Background Briefing: September 24, 2026

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Trump Meets With Xi Praising the Chinese Press While the American Press is Absent Due to Trump’s Idiotic Ban

We begin with Trump’s meeting today with China’s Xi, at which he hailed a deep friendship, “From the time of my first election in 2016, President Xi and I have forged a friendship, a truly great friendship, actually, built on mutual respect and the vital interests of our people.” Joining us to question whether getting on great with other leaders is meaningless unless there is a diplomatic foundation to the relationship is Jake Werner, director of the East Asia Program at the Quincy Institute. His research examines the emergence of great power conflict between the US and China and develops policies to rebuild constructive economic relations. Previously a Fulbright Scholar at National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan and a Fulbright-Hays Fellow at East China Normal University in Shanghai, he is also a cofounder of Justice Is Global, a grassroots organizing project that advocates for reforms to the global economy, and a cofounder of Critical China Scholars. He has an article at Responsible Statecraft we discuss, “Trump and Xi meet on a ‘rotting’ diplomatic foundation.”

The Corrupt Pay-To-Play Allegations Against Senator Susan Collins

Then we explore the pay-to-play allegations against Senator Susan Collins revealed in an investigation by ProPublica and speak with Molly Redden, who covers legal affairs for ProPublica, including big law, judicial appointments and White House legal strategy. She is the co-author of a new report at ProPublica, “The FBI Anti-Corruption Squad Was Circling Susan Collins — Until Trump Got in the Way.”

The Decades-Long Campaign to Replace Our Elected Government With Corporate Rule By the World’s Richest Men Building a New Political Order

Then finally with AI a possible extinction event in the hands of a few Silicon Valley billionaires with little to no public or government control, we speak with Gil Duran, a San Francisco journalist who previously served as editorial page editor of The Sacramento Bee and The San Francisco Examiner. Now an independent journalist, he currently writes the FrameLab as well as the Nerd Reich Newsletters and regularly contributes to the San Francisco Chronicle and other publications. He served as Press Secretary and advisor for Governor Jerry Brown, Senator Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, and his new book, just out, is The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy.