Hello and welcome to Background Briefing, available 24-7 at Background Briefing.org. I'm Ian Masterson.

Today we'll look into a number of stories and issues in the news. We'll begin with the art of the deal failing our reality TV president

who is unable to deal with reality as he desperately throws out carrots and sticks

at the Iranians in the hope they will let him out of the trap he put the country and the world in.

Joining us is Harrison Mann, Associate Director for Campaigns and Policy at Win Without War, a Progressive National Security Advocacy Network.

His advocacy and public commentary focuses on reforming U.S. Middle East policy and illuminating the connections between foreign

and domestic policy. He's a former US Army Major assigned to the Defence Intelligence Agency

who resigned in protest of the Department of Defense's support for the Israeli military during its war on Gaza.

He has an article at Zetio.

We've spent trillions on our Pentagon budget.

So why are we losing against Iran?

Then with yesterday's special election in Virginia handing the Democrats four more House seats,

we'll examine how not only are Trump's foreign policy moves disastrous,

his domestic political attempts to rig the next election appear equally incompetent.

Joining us is Jacob Harbram, the editor at the National Interest and a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Centre and a columnist for The Spectator.

His books include They Knew They Were Right, The Rise of the Neocons, and America Last, the Wright's century-long romance with foreign dictators.

He's also editor-at-large of the Jerusalem Strategic Tribune, and he has an article

at The Spectator we will discuss. Virginia's referendum loss adds to Trump's woes.

Then finally, with the world addicted to oil and looking for a fix as the drug dealers fight over the supply,

we will speak on this Earth Day with Kathleen Rogers,

the president of Earth Day Network, who has worked for more than 20 years as an environmental

attorney and advocate. She's the lead organizer for the Earth Day March of Science rally

...