Day: February 3, 2025

Background Briefing: February 3, 2025

Musk Shuts Down USAID After Trump Illegally Freezes Foreign Aid for 90 Days

We begin with Musk shutting down USAID after Trump’s illegal executive order to freeze its funding for 90 days based on his assertion that “It’s been run by a bunch of radical left lunatics, and we’re getting them out, and then we’ll make a decision.” We discuss the consequences to US national security this reckless power grab will have in terms of global health and stability in the Middle East as desperately needed funds to stabilize Syria have been halted. Joining us is Steve Radelet, the Donald F. McHenry Chair in Global Human Development and a Professor of the Practice of Development at Georgetown University and a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. Formerly a Senior Adviser to Secretary of State Clinton and Chief Economist of USAID, he focuses on economic growth, poverty reduction, and foreign aid, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. His books include The Great Surge: The Ascent of the Developing World, Emerging Africa: How 17 Countries are Leading the Way and Economics of Development.

 

The Failure of the Democrats and the American Left In Allowing a Disastrous Misanthrope to Be Elected President Not Just Once, But Twice

Then we assess the failure of the Democrats and the American Left in general to allow such a disastrous misanthrope to be elected president not just once, but twice, and speak with Moira Donegan, writer in residence at the Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University. Her work has appeared in The London Review of Books, Bookforum and The Paris Review. She is the co-host of the podcast In Bed With The Right and a columnist at The Guardian where her latest article we discuss is, “Why are the Democrats so spineless?”

 

Do 76 Million Americans Not Want a Functioning Government and Prefer to be Entertained by a Reality TV Star?

Then finally we look into how much the 76 million Americans who voted for Trump don’t want a functioning government and prefer to be entertained by a reality TV star and his sorry collection of right wing talk show hosts and Fox News entertainers and speak with Adele Stan, an independent journalist and longtime chronicler of the right wing of U.S. politics. A winner of the Hillman Prize in Opinion & Analysis Journalism, her work has appeared in Mother Jones, The Nation, and The American Prospect as well as on the op-ed pages of The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. We discuss her article at The New Republic, “Trump’s Pick for Federal Prosecutor in D.C. Gives Hacks a Bad Name.”