Day: July 23, 2026

Briefings

Background Briefing: July 23, 2026

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How Much Will Trump’s Nuclear Deal With Saudi Arabia Line His Pockets While Increasing the Danger of Nuclear Proliferation?

We begin with Trump’s deal with the Saudi dictator MBS for the purchase of long-sought nuclear reactors without the strict non-proliferation restrictions the Saudis claim are too intrusive. We discuss Trump’s condition of having the Saudis normalize relations with Israel via the Abraham Accords and the extent to which Trump and his family might benefit from this deal. Joining us is Steven Simon, who served on the National Security Council staff as senior director for Middle Eastern and North African affairs and also worked on the NSC staff on counterterrorism and Middle East security policy. Currently a senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and a Distinguished Fellow and professor of political science at Dartmouth College, he is the co-author, among other books, of The Age of Sacred Terror, and his latest book is Grand Delusion: The Rise and Fall of American Ambition in the Middle East.

 

Trump Says His War is Going Well as Oil Spikes at $100 a Barrel From the Houthi Closure of the Other Choke Point For Gulf Oil Iran Controls

Then with Trump saying today how well his war with Iran is going as oil spikes to $100 a barrel following the Houthi closure of the only other chokepoint for the export of Gulf oil, we speak with David Faris, a professor of political science at Roosevelt University in Chicago. He is the author of, Time to Fight Dirty: How Democrats Can Build a Lasting Majority in American Politics and, most recently, The Kids Are All Left: How Young Voters Will Unite America. We discuss his latest article at the Nation, “Trump Can’t Admit That He Lost the Iran War.” which describes Trump as a “sunsetting imbecile” whose narcissistic inability to face reality means his expensive, ruinous conflict will be an endless war. 

Trump Drops His Subpoenas Against the New York Times But Continues His War Against Real Journalists

Then finally we speak with James Risen, professor of journalism at the University of Maryland and a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author whose investigative reporting has triggered a series of political firestorms. Among his best-selling books are State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration and Pay Any Price: Greed, Power and Endless War. A former investigative journalist with the New York Times, his latest book is The Last Honest Man: The CIA, the FBI, the Mafia, and the Kennedys―and One Senator’s Fight to Save Democracy and he has an article at The Guardian we discuss, “The real aim of Trump’s New York Times leak investigation is to punish reporters.”