Background Briefing: November 8, 2026

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Trump Doubles Down Choosing a Fire-Breathing Fanatic as His Next Chief of Staff

We begin with Trump doubling down on his worst instincts in spite of the brutally clear message from the electorate that his war, his corruption, the chaos and incompetence has to stop. Instead he has chosen a fire-breathing fanatic as his new chief of staff who, along with his companion Natalie Harp, will feed his delusions and indulge his imperious infantilism.  Joining us to discuss how most lame duck presidents reach for lofty goals abroad is Elizabeth Saunders, a Professor of Political Science at Columbia University, a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and the author of The Insiders’ Game: How Elites Make War and Peace and she has an article at Foreign Affairs we discuss, “The Dangers of a Lame-Duck Trump” How Far Will He Go to Make Peace—and War?”

Can Stephen Miller Save Hegseth’s Job?

Then we examine how much Stephen Miller’s elevation to Chief of Staff will save his friend Pete Hegseth’s job and speak with Tom Mockaitis, a professor of history at DePaul University, where he teaches courses in British, Modern European, and Military History. His research and writing cover international security, terrorism, unconventional conflict, and military history. A regular contributor to The Hill, he has taught counter-terrorism courses at venues around the world as part of the U.S. Department of Defense Counter-terrorism Fellowship Program and is the author of many books including Violent Extremists: Understanding the Domestic and International Terrorist Threat and Iraq and the Challenge of Counterinsurgency.

 

Again Trump Cozies Up to Who He Calls “The Top Person in Russia” While Blaming Ukraine For the Killling

Then finally we assess what Trump meant after hosting who he called “the top person in Russia” in the Oval Office that he and the “deal guys” Kushner and Witkoff are about to make a deal that “might involve all of Europe. It’s going to be a big, beautiful agreement, and everyone is going to be thrilled.” Joining us is Stephen Walt, a columnist at Foreign Policy magazine and the Robert and Renee Belfer Professor of International Affairs at Harvard University. He is the author of a number of books including The Origins of Alliances; Revolution and War, Taming American Power: The Global Response to U.S. Primacy, and most recently, The Hell of Good Intentions: America’s Foreign Policy Elite and the Decline of U.S. Primacy. He has an article at Foreign Policy we discuss, “Why Kushner and Witkoff Keep Failing: It’s not just a failure of tactics. It’s an entirely mistaken worldview.”