Author: Admin

Background Briefing: June 18, 2025

Trump’s “To Do Or Not To Do” on Bombing Iran

We begin with Trump, the Reality TV president teasing us all about whether we will go to war against Iran with the cliffhanger, “I may do it, I may not do it….nobody knows what I’m going to do.” Joining us is Nicholas Heras, 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.

 

The Split in MAGA Illustrated by the Clash Between the Insidious Tucker Carlson and the Odious Ted Cruz

Then we examine the split in MAGA world between the American Firsters and the hawks and Christian Zionists which was illustrated by the clash between the insidious Tucker Carlson and the odious Ted Cruz. Joining us is Ben Burgis, the host of the Give Them an Argument podcast and YouTube channel, a philosophy instructor at Morehouse College and a columnist for Jacobin. His books include Give Them an Argument: Logic for the Left, Canceling Comedians While the World Burns: A Critique Of The Contemporary Left, and Christopher Hitchens: What He Got Right, How He Went Wrong, and Why He Still Matters. We discuss his article at MSNBC, “Trump’s ‘America First’ supporters feel duped by his hawkishness on Iran.”

 

The Legacy of Charlottesville Now That White Supremacists and Neo-Nazis Can Apply For a Job at ICE and DHS

Then finally we assess the degree to which Charlottesville’s 2017 Unite the Right rally has become America itself, as Trump now is allowing White Supremacists and Neo-Nazis to now apply for a job at ICE or Homeland Security to join the Trump militia. Joining us to discuss the legacy of the August 2017 emergence of American Nazis who Trump referred to as “fine people” is Deborah Baker is the author of A Blue Hand and The Last Englishmen. Her biography In Extremis was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and her book The Convert was a finalist for the National Book Award. She lives in New York and Charlottesville and her latest book, just out, is Charlottesville: An American Story.