Hello and welcome to Background Briefing available 24-7 at background briefing. I'm Ian Masters,

and today we look into a number of stories and issues in the news.

We'll begin with the incredible shrinking billionaire and co-president of the United States,

who on his earnings call yesterday with worried investors blamed cratering sales and earnings for Tesla

on, quote, paid and very organized protesters who have been showing up at Tesla dealerships

across the country and around the world in growing numbers.

Joining us to discuss how Trump's biggest campaign donor shares similar delusions and lives

in his own reality like Trump does is Fred Turner, the Harry and Norman Chandler Professor of Communication at Stanford University.

He's the author, co-author of five books, including Seeing Silicon Valley, Life Inside a Fraying

America, the Democratic Surround, Multimedia and American Liberalism from World War II to the

psychedelic 60s, from counterculture to cyberculture, Stuart Brand,

the Whole Earth Network and the rise of digital utopianism, and echoes of combat the Vietnam

War in American memory. Then, with Vice President Vance outlining U.S. plans to sell

out Ukraine to Putin, after Secretary of State Rubio announced the U.S. is prepared to walk away from peace talks,

we'll examine the shameful misuse of American power to force a victim to surrender while rewarding the aggressor.

Having invaded Ukraine and bombed its cities, destroyed his infrastructure and murdered its people.

Trump and Vance are allowing Russia to conquer and subjugate what Putin could not win on the battlefield.

Joining us is Olga Loutman, a non-resident senior fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis,

who is also the creator and co-host of the Kremlin File podcast series,

which features expert discussions on the Kremlin's internal affairs, global operations and tactics

used from their hybrid warfare toolkit to destabilize Western democracies.

She has a sub-stake newsletter covering Russia, Ukraine, Eastern and Central Central Europe with a focus on Russia's intelligence operations available at Olga Loutman.substack.com.

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