
Background Briefing with Ian Masters
597 episodes — Page 8 of 12
April 29, 2025 - Andrew Latham | Rick Perlstein | Greg Grandin
Thanks to Trump's Bullying, Bluster and Bombast the Liberals Won In Canada | A Presidential Historian on Trump's 100 Day Reign of Ruin | The Intertwined Two Americas as the Colossus of the North Exports State Terror to the South backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
April 28, 2025 - Lisa DeMio | Moira Donega | Sean Wilentz
Governor Pritzker Wows Democrats in the Key New Hampshire Primary State | Thiel, Musk and Vance's Pro-Natalist Movement Wants More Superior White Children | The Historical Comparisons Between Hilter's Rapid Extinction of German Democracy and Trump's First 100 Days backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
April 27, 2025 - Simon Shuster | Craig Holman | Gareth Gore
On the Sidelines of the Pope's Funeral, Zelensky Meets With Trump to Discuss the White House's Charade of a Peace Plan/Giveaway to Putin | Trump Orders the DOJ to Investigate Act Blue to Get Private Data on 15 Million Democratic Donors | Opus Dei and "Traditionalist" Forces Inside the Catholic Church Maneuver to Replace a Pope They Hated With a Reactionary backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
April 24, 2025 - Jacob Heilbrunn | Jameel Jaffer | David Graham
Why Should Putin Accept Trump's Peace Deal When He Can Wait for Him to Walk Away as Promised? | One-By-One News Organizations are Caving to Trump's Extortion | Inside Project 2025 and the Right Wing Zealots and Culture Warriors Who Crafted the Roadmap For Trump backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
April 23, 2025 - Fred Turner | Olga Lautman
The Incredible Shrinking Billionaire Who is Destroying Our Government Blames Tesla's Sales Slump on "Paid" Demonstrators | Vance Announces a Shameful Sellout Of Ukraine Allowing Russia to Conquer and Subjugate What Putin Could Not Win on the Battlefield backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
April 22, 2025 - J.W. Mason | Kate McElwee | Malcolm Harris
Trump's Self-Inflicted Wound on Our Economy as Overseas Investors Retreat from Treasuries and the Dollar | An Update From Rome on the Conclave With Cardinals From the Global South in the Mix For a New Pope | On This Earth Day Strategies For Collective Political Action to Make Climate Change the Unifying Crisis of Our Time backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

April 21, 2025 - Kenneth Briggs | Frances Kissling | Lawrence Korb
Sadness Around the World at the Death of a Good Man, Pope Francis | The Gap Between a Tolerant and Empathetic Pope and the Reactionary Male-Dominated Institution He Headed | Another Scandal From the White Nationalist, Racist, Book-Burning Reality TV Hire of Trump's at the Pentagon backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
April 20, 2025 - Charles Kupchan | Justin Wolfers | Jake Werner
Putin's Brief Easter Ceasefire and Trump's Warning he Might "Take a Pass" if a Russia/Ukraine Peace Deal Can't be Made | Trump Threatens To Fire the Chairman of the Fed Which He Can't Do But That Won't Stop Him From Trying | In Picking a Trade War With China, Trump Might End Up With a Real War backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
April 17, 2025 - Bruce Fein | Bill Scher | Scott Kennedy
The Looming Constitutional Crisis as Trump Continues to Defy the Supreme Court and Federal District Courts With "The Dog Ate My Homework" Excuses | A Little-Noticed FEC Ruling Opens the Door For the Next Frontier of Plutocracy | The Tariff War Trump Has Launched Against China That He Will Surely Lose backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
April 16, 2025 - Edward McCaffery | Nancy Altman | Craig Unger
Trump Appoints Another Unqualified Hack as the Deliberate Destruction of the IRS Continues | The Deliberate Destruction of Social Security With Biden the Wrong Person to Lead the Effort to Save it | An Assessment of Rumors about Witkoff's Ties To Russian Money-launderers backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
April 15, 2025 - Ryan Enos | Aram Shabanian | Nader Hashemi
Harvard Stands up to Trump Then He Hits Then For $2.2 Billion and Threatens Their Tax-exempt Status | Trump's Escalating War on the Press as he Threatens CBS Over an Accurate 60 Minutes Report on Ukraine | A Professor Who Just visited His Postdoctoral Student in an ICE Detention Camp backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

