Background Briefing – September 2, 2025
Background Briefing offers an educational approach to providing information in an era of “fake news.”
Background Briefing
3:00 PM PACIFIC TIME: MONDAYS - THURSDAYS
Background Briefing offers an educational approach to providing information in an era of “fake news.”
This Labor Day special examines how Trump and Project 2025 threaten working Americans, fuel unprecedented inequality, and distort the meaning of labor itself—past, present, and future—with insights from labor experts Steven Greenhouse, Sylvia Allegretto, and historian Michael Kazin.
The State of Working America Under Assault From Trump and Project 2025 We begin on this Labor Day with the state of working America which is under assault from Trump and Project 2025 even as Trump’s groveling lackey, the Secretary of Labor, in a cabinet meeting praises her “Dear leader” telling him; “”Mr President, I … Continued
Another Mass Murder of Children, While They Were Praying in Church–The Sadistic Absurdity of Trump–Democrats Can Learn From Our Best President and From Our Worst
Another Mass Murder of Children, This Time While They Were Praying in Church on Their First Day at School We begin with the latest gun massacre of young children in a church, shot down as they were praying on the first day at school. While Trump and Project 2025 are eliminating what little restrictions exist … Continued
The U.S. is Caught Spying on a NATO in Trump’s Plot to Steal Greenland–Trump’s Anti-Semitic Conspiratorial Rant Threatening George Soros–Can We Endure Dictatorial Creep?
The U.S. is Caught Spying on a NATO Ally in Support of Trump’s Plot to Steal Greenland We begin with the Danish government, a NATO ally, summoning the top U.S. diplomat in Copenhagen to complain about American intelligence operatives in Greenland developing lists of Greenlanders who might support a U.S. takeover from Denmark and more … Continued
Illinois’ Governor Pritzker Stands up to Trump–Trump Fires the First and Only Black Woman on the Fed–How the U.S. Should Deal With the Way the World is, Not How We Wish It To Be
Another Governor, Illinois’ Pritzker, Stands up to Trump While Democratic Leaders in the House and Senate are MIA We begin with another Democratic governor standing up to Trump while Democratic leadership in the House and Senate are AWOL and that is Illinois’ Governor Pritzker who bluntly told Trump to keep the military out of Chicago, … Continued
Nina Burleigh/James Fallows/Bill McKibben
Trump Rewrites His Epstein/Maxwell History as He Has Done With “Russiagate” and “Stop the Steal” But This Time Are the American People That Stupid? We begin with Trump’s orchestrated campaign to rewrite his history with Epstein and Maxwell as he had done with Russia helping him win in 2016 and how he claims actually won … Continued
Peter Stone/Osita Nwanevu
Trump Patrols the Streets of the Nation’s Capital as he Wages War on the Truth We begin with Trump patrolling the streets of Washington DC tonight and how he has sabotaged independent sources of knowledge, flooded communications media with disinformation, and is rewriting history to conform to ideology rather than facts, including Trump’s counter-factual charges … Continued
Protesters jeered at Vance, Hegseth, and Miller as they handed out cheeseburgers to National Guard troops at DC’s Union Station—where Miller dismissed demonstrators as “crazy communists”—before the show turned to GOP gerrymandering in Texas and Ukraine’s fight against a looming Russian offensive.
Protestors at DC’s Union Station Yell at Vance, Hegseth and Miller Who Calls Them “Crazy Communists” as They Bring Cheeseburgers to National Guard Troops We begin with Vance, Hegseth and Miller showing up today at DC’s Union Station with cheeseburgers for the National Guard troops only to be met by a cacophony of protest from … Continued
David Andelman/Ori Goldberg/James Moore
Trump’s Pathetic Idea of Diplomacy and the Art of the Giveaway We begin with yesterday’s embarrassing display of pathetic amateurism at the White House where our ridiculously out-of-his-depth president had a roundtable discussion with seven world leaders and NATO heads who were present out of desperation to do damage control. Caught on a hot mic, … Continued
Charles Kupchan/Richard Hasen/Jeff Hauser
Damage Control at the White House to Prevent Trump’s Sellout of Ukraine to Putin We begin with the damage control underway at the White House today as European leaders and President Zelensky try to prevent the total sellout of Ukraine following Trump’s craven gift of caving in and siding with the murderous Make Russia Great … Continued