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

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

We'll begin with Musk shutting down USAID after Trump's illegal executive order to freeze its

funding for 90 days based on his assertion that, quote,

it's been run by a bunch of radical left lunatics and we're getting rid of them and then

we'll make a decision.

We will discuss the consequences to U.S. national security this reckless power grab will have in terms of global health and stability in the Middle East as desperately needed funds

to stabilize Syria have been halted. Joining us is Steve Radlett,, the Donald F. McCannery Chair in Global Human Development

and a professor of the practice of development at Georgetown University

and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution,

formerly a senior advisor to Secretary of State Clinton and Chief Economist of USAID.

He focuses on economic growth, poverty reduction and foreign aid,

especially in sub-Saharan Africa. His books include The Great Surge, The Ascent of the

Developing World, Emerging Africa, How 17 Countries Are Leading the Way, and Economics of Development.

Then we'll assess the failure of the Democrats and the American

left in general to allow such a disastrous misanthrope to be elected president not just once but

twice and speak with Moira Donigan, writer and residence at the Clayman Institute for Gender

Research at Stanford University. Her work has appeared in the London Review of Books,

Book Forum and the Parish Review. She is the co-host of the podcast in bed with the right

and a columnist at The Guardian, where her latest article we will discuss is, why are the Democrats so

spineless? Then finally, we'll look into how much the 76 million Americans who voted for Trump don't want a functioning government and prefer to be entertained by a reality TV star and his sorry collection of right-wing talk show hosts and Fox News entertainers and speak with Adele Stan, an independent journalist and long-time chronicler of the

right wing of US politics. A winner of the Hillman Prize in Opinion and Analysis Journalism,

...