populist Right Conquered Italy and, most recently, Mussolini’s Grandchildren Fascism in Contemporary Italy. We discuss his op-ed at The New York Times, “What’s Happening in Italy Is Scary, and It’s Spreading.”