April 14, 2025 - Ben Wizner | Ana María Méndez-Dardón | Steven Simon
Is Trump Using El Salvador's Techno-Autocrat Bukele as an Excuse to Defy the Supreme Court? | Trump and Erik Prince's Plans to Rendition 100,000 Prisoners from American Jails to El Salvador | The New Hegemon in the Middle East: Israel backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
April 13, 2025 - Manuel Pastor | Stephen Walt | Christopher Whipple
How to Ruin a Country | From a Nation of Immigrants to a Nation of Hate, Xenophobia, Exclusion and Cruelty | An Inside Look Into the Fateful Campaign That Brought Back Trump to Finish Off America Host: Ian Masters Producer: Graham FitzGibbon Assistant Producer: Asher Price
April 10, 2025 - Joseph Stiglitz | Barry Eichengreen | Christopher Meissner
Trump's MAGA Economy Driven by Greed, Stupidity and Cowardice | Will Trump's Weakening of the Dollar Lead to a New Global Reserve Currency? | The Hollow Nature of Trump's Promise of Gain After the Pain backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
April 9, 2025 - Robert Hockett | Matt Gold | Gregory Brew
Trump's Amateurism on Display or is He Shorting the Market for His Family and Cronies? | An Assessment of the Amount of Damage Ahead From Trump's Trade War | Today's Drop in Oil To $56 From $72 a Barrel Last Week and What Kind of a Deal Could Emerge Between the US and Iran on Saturday? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
April 8, 2025 - Barry Naughton | Trita Parsi | Alexander Sammon
Chinese Response to 104% Tariffs and Insults From Vance | Trump Announces Talks Between Iran and the US in Oman on Saturday | Trump's DOJ Will No Longer Stop Crypto Scams and Cyber Command Will No Longer Stop Ransomware Attacks backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

April 7, 2025 - William Cohan | Mike Lofgren | Michael Kazin
Trump Urges Americans Not to Be "Weak or Stupid" as the Meltdown on Wall Street Continues | Who Benefits From Trump and Musk's Deliberate Destruction of the American Economy, Our Government and Our Standing in the World? | Saturday's 1,200 "Hands Off" Demonstrations in American Towns and Cities and Others Around the World backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
April 6, 2025 - Denver Riggleman | Stephen Wertheim | Karthik Sankaran
Trump's Looney Girlfriend Purges the NSC and NSA | The Future of NATO and a Europe Without the US | In Search of a Methodology Behind the Economic Lunacy of Trump's Tariffs? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
April 3, 2025 - Jeremi Suri | Sarang Shidore | Jonathan Cohn
The Growing Grassroots Revolt Against the Slash and Burn of the American Government, Our Institutions and Our Democracy by Trump and Musk | Trump's Broadside of Tariffs Amid a Blizzard of Lies From the Rose Garden | After Trump, Musk and RFK Jr. Have Purged Scientists, Researchers, Innovators and Experts, Who Will Make America Great Again? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
April 2, 2025 - Richard Parker | Jonathan Guyer | Simon Billenness
Hope on the Horizon for Democrats | Trump's Erratic Middle East Policy as He Threatens to Bomb Iran While Israel Annexes Gaza | Will the Earthquake in Myanmar Spell the End of the Military Junta? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
April 1, 2025 - Michael Martin | Matthew Klein | Michael John Williams
Thanks to Musk, the US is Not Helping the Victims of the Earthquake in Myanmar Because There Are Only 15 Employees Left at USAID | Who Will be Freed on Trump's "Liberation Day" Tomorrow When We'll All Be Paying More? | More Nuclear Proliferation as Europeans Plan to Develop Their Own Nuclear Deterrent and Tactical Battlefield Nukes backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

March 31, 2025 - Paul Pillar | Henry Giroux | Lloyd Green
Is Trump Bluffing With Nuclear Threats Against Iran or Does he Want to Nuke Their Underground Nuclear Facilities | Trump and Stephen Miller are Borrowing From the Argentine Junta, Pinochet and the Nazis | A Former Republican Opposition Researcher on Republican Vulnerabilities and How the Democrats Can Up Their Game backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

March 30, 2025 - Harold Meyerson | Aziz Rana
Trump's Top Aides Dig the Hole Deeper on Signalgate Speaking Lies on Behalf of Power | An Examination of the Emerging Resistance and How the Only Pathway Out of Institutional Collapse as Our Democracy is Destroyed is on the Left backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
March 27, 2025 - Annelle Sheline | Thomas Bollyky | Ruth Conniff
Team Trump's Amateurs and Incompetents Exposed on the Signal Group Chat Prepare to Bomb the Houthis Again, Maybe This Time With "Clean Opsec"? | RFK Jr's Brutal Cuts to HHS as His Quackery Harms Kids From Cod Liver He Recommends Instead of a Measles Vaccination | Are We About to See a Defeat of Musk in Wisconsin After Successfully Buying the White House, the Senate and the House? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
March 26, 2025 - Lincoln Mitchell | Michael Hiltzik | David Daley
Heading Into the Generational Fight Against MAGA Fascism | Can Social Security be Saved From Musk's Wreck Then Rob | Trump's Executive Order to Rig Elections in His Favor He Claims Have Been Rigged Against Him backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
March 25, 2025 - Jacob Heilbrunn | Gregory Treverton | Samuel Moyn
The Trump Team Group Chat Revels VP Vance is Running the Presidency Along With Stephen Miller | Incompetent and Unqualified Heads of US Intelligence on Display Before the Senate Intelligence Committee Today | The Courts Will Not Save Us Since They Got Us Into This Mess backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

