Background Briefing goes far beyond the headlines and deep under the radar to bring forward truths unheard elsewhere in American media. Background Briefing features international and national news, expert guests, policymakers, and critics offering analysis and insight on national security, foreign and domestic policy, political, cultural, and social issues. backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
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Background Briefing With Ian Masters Podcasts
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December 21, 2025 - Moira Donegan | James Zirin | Samuel Moyn
58:46
58:46
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Trump's Deteriorating Mental and Physical Health| Trump's DoJ Releases 10% of the Heavily Redacted Epstein Files Trying to Shift the Focus From Trump to Clinton | Ending the Oligarch-Friendly Illegitimate Rule of the Supreme Courtbackgroundbriefing.org/donatetwitter.com/ianmastersmediabsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.socialfacebook.com/ianmast…
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December 18, 2025 - Mike Lofgren | Francisco Rodríguez | Tim Wu
1:01:45
1:01:45
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1:01:45
Trump's Mad, Fact-Free Diatribe to the Nation Telling Us How Bad Biden Was and How Great He Is | A Tanker Blockade and the Venezuelan Navy Going Up Against the U.S. Navy: What Could Go Wrong? | The Former White House Tech and Competition Czar on How Tech Platforms Conquered the Economy and Threaten Our Future Prosperitybackgroundbriefing.org/donate…
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December 17, 2025 - Greg Sargent | Sven Beckert
58:06
58:06
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58:06
A Profile of the Dark Force Behind the Indiscriminate Roundup of Immigrants and the Revival of the Political Paranoia of the "Red Scare" | With Young Americans Rejecting Capitalism, a Deep Dive Into the History of Capitalismbackgroundbriefing.org/donatetwitter.com/ianmastersmediabsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.socialfacebook.com/ianmastersmed…
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December 16, 2025 - Jennifer Kavanagh | Karen Greenberg | Henry Giroux
1:00:01
1:00:01
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1:00:01
Is Peace on the Horizon as Ukraine Agrees to Drop Hopes of Joining NATO? | Doubts of Putin's Interest in Peace in a Europe Rattled by Trump's National Security Strategy | Higher Education in a Time of Fascists and Autocrats Taking Over the World ackgroundbriefing.org/donatex.com/ianmastersmediabsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.socialfacebook.co…
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December 15, 2025 - Jordan Baker | Jonathan Alter | Victoria Hui
1:02:38
1:02:38
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1:02:38
The Hanukkah Terror Attack in Australia | Trump's Disgusting Reaction to the Murders of Rob Reiner and His Wife | Today's Conviction of the Hong Kong Freedom Activist Jimmy Lai backgroundbriefing.org/donatex.com/ianmastersmediabsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.socialfacebook.com/ianmastersmediaBy Ian Masters
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December 14, 2025 - Charles Kupchan | Sam Rosenthal | Jaz Brisack
1:02:08
1:02:08
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1:02:08
An Assessment of Trump's New National Security Strategy | Why Democrats Lost the Last Election and What They Must Do to Win the Next One | A Gen Z Union Organizer on Standing Up For a Better Workplacebackgroundbriefing.org/donatetwitter.com/ianmastersmediabsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.socialfacebook.com/ianmastersmedialinktr.ee/backgroundbr…
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December 11, 2025 - David Smilde | Harold Meyerson | Dalia Dassa Kaye
1:01:23
1:01:23
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1:01:23
Trump Targets Venezuela's Oil, Intensifying Pressure on Maduro | Why Are Trump and Vance Trashing a "Decaying" Europe When They Have a Better Quality of Life Than We Do? | The Vexed Relationship Between the U.S. and Iran With a Hostility That Has Lasted Longer Than the Cold Warbackgroundbriefing.org/donatetwitter.com/ianmastersmediabsky.app/profile…
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December 10, 2025 - John Judis | Deb Otis | Nina Burleigh
1:00:20
1:00:20
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1:00:20
Will the Anti-Capitalist Gen Z Left Which Has Energized the Democrats Dominate American Politics in the Future? | The Bill Introduced Today for Rank Choice Voting in House and Senate Primaries and General Elections | Will the Release of Records From Maxwell and Epstein Trials Bring Us Closer to Justice For the Victims?backgroundbriefing.org/donatet…
