Background Briefing (5am)

 Christopher Steele / Timothy Shenk

As More Evidence of Trump’s Collusion With Putin Emerges, We Speak With Former British Intelligence Professional Christopher Steele

We begin with the latest evidence of Trump’s collusion with Putin, revealed in the new book by Bob Woodward, and examine the record of how the mountains of evidence against Trump have seen sidetracked, ignored, and misrepresented, to the point that the press appears to have no interest in further investigation, as not just Trump but much of the Republican party have become willing handmaidens of Putin. Joining us is Christopher Steele, who began his twenty-two-year career working as a diplomat, intelligence professional, and Soviet/Russia expert within the British government. In 1987, soon after graduating from Cambridge University, he was posted to Moscow, where he served through the fall of the Soviet Union before returning to London to become one of the government’s senior political and intelligence experts and advisers on Russia and the former Soviet Union. In 2009, he founded the private intelligence company Orbis Business Intelligence. He is the author of the book, just out, Unredacted: Russia, Trump, and the Fight for Democracy.

With Republicans Making Inroads Into the What’s Left of the New Deal Coalition, We Consider How the Democratic Party Could Repair its Frayed Connection to the Working Class

Then we examine how the Democratic party could repair its frayed connection to the working class, as Republicans make inroads into what was the New Deal coalition by appealing to grievance and portraying Democrats as educated elitists, while the MAGA GOP serves the interests of a monied elite of oligarchs who fund them. Joining us is Timothy Shenk, an assistant professor of history at George Washington University. A senior editor at Dissent magazine, he has written for the New York Times, the Nation, the New Republic, and Jacobin, among other publications. We discuss his new book, just out, Left Adrift: What Happened to Liberal Politics.