Background Briefing: June 11, 2019

 

Do Americans Expect Their Head of State to Have Some Dignity?

We begin with Trump’s boast that now, after his phony threat of a tariff war made Mexico cry uncle, he would turn his attention to put the screws on China using his prowess as a dealmaker to win big.  Michael Fuchs, a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress who served as deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs and was special advisor to the secretary of state for strategic dialogues and a member of the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff, joins us to discuss the growing closeness of China and Russia who in many ways Trump is driving together into an alliance against us. We examine how much foreign policy, which traditionally Americans have not paid much attention to, will be an issue in the 2020 campaign and whether given Trump’s boorish and embarrassing behavior abroad, tweeting out insults and trashing a war hero at the hallowed ground where the heroes of D-Day are buried, will be a factor in as much as there is an expectation the head of state displays some dignity that comes with the office.

 

Mueller Proved There Is No “Deep State”

Then we speak with David Halperin, a senior fellow at Republic Report. He was previously a White House speechwriter and special assistant for national security affairs to President Clinton; and counsel to the Senate Intelligence Committee who recently testified before the House Oversight Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy about the for-profit college industry and how it has been empowered by the U.S. Department of Education under Secretary Betsy DeVos. He joins us to discuss the impact of John Dean’s testimony yesterday before the House Judiciary Committee and, since there is no such thing as a “deep state” which became clear when we learned Robert Mueller brought a pencil to a gunfight, we will assess what strategies can be employed to rid the country of the out-of-control man-child in the Oval Office.

 

A Rare Call for One Democratic State with Equal Rights for Palestinians and Israelis

Then finally we hear from an Israeli activist who believes in a one-state solution, not the one-state solution the Israeli Right envisions by driving the Palestinians into a caged future in a diminished territory or into Jordan, but the creation of one democratic state with equal rights for Palestinians and Israelis. Miko Peled, the author of “A General’s Son: Journey of a Israeli in Palestine” who has two articles at Mint Press News “For the U.S. and Israel, Iran Works Best as a Perpetual Threat” and “Netanyahu is Gambling on New Elections to Stay in Power”, joins us.