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December 9, 2025 - William LeoGrande | Victor Pickard | Mike Pepi
1:01:49
1:01:49
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1:01:49
Trump Says Maduro's Days Are Numbered at War Against Venezuela Could Break Out at Any Time | The Ellison's Have Promised Trump They Will Revamp CNN to Trump's Liking | Australia's Social Media Ban and How the "Tech Left" Can Mobilize Against Techno-Utopianism backgroundbriefing.org/donatex.com/ianmastersmediabsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.so…
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December 8, 2025 - William Cohan | Aram Shabanian | Ari Berman
1:01:58
1:01:58
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1:01:58
Trump's Billionaire Buddy Launches a Hostile Takeover To Create a Trump-Friendly Media Giant | Zelensky Meets with Europe's Leaders Alarmed by Trump's New National Security Strategy | How Do the Democrats Take Back the House in the Face of a Partisan Supreme Court, a Serial Coup-Plotter and a Craven GOP Willing to Sell Out American Democracy? backg…
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December 7, 2025 - Rachel VanLandingham | Lydia Camarillo | Jordan Schwartz | Lisa Graves
1:19:04
1:19:04
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1:19:04
A Former JAG on Hegseth and Trump's Murder Spree Which Are Not War Crimes Because We are Not at War | The Supreme Court Just Gave Republicans 30 of the 38 House Seats in Texas Before a Vote is Cast in November | The Harvard Youth Pollster Who Finds 13% of Americans Between 18 and 29 Say the U.S. is Heading in the Right Direction With Only 39% Suppo…
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December 4, 2025 - David Broder | Mstyslav Chernov | Casey Michel
1:06:00
1:06:00
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1:06:00
France's Fifth Government in Three Years Collapses as the Far Right in Europe Rises | A Film That Takes You Inside the Battlefield Under Russian Fire as Ukrainian Soldiers Fight and Die Defending Their Land Putin Claims As His | Trump Breaks Records Pardoning Crooked Congressmen, Scammers, Embezzlers, Fraudsters and Fanaticsbackgroundbriefing.org/d…
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December 3, 2025 - Paul Waldman | Michael Kimmage | Sarah Leah Whitson
1:01:52
1:01:52
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1:01:52
Trump and MAGA's Policies and Politics Are Driven By Sadism | Putin Warns of War With Europe After Which There Will Be No One Left to Negotiate With | In Spite Of the Ongoing Agony, A Plan For Peace Between Israelis and Palestinians backgroundbriefing.org/donatex.com/ianmastersmediabsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.socialfacebook.com/ianmasters…
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December 2, 2025 - Tom Nichols | Jonathan Metzl | William Hartung
1:00:49
1:00:49
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1:00:49
Secretary of Defense Hegseth Needs to Step Down Now! | Could the Democratic Underdog Win Today in Deep Red Tennessee? | With Affordability the Big Issue, Why Can We Afford Guns and Not Butter?backgroundbriefing.org/donatetwitter.com/ianmastersmediabsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.socialfacebook.com/ianmastersmedialinktr.ee/backgroundbriefing…
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December 1, 2025 - Alejandro Velasco | Alex Lawson | Sidney Blumenthal
1:00:45
1:00:45
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1:00:45
Trump and His Team Meet on Going to War Against Venezuela | With the House Back in Session, the Fate of Affordable Healthcare Hangs by a Thread | How Much is Melania Mentioned in the Epstein Files Trump is Trying to Suppress? backgroundbriefing.org/donatetwitter.com/ianmastersmediabsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.socialfacebook.com/ianmastersm…
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November 30, 2025 - Robert Young Pelton | Christine Fair | Tamar Jacoby
1:01:59
1:01:59
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1:01:59
An Investigation Into the CIA-Run "Kill Or Capture" Zero Units the D.C. Shooter Worked With | As Trump Blames Biden, Who is Responsible For the Chaotic U.S. Withdrawal of 76,000 Afghans Including the Shooter? | With Many Trump Teams Negotiating While Putin Has No Interest in Peace, What Impact Will the Resignation of Ukraine's Negotiator Yermak Hav…
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November 27, 2025 - Richard Parker | Jackie Mitchell | Brian Holmes
56:48
56:48
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56:48
