Hello and welcome to Background Briefing, available 24-7 at Background Briefing.org, I'm Ian Masters, and today we'll look into a number of stories and issues in the news.

We'll begin with the fatal

combination of a mentally ill president in league with a mentally deranged multi-billionaire

running roughshod over the US government to eviscerate American democracy and usher in a fascish

regime in the service of an oligarchy. We will discuss what can be done to stop this coup underway in plain sight

and speak with Robert Cutner, the co-founder and co-editor of the American Prospect, and the Ida and

Meyer Kirstein Chair at Brandeis University. He was formerly an assistant to the legendary I.F. Stone,

a chief investigator for the Senate Banking Committee, and for 20 years wrote a column for Business Week.

His books include Can Democracy Survive Global Capitalism

and Going Big, FDR's Legacy, Biden's New Deal,

and the struggle to save democracy.

And we'll discuss his latest article at the American Prospect,

Will the Republic Strike Back? Then we'll go to latest article at the American prospect, Will the Republic Strike Back?

Then we'll go to Mexico to examine the deal its new president made with Trump

over immigration and fentanyl, which brought her a month delay in the implementation of Trump's 25% tariff's threat.

Joining us to discuss the absurdity of blaming Canada for the fentanyl trade and what can be done

about China as well as India, which is now exporting chemical precursors to make fentanyl, is

Joanne Grillo, a contributing writer at the New York Times specializing in crime and drugs.

Based in Mexico City, he's the author of El Narko, a finalist for the

Los Angeles Times Book Award, and Gangster Warlords, a New York Times book review, editor's

choice, and a Guardian Book of the Year. His latest book is Blood, Gun Money, How America

Arms, Gangs and Cartels, any blogs at crashoutmedia.com.

...