Hello and welcome to background briefing. I'm Mien Masters and today will begin as we count down the last days of 2024 with a retrospective from a compilation of programs throughout the year,

starting back in January and ending this month as we work back through the major stories of the year

as they evolved to the present. We'll begin today with a broadcaster background briefing from July

the 4th of 2024 titled A View from Abroad, as Biden stands between the survival of

global democracy and the rule of law and dictatorship.

When on the day we celebrate the nation's founding, we went to London to speak with Sarah

Churchill, our professor of American Literature and Humanities, at the School of Advanced

Study at the University of London.

She is the author of Behold America, the Entangled History of America First and the American Dream,

and her latest book is The Roth to Come, Gone with the Wind and the Lies America Tells.

We discussed how much of the rest of the world sees American democracy hanging by

a thread with President Biden standing between the survival of global democracy and the rule of law

and dictatorship. Meanwhile, Trump and his pantheon of fascist wannabes in France and across Europe

and the world are at the gates of power jutting out their chins like Mussolini with

America's Orange Duce leading the pack. Before we begin, in the last weeks of this year, as we

face the looming prospect of four more ruinous years of Trump along with Vance, to those able to make

end-of-the-year charitable donations, please consider

backgroundbriefing.org slash donate to bolster our efforts in the years ahead as we stand

our ground and rebuild an opposition movement to bridge the divide Trump has exploited with false

promises to his voters in order to reward his billionaire buddies who have already

bought the Supreme Court and are in the process of buying the entire government.

Being educated doesn't make you an elitist, and knowledge and opportunities should be shared

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