Background Briefing (Monday, 5am)

Sean Wilentz / Fred Turner / Cayce Myers

The Incoming Horror of Trump and the Outgoing Sadness of Biden

We begin with Trump’s triumphant return to Washington, after having dodged a slew of lawsuits and captured the Republican Party into supine obedience, who are now rubber-stamping his dangerously unqualified cabinet picks. We will assess the incoming horror and the outgoing sadness of a president who accomplished much with a razor-thin majority but exits the scene a tragic figure whose party has flatlined. Joining us is Sean Wilentz, the George Henry Davis 1886 Professor of American History at Princeton University. His books include The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln; The Age of Reagan: A History, 1974-2008, Bob Dylan in America; and The Politicians and the Egalitarians. His latest book is No Property in Man: Slavery and Antislavery at the Nation’s Founding. We discuss his article at Politico Magazine “A Tragic Element to Biden’s Presidency.”

Biden’s Warning of a Tech-Industrial Complex and That We Are Losing Our Democracy to Plutocracy

Then we look into two remarks from Biden’s farewell address that stood out: his warning that we are losing our democracy to a plutocracy and that a tech-industrial complex is emerging that could do great damage to the country. Joining us is Fred Turner, the Harry and Norman Chandler Professor of Communication at Stanford University. He is the author or co-author of five books, including Seeing Silicon Valley: Life inside a Fraying AmericaThe Democratic Surround: Multimedia and American Liberalism from World War II to the Psychedelic Sixties; From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism; and Echoes of Combat: The Vietnam War in American Memory. 

The Future of TikTok Which the Supreme Court Shut Down Today

Then finally, following the Supreme Court’s decision to shut down TikTok today, we assess the future of the popular social media site that 170 million mostly younger Americans enjoy and speak with Cayce Myers, a professor of public relations and director of graduate studies at the School of Communication at Virginia Tech. He is the author of Public Relations History: Theory, Practice and Profession and Profession and Money in Politics: Campaign Fundraising in the 2020 Presidential Election.