Background Briefing (5am)
5:00 AM PACIFIC TIME: TUESDAYS - FRIDAYS
Benjamin Carter Hett / Michael Weiss / Kristin Kobes Du Mez
The Frightening Similarities Between Germany in 1933 and the U.S. in 2024
As Trump and Tucker Carlson Work For Putin to Kill Aid to Ukraine, Are They Traitors or Useful Idiots?
Trump’s Grift From God
Mitri Raheb / James Carroll
A Christmas Day Message From Bethlehem
The Outsized Influence of the Catholic Far Right on the Supreme Court and Project 2025
Liz Theoharis / Diane Winston
The Contrast Between the Prophet of the Poor and Trump’s Billionaires, Who Own the White House and Have the Supreme Court
The Troubling Religious Beliefs of Trump’s Team of “Christian” Zionists
Lisa Graves / John Nichols / Wendy Via
Trump’s Triumph of Lawlessness and the Weaponization of Kash Patel’s Federal Bureau of Retribution
Will Elon Musk’s Threat to Deploy His Unlimited Amounts of Campaign Money Bring All Republicans to Heel?
With Trump Back, Hate and Extremism Are on the Back Burner For Now
Brooke Harrington / Kim Lane Scheppele
Plutocrats No Longer Shape Our Government Behind the Scenes, as Musk is Now Giving House Republicans Orders
MAGA Republicans Follow Orban’s Model With Project 2025, While Trump Moves to Control the Media as Orban Did, Turning a Democracy Into a Kleptocracy and Dictatorship
Alexander Sammon / Tom Mockaitis / Christopher Shaw
The Democratic Old Guard Shoots Down a Rising Star Who Appeals to the Youth and Latino Vote
An Expert on Terrorism on Charging Luigi Mangione With Terrorism
Jeff Bezos Bends the Knee Today at Mar a Lago, as Trump Muses About Privatizing the USPS
Paul Waldman / Jonathan Metzl / Suzanne Schneider
As Trump Declares War on the Press, ABC News Preemptively Capitulates
The Latest of 323 School Shootings This Year Involves a 15-Year Old Girl Who Killed 2, Wounded 6, and Shot Herself at Her Christian School
Our “Christo-Fascists” Compared to the Islamo-Fascists We Decry
Annelle Sheline / Matt Bruenig / Thomas Berger
Jordan Faces Collapse, With Israel’s Proposed Annexation of the West Bank
An Alternative to Our Broken “Healthcare” System That Does Not Waste Trillions While Delaying and Denying Care
The Fall of the German Government and Whether Support For Ukraine Will Continue
Robert Young Pelton / Nader Hashemi / Stacy Mitchell
Will Trump and His Shills for Russia like Kash Patel and Tulsi Gabbard Turn Us Into Putin’s America?
Israel and Turkey Appear to be the Winners in Syria, While Russia and Iran are the Losers
How Rising Food Prices Played a Decisive Role in the Election and Efforts to Rein in Food Monopolies Like WalMart
Wendell Potter / David Ignatius / Wladimir van Wilgenburg
Wall Street’s Role in Why We Have the Worst and Most Expensive “Healthcare” in the Developed World
How Ukrainian Military Intelligence Helped the Syrian Rebels
The Vulnerability of the Kurds to Erdogan’s Murderous Militia in the New Syria