Hello and welcome to Background Briefing, available 24-7 at Background Briefing.org.

I'm me and Masters, and today we'll examine a number of stories and issues in the news.

We'll begin with Trump campaigning as a Christian televangelist, with his piety in contrast to

the porn he is facing on April 15th in the New York Hush Money trial, along with his cruel

display of racist hatred yesterday before a group of uniformed cops calling for a bloodbath

labelling immigrants as animals. Joining us is Ryan Cooper, managing editor at the American

Prospect and the co-host of the Left Anchor podcast, as well as the author of the new book,

How Are You Going to Pay for that Smart Questions to the Dumbest Questions in Politics?

We will discuss his latest article at the American Prospect, The Pious One, Donald Trump.

The least likely embodiment of Christian virtues in American life is practically running as an evangelical minister.

Then we'll look into an article at the New York Times by Thomas Edsel,

Trump's back as I determined not to blow it this time around,

about the more than 100 conservative tax-exempt organizations

that have joined forces in support of Donald Trump in the MAGA agenda

forming a $2 billion-plus

political machine.

Joining us is Dr. Lawrence Rothenthal, who is quoted in the article.

He is the chair and lead researcher of the Berkeley Center for Right Wing Studies and the

author of Empire Resentment Populism's toxic embrace of nationalism.

He is taught at the University of California, Berkeley in the Sociology and Italian Studies Department

and was a Fulbright professor at the University of Naples in Italy.

Then finally we'll assess the military intelligence failures of Africom in West Africa,

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