Month: January 2026

Background Briefing: January 18, 2026

Is Our Megalomaniacal Wannabe Dictator About to Give Putin the Ultimate Gift of Destroying NATO and Imposing a Death Sentence on Ukraine? 

 

We begin with Trump’s apparent determination to take Greenland by force if he has to in spite of a bipartisan delegation of US lawmakers visiting Denmark and NATO countries sending in troops as a tripwire should our megalomaniacal dictator order JSOC to execute war plans to attack a NATO country, destroy the alliance and issue a death sentence for Ukraine in what would be Trump’s ultimate gift to Putin. Joining us is Rick Wilson, a renowned political strategist, infamous ad-maker, writer, speaker, and political commentator. A 30-year veteran of national Republican politics, he got his start in the 1988 Presidential campaign of George Herbert Walker Bush. In December 2019, he co-founded the Lincoln Project and his books include Everything Trump Touches Dies and Running Against The Devil – A Plot To Save America from Trump And Democrats From Themselves. He writes at therickwilson.substack.com where his latest article is “Greenland and the Pentagon: The Pentagon’s Joint Chiefs Are Failing the Test.”

 

A Russian Journalist Who Experienced Putin’s Dictatorial Takeover and Sees Parallels With Trump’s Authoritarian Takeover of the U.S.

Then we speak with a brave Russian journalist in exile who experienced Putin’s decades-long dictatorial takeover of Russia and sees alarming parallels with Trump’s authoritarian takeover of the United States. Joining us is Anna Nemzer, a journalist, writer, and documentary filmmaker who was a TV anchor on the only independent channel in Russia who Putin labeled as a foreign agent and she was forced to flee Russia when Putin invaded Ukraine. She is a senior host at TV Rain in exile, where she hosts “Total Recall” and is the co-founder of Kronika which preserves endangered media all around the world. Anna is the co-director with Julia Loktev and subject of the new film, shortlisted for the 2025 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, My Undesirable Friends.