An Assessment of Air Safety as Air Travel Melts Down
We begin with the government shutdown now in a record 40th day with 40 major airports cutting flights and cancelling reservations as 13,000 air traffic controllers and 55,000 TSA agents work without pay. We assess air safety and what strategy Trump might be employing as his Transportation Secretary raises the alarm with the possible purpose of putting political pressure on the Democrats. Joining us is Jeff Wise, a science journalist specializing in aviation and psychology. A licensed pilot of gliders and light airplanes, he has served as an on-camera aviation analyst on CNN, Fox News and MSNBC and his articles have appeared in New York Magazine, the New York Times, Time, Businessweek, Esquire, and many others. He is the author of The Taking of MH370 and the host of the podcast “Finding MH370” and he has an article at New York Magazine we discuss, “Get Ready For An Air Travel Meltdown.”
Following Orban’s Example, Trump Announces His Plan to Rig Election So That “We will never lose the midterms, and we will never lose a general election”
Then, sitting next to Hungary’s kleptocratic dictator Orban who gerrymandered himself into permanent power with 45% of the vote capturing 91% of the parliament, on Friday Trump called on Senate Republicans to kill the filibuster announcing, “If we do it, we will never lose the midterms, and we never lose a general election.” Joining us to discuss how Trump plans to rig the next election is David Graham, a staff writer at The Atlantic, where he covers politics and national affairs. He won the Toner Prize for Excellence in National Political Reporting for his coverage of the 2020 presidential election and his new book is The Project: How Project 2025 Is Reshaping America. His latest article at The Atlantic is “The Anti-MAGA Majority Reemerges” and his recent article “Donald Trump’s Plan to Subvert the Midterms is Already Under Way” has gained national attention and has been widely circulated.
A Followup on Mamdani’s Victory and How He Will Deal With the Affordability Crisis
Then finally Background Briefing’s Gen Z reporter Sasha Linden Cohen does a follow up on the youth-driven Mamdani victory for Mayor of New York and speak with J.W. Mason, a Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute and a Professor of Economics at John Jay College of the City University of New York where his research focuses on macroeconomics, finance, economic history, the history of economic thought, and international finance and trade. He was previously the Policy Director for the New York State Working Families Party and Sasha discusses his recent article at Dissent Magazine, “What Can Zohran Accomplish?”