Background Briefing (Monday, 5am)

Background Briefing (Monday, 5am) – June 3, 2024

After Getting MAGA World and the Trump GOP to Believe He Won the Last Election, Now Trump Has Them Believing the Trial That Convicted Him 34 Times Was Rigged

We begin with the 34 felony convictions against Donald Trump and a repeat of his ability to create an alternative reality and get at least a third of the country to believe that the last election was rigged and he actually won. Now he’s got MAGA world and the Trump GOP believing that the trial he just lost was rigged and he is an innocent victim of an evil witch hunt by a demonic judge. Joining us to discuss the spineless toadying and moral cowardice of top Republicans like House Speaker Johnson, who already have shown they don’t believe in democracy and now apparently don’t believe in the rule of law, is Sophia Rosenfeld, the Walter H. Annenberg Professor of History and Chair of the Department of History at the University of Pennsylvania. She teaches European and American intellectual and cultural history with a special emphasis on the Enlightenment, the trans-Atlantic Age of Revolutions, and the legacy of the modern democracy of the eighteenth century. She is the author of Common Sense: A Political History, Democracy and Truth: A Short History and the forthcoming The Age of Choice: A History of Freedom in Modern Life.

Are Biden and Netanyahu on the Same Page With the Gaza Ceasefire Plan?

Then we examine the peace proposal to end the war in Gaza President Biden announced on Friday that he supports, along with Israel, although PM Netanyahu subsequently made clear that there would be no ceasefire until Israel had achieved its military goals. Joining us is Jennifer Loewenstein, a professor and former director of Middle Eastern studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She lived in Israel in her childhood — her father played in the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra — and she studied there in college. She has also lived in Palestinian refugee camps and worked in the Gaza Strip at the Mezan Center for Human Rights in Gaza City.

Today’s Elections in Mexico Will Result in a Woman as President for the First Time

Then finally, we go to Mexico City to discuss today’s elections, which will result in a country known for machismo and a high level of violence against women having a woman for president for the first time. Joining us is Laura Carlsen, the former director of the Mexico-based Americas Program and Director of the Mira Center for Feminism and Democracy in Mexico City. She received a Fulbright Scholarship to study the impact of the Mexican economic crisis on women and has lived in Mexico City ever since. She blogs at Americas.org and hosts Hecho en América on Rompeviento TV.

 

Playlist

Artist Song Album Label
Leonard CohenDemocracyThe Complete Studio Albums CollectionColumbia/Legacy
Bashar MuradMaskharaMaskharaPopArabia FZ-LLC
Mexican Institute of SoundMéxicoPoliticoNacional Records
Los LobosOne Time One NightJust Another Band From East L.A.: A CollectionRhino/Warner Bros.