March 24, 2025 - David Phillips | Asher Kaufman | Olga Lautman
Trump Greenlight's Erdogan's Crackdown While Musk Removes Turkish Opposition Content on X | The Strategy Behind Netanyahu's Resumption of His War on Gaza | The Pathetic Asymmetry Between Seasoned Russian Diplomats and Intelligence Professionals Negotiating Against Trump's Real Estate Buddy Witkoff
March 23, 2025 - Fred Turner | Robert Suettinger
Musk's Ungoverning Tactic of "Wreck Then Rob" | Inside the PRC's Secretive Internal Leadership Struggles Between Reformers and Reactionaries backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
March 20, 2025 - David Bateman | Ken Vogel | Alex Isenstadt
The MAGA Trump/Vance Takeover of American Education Using Money to Control Minds and Eradicate Intellectual Inquiry | Trump and the GOP Aim to Cripple the Left by Defunding Democrats and It's Underway | Vengeance Drives Trump As He Tears Down People and Institutions backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
March 19, 2025 - Marci Shore | Michael Gorham | Henri Barkey
Could Massive Demonstrations Against Despots and Kleptocrats in Serbia and Hungary be a Model For the US to Get Rid of Trump and Musk? | Russia Claims Victory After Trump's Call With Putin Who Paid No Price For Rejecting Trump's Ceasefire Deal | Will Erdogan Get Away With the Brazen Jailing of the Leader of Turkey's Opposition? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
March 18, 2025 - Omar El Akkad | David Faris | Simon Rosenberg
As Netanyahu Renews His War On Gaza, We Challenge the Comfort Zone of What is Happening in Distant Lands | As Musk and Trump Tear Through the Fabric of American Society, the Days of Choosing Between Gutless Liberals and Callous Conservatives are Over | What Kind of Opposition Will Emerge at This Critical Moment For the Survival of American Democracy? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

March 17, 2025 - John Nichols | Jonathan Zimmerman | Nader Hashemi
A Growing Grassroots Opposition Movement to Catch up to the Damage Musk and Trump Are Doing | Musk's Gutting of the Department of Education Before Trump Abolishes it | The Bombing of the Houthis as a Prelude to a "Peace" Deal With Iran Meant to Deliver Trump a Nobel Prize backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
March 16, 2025 - Malcolm Nance | Aram Shabanian | Sidney Blumenthal
March 16, 2025 - Malcolm Nance | Aram Shabanian | Sidney Blumenthal by Ian Masters
March 13, 2025 - David Enrich | James Galbraith | Ben Burgis
The Strategy Behind Trump's War on the So-Called Legacy Media | An Assessment of How the Senate Democrats Might Extricate Themselves From the Government Shutdown Trap | Having Decided Chuck Schumer Is No Longer Jewish, Trump's Conflation of Terrorism, Anti-Semitism and Anti-Americanism backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
March 12, 2025 - Tom Mockaitis | Robert Creamer | Michael Swaine
With Trump Attacking Free Speech on Campuses, Expect Patel and Bongino to Order the FBI to Round Up Trump's Critics and Those on Patel's Enemies List? | The Dilemma Senate Democrats Face Whether to Vote For a Bad Bill or Stand up to Trump and Musk and Risk a Government Shutdown | Trump's Losing Strategy of Wooing Putin Away From Xi and Musk's Outsized Influence Over China Policy backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
March 11, 2025 - Matt Gold | Margo Schlanger | Mihir Desai
Trump's Escalating Trade War Against Canada Has the Business Roundtable He's Meeting With Nervous | Trump Tries to Deport a Student Protester With a Green Card He Labels as "Pro-Terrorist, Anti-Semitic and Anti-American | As Tesla Stock Plunges by 40%, the World's Richest Man is Beginning to Feel a Reversal of Fortune backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

