Both the Arsonist and the Fire Brigade, Trump Celebrates His Ceasefire Deal as “A Total Victory 100%” While Iran Says They Dealt the Enemy “A Crushing Defeat”
We begin with a last-minute two week ceasefire between the US and Iran just as Trump was poised to end Iranian civilization and assess the likelihood of this fragile truce holding with Trump calling the deal “a total victory, one hundred percent” while Iranian officials are saying they brought the enemy to “a crushing defeat.” Joining us is Nicholas Heras, Interim Executive Director at the Middle East Policy Council and Senior Director for Strategy & Innovation at the New Lines Institute and the former Middle East Security Program Manager at the Institute for the Study of War where he was Director of Government Relations responsible for Russia and Eurasia. From 2016-2017, Nicholas served as the tenth 1LT Andrew J. Bacevich, Jr., USA Fellow at Center for New American Security and he has conducted an extensive study on Iran’s proxies in the Middle East for the National Defense University.
Questions of Trump’s Competence, Morality, Credibility and Sanity Arise
Then we examine Trump’s use of the “madman theory” which Nixon unsuccessfully used against the North Vietnamese and assess how much this six week disaster that has left everyone worse off opens up questions of Trump’s competence, morality, credibility and sanity. Joining us is Bill Scher, the politics editor of the Washington Monthly. He is the host of the history podcast When America Worked and the co-host of the bipartisan online show and podcast The DMZ. He has an article at The Washington Monthly, “Trump Believes in “Madman Theory.” But He’s Actually a Madman: After six weeks of insane behavior, the ceasefire should not lead us to believe Trump has regained his faculties.”
The Cynical Tactics Big Money Now Uses to Attack Progressive Democratic Candidates
Then finally we speak with Adam Green, the co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC), a one million member grassroots organization dedicated to helping progressive candidates run progressive campaigns and win. He formerly served as Director of Strategic Campaigns and Civic Communications Director for MoveOn.org. We discuss the new cynical tactics of big money attacks on progressive Democratic candidates and Adam’s article at The New Republic, “In Illinois, a Deluge of Corporate PAC Ads Sold Populism. Wait, What?”