Hello and welcome to Background Briefing, available 247 at Background Briefing.org. I'm me and

Masters, and today we'll look into a number of stories and issues in the news.

We'll begin with the meltdown on Wall Street as stocks tumble and prominent investors warn of an economic nuclear winter,

while Trump urges Americans not to be, quote, weak or stupid, which since every accusation coming from Trump is a confession,

clearly describes who the madman in the Oval Office is.

Joining us to discuss what senior bankers and investors on Wall Street are saying, as Trump

threatens China with an additional 50% tariff, is William Cohen, a former senior Wall Street

investment banker for 17 years

at Lazard Frere and Company, Merrill Lynch and J.P. Morgan Chase, as well as the New York Times

best-selling author whose books include Money and Power, How Goldman Sachs came to Rule the World,

House of Cards, a tale of hubris and wretched excess on Wall Street, and most recently power failure,

the rise and fall of an American icon.

He is a founding partner at Puck News, where his latest article we will discuss is Wall Street's

Tariff Hunger Games.

Then we'll examine who benefits from the deliberate destruction of the U.S. economy, our government,

and our standing in the world by Trump and Musk, and speak with Mike Lofgren, who has spent

28 years working in Congress, the last 16, as a senior analyst on the House and Senate Budget

Committees.

He is the author of The New York Times bestseller, The Party is Over, how Republicans went crazy,

Democrats became useless, and the middle class got shafted, and we'll discuss his latest article at

Salon, Goose Steppers in the Name of Freedom, the Nonsensical Cult that Now Rules America.

Then finally we'll assess the impact of the 1200 hands-off demonstrations

...