What We Can Be Thankful For in This Otherwise Bleak Time | Talking Turkey About the Turkey Industry and Its lobbying Clout | How Art in Activism Can Uplift Dissent and Inspire Community Organizing backgroundbriefing.org/donatetwitter.com/ianmastersmediabsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.socialfacebook.com/ianmastersmedialinktr.ee/backgroundbrief…
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November 26, 2025 - Adele Stan | Julia Loktev
59:55
59:55
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59:55
Will the Shooting of 2 National Guardsmen in Washington D.C. Provide Trump With an Excuse to Invoke the Insurrection Act For Example? | A Warning to the American Press From the Filmmaker of a Powerful New Feature Documentary About Brave Young Russian Women Reporting the Truth as Putin Shuts Down Independent Media and Criminalizes Journalismbackgrou…
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November 25, 2025 - Harry Litman | James Green | Tom Mockaitis
1:04:57
1:04:57
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1:04:57
Will There Be Further Vindictiveness After the Dismissals of the Revenge Cases Against James Comey and Letitia James? | Bolsonaros Botched Escape Attempt and Possible Collusion With the Trump Administration | Why Are Trump, Hegseth, and Vance So Freaked Out Over the Video by Six Democratic Lawmakers Who Are Veterans backgroundbriefing.org/donatex.c…
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November 24, 2025 - Anand Giridharadas | Robert Benson | Peter Dreier
1:09:28
1:09:28
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1:09:28
America's Morally Bankrupt, Corrupt and Anti-Democratic Power Elite as Revealed in the Epstein Emails | Trump's Treasonous Sellout of Ukraine Is As If Chamberlain Showed Up at Munich With Hitler's "Peace Plan" | Sasha Linden Cohen on How the "Socialist" Handled the "Fascist"backgroundbriefing.org/donatex.com/ianmastersmediabsky.app/profile/ianmaste…
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November 23, 2025 - Dan Alexander | William Cohan | Anders Aslund
1:04:05
1:04:05
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1:04:05
Trump's Decades-Long Obsession With Getting On the Forbes 400 List and How Much Saudi Money Has Lined His Pockets | Musk's $Trillion Payday and How Billionaires Donated 1 in 13 Dollars Spent in the Last Election, Over 80% of Which Went to Republicans | Trump is Shoving Putin's Wish List Down Zelensky's Throat With a Thursday Deadline to Capitulateb…
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November 20, 2025 - Lucian Truscott IV | JB Branch | Alexander Sammon
1:01:10
1:01:10
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1:01:10
A Dangerous and Demented Trump Calls For the Execution of Democratic Senators and Congressmen and Women Who Are Military and Intelligence Veterans | In the Service of His Billionaire Tech Bro Buddies, Trump Doubles Down on Stopping States From Regulating AI | How Ordinary Citizens Witness and Record ICE and CBP's Brutality and Crueltybackgroundbrie…
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November 19, 2025 - Jacob Heilbrunn | David Halperin | Christopher Miller
1:05:06
1:05:06
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1:05:06
A Weakened Trump As a Split in MAGA Emerges With Tucker Carlson and J.D. Vance Jockeying to Succeed America's Most Corrupt and Disastrous President | Trump's Plan to Gut the Department of Education That Only Congress Has the Legal Right to Do | Trump is Pressuring a Weakened Zelensky to Accept a Sellout Peace Plan That is Putin's Wish Listbackgroun…
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November 18, 2025 - Ken Klippenstein | Sarah Leah Whitson | Brendan Benedict
1:00:53
1:00:53
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1:00:53
The Loophole in the Epstein Files Bill Passed by the House Today 427 to 1 That Allows Trump to Classify What He Does Not Want the Public to See | The Former Pariah's Lavish White House Welcome With Trump Dismissing MBS's Murder and Dismemberment of a Critic as "Things Happen" | Meta Wins the Antitrust Case Against the Tech Giant on the Basis Facebo…
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November 17, 2025 - Jonathan Larsen | Mietek Boduszynski | Ben Freeman
1:00:26
1:00:26
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1:00:26
The Cast of Characters Feeding the Bogus and Delusional Intel Trump is Using to Justify a War With Venezuela | Apparent Russian Sabotage of Poland's Rail Link to Ukraine | As They Throw Money at the Pentagon, When Will Our Politicians Address the Guns Versus Butter Issue?backgroundbriefing.org/donatetwitter.com/ianmastersmediabsky.app/profile/ianma…
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