Background Briefing: May 3, 2025
The Deadly, Delusional Amateurism of Trump’s On and Off Talks With Iran As He Now Threatens to “Blast the Hell Out of Them”
We begin with the possibility of a resumption of strikes on Iran now that Trump has said on Saturday they have “not paid a big enough price.” On Friday, after rejecting Iran’s latest peace offer, he threatened to “blast the hell out of them” at the same time telling the Congress that “hostilities that began on February 28, 2026 have terminated.” Joining us to try to make sense of Trump’s deadly, delusional amateurism is Hussein Banai, an Iranian American scholar and Professor of International Studies at Indiana University Bloomington who teaches Iran’s political development as well as US-Iran relations. He is the author of Hidden Liberalism: Burdened Visions of Progress in Modern Iran and he has a recent article at Foreign Affairs, “America and Israel Have Different Endgames in Iran.”
The Rise of Left Wing Populism After a Devastating Era of Right Wing Populism Perpetrated By a Criminal Fraudster in the Service of a Greedy Oligarchy
Then, as the rest of the world honored workers on May Day while thousands demonstrated at 3,500 May Day Strong events across the country, we look into the rise of left wing populism after a devastating era of right wing populism perpetrated by a criminal fraudster in the service of a greedy oligarchy. Joining us is Charles Derber, a professor of sociology at Boston College. A lifelong social justice activist, his work focuses on the crises of capitalism, globalization, corporate power, militarism, the culture of hegemony, the climate crisis, and peace and global justice movements. His recent books include, Dying for Capitalism: How Big Money Fuels Extinction and What We Can Do About It, How We Win: Energizing Strategies, Voters, and Agendas and Bonfire: American Sociocide, Broken Relations, and the Quest for Democracy. His latest book is Fighting Oligarchy: How Positive Populism Can Reclaim America and he has a recent article at the Substack Savage Minds, “Trump’s Wars: The Populist Critique.”
May Day 2026 and What Kind of Nation Will We Be?
Then finally, after Friday’s “no schools, no work, no shopping” protests with banners reading “workers over billionaires” and “healthcare not warfare,” we speak with Peter Dreier, the E.P. Clapp Distinguished Professor of Politics and chair of the Urban & Environmental Policy Department at Occidental College. His books include Place Matters: Metropolitics for the 21st Century and The 100 Greatest Americans of the 20th Century: A Social Justice Hall of Fame, and we discuss his article at Common Dreams, “May Day 2026: What Kind of Nation Will This Be?”