March 10, 2025 - Lisa Graves | Jacob Silverman | David Halperin
The Courts are the Only Remaining Barrier to MAGA Fascism | The Threat to the Dollar and the Brazen Corruption of Trump's Strategic Bitcoin Reserve | Trump's War on Education will Create an American Idiocracy backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
March 9, 2025 - Scott Horton | Anders Aslund | Mike Albertus
Trump's March 6 Executive Order Signals His Revenge Tour in Underway With Bondi, Patel, Bongino, Ratcliffe and Gabbard as the Executioners | An Update on How Ukraine is Surviving After Trump Cuts Off Intelligence And Arms | As Trump Eyes Canada, Greenland and Gaza, Climate Change Will Lead to Land and Resource Grabs
March 6, 2025 - Orville Schell | Andy Kroll
The Similarities Between Trump and Musk Tearing America Apart and What Mao Did to China in the Cultural Revolution | An Assessment on How Much the Musk Assault on Government is Performative as Our Reality TV President Governs By Stunt backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
March 5, 2025 - Dr. Allen Frances | Alex Lawson | Karen Greenberg
Trump and Musk's Blitzkrieg Coup Underway to Replace American Democracy With a Plutocracy | Trump Laid the Groundwork to Destroy Social Security With Last Night's Deliberate Demonization | Will the People Wake Up and Boot Out the Wrecking Crew Before Our Electoral System is Rigged? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
March 4, 2025 - Lucan Way | Dean Baker | Corey Brettschneider
Trump's Assault On Our Friends and Neighbors As He Rewards Our Enemies | How the Tariffs Will Hit Working and Middle Class Americans With a $3,000 Tax Hike | What Will the Democrats Do Tonight at the SOTU in the Face of a Blizzard of Trump Lies? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

March 3, 2025 - Anna Merlan | Casey Michel | James Thurber
The Trump White House Follows the Kremlin Model Elevating Conspiracy Theorists, Propagandists and Far Right Influencers to Deliver the News | The Grift and Corruption at the Heart of Trump's Sellout to Putin | The Republicans Have Decided to Sacrifice the House in 2026 to Give Away the Store to the Plutocracy Music: Lloyd Cole & The Commotions - Rich Exuma – Subway Bound For Hell backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
March 2, 2025 - Angela Stent | Stephen Crowley | Natalie Melnyczuk
Zelensky, Who Wants to Make Peace, Gets Steamrolled By Trump Who Wants to Make a Deal | Will Trump's Capitulation to Putin Improve Ties or Give Putin a Second Wind to Cause More Mayhem? | Can Ukraine's NATO Allies Fill the Gap as Trump Abandons Ukraine to Putin? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

February 27, 2025 - Alexander Motyl | Victor Pickard | Brooke Harrington
Is Putin Trump's Case Officer? | Will Trump be Able to Turn the Press Into His Propaganda and PR Arm as Putin and Orban Have Done? | Since Musk's Assault on the Federal Workforce is Only Saving a Pittance, the Real Intention Then Must Be To Cripple the US Government
February 26, 2025 - Paul Farhi | Mike Lofgren | Dr. Guy Ziv
Press Freedom in America Under Attack by Trump and Plutocratic Press Owners Cowering Before the Dear Leader | Republicans Vote Against Their Constituent's Interests to Cut Taxes For Plutocrats | Why Did Israel Vote With Russia and Iran Against Ukraine and Its Jewish Leader? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
February 25, 2025 - Rachel VanLandingham | Bill Scher | Mike German
Trump's Politicization of the Military and the Firing Its Top Lawyers So That His Unlawful Orders Won't be Blocked | The Historical Plunge of Trump's Poll Numbers in Just One Month | Having Patel and Bongino Head the FBI Means Trump Will Go after His Enemies While He Can Break the Law With Impunity backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
February 24, 2025 - Laura Thornton | Alfred McCoy
Trump's Shameful Vote at the UN on the Third Anniversary of Russia's Invasion of Ukraine and the Results of the German Elections | The Rise and Fall of the French, Soviet and American Empires With the New Chinese Empire Already on Shaky Ground backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
February 23, 2025 - Nathan Tankus | Bandy Lee | Peter Montgomery
As Assessment of the Damage Already Done by Musk and His Teenage Techies | The Need For Our Politicians, Business Leaders and Citizens to Recognize Trump's Sickness and Intervene Before He Does Any More Damage to the Country and the World | Trump's Lies-Laden Keynote Speech to CPAC Host: Ian Masters Producer: Graham FitzGibbon Assistant Producer: Asher Price

In Crushing the Federal WorkForce, Trump Will Not Find the Trillions to Make His Tax Cuts Permanent
In Crushing the Federal WorkForce, Trump Will Not Find the Trillions to Make His Tax Cuts Permanent by Ian Masters
February 20, 2025 - Ryan Cooper | Eric Blanc | Erik Baker
The Confirmation of Kash Patel as Trump's Dumbest Self-inflicted Wound to Weaken America and Accelerate Its Collapse as a World Power | In Crushing of the Federal WorkForce, Musk and Trump Will Not Find the Trillions to Make Trump's Tax Cuts to the Super-Wealthy Permanent | The Fraud of the Can-Do Power of Positive Thinking as We Head Into An Era of Techno-Serfdom backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia