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 today's

confirmation hearing of Senator Marco Rubio to become the next Secretary of State and assess whether

little Marco, as Trump once described him, will have much latitude given Trump's impulse to dominate

and desire to make photo-op deals to make himself look good at the expense of the U.S. national interest.

Joining us is Charles Cupschen, who was director for European Affairs on the National Security

Council during the Clinton administration. He's now a professor of international affairs

at Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and spent the last three years of the

Obama administration as special assistant to President Obama for national security.

He's the author of the end of the American era, U.S. foreign policy and the geopolitics of the 21st century,

power and transition, the peaceful change of international order, and how enemies become friends, the sources of stable peace.

And his latest book, Isolationism, A History of America's

Efforts to Shield itself from the World. And he has an article at The Atlantic. Trump is

right that Pax Americana is over, but will he bother to build something new? Then we'll look

into today's confirmation hearing of Pam Bondi. Then we'll look into today's confirmation

hearing of Pam Bondi to become the next Attorney General and investigate her role as a pay-to-play

attorney general in Florida, where she favored corporate interests over the public interest.

Joining us is Eli Knegan, a Washington, D.C. based writer, who was a foreign news editor at National Public Radio,

the managing editor of American Journalism Review, and the editor of the Nuclear Times and Public Citizen Magazines.

His articles who appeared in the Atlantic, Common Dreams, Huffington Post, L.A. Progressive, Scientific American,

The Washington Post, and many other publications.

And we will discuss these two articles at Common Dreams, The Transact and many other publications, and we will discuss these two

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