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 an analysis of how a reality TV star living in his own reality propagated an unreality that has captured one of our two political parties

and has up to half of Americans living in a phony reality.

Joining us to discuss how George Orwell's 1984 could become the United States in 2025

is Steve Bennon, the producer of the Rachel Maddow show on MSNBC, and the author of the Maddo blog.

He has received two Emmy Awards and has been nominated for four more, and is the author of The Impostors,

How Republicans Quit Governing and Seased American Politics, a national bestseller,

and we will discuss his latest book, Just Out, Ministry of Truth, Democracy, Reality,

and the Republicans War on the recent past.

Then we'll explore the historical irony of a country that fought a revolution

against a mad king, now poised to possibly re-elect a mad king, who the Supreme Court has

just anointed with unlimited monarchical power and immunity.

Joining us to discuss Shakespeare's prescience in King Lear with the line,

quote, tis the time's plague when madmen lead the blind. Is Sidney Blumenthal,

a former assistant senior advisor to President Bill Clinton and a senior advisor to Hillary Clinton?

He has been a national staff reporter for the Washington Post,

Washington editor and staff writer for the New Yorker,

and his books include the bestsellers,

the Clinton Wars, the Rise of the Counterestablishment,

and the Permanent Campaign.

His latest book is All the Powers on Earth,

...