Hello and welcome to background briefing, available 24-7 at background briefing.

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

news. We'll begin with the latest twist and turns in the Trump Reality TV presidency with the

press distracted again from what Trump does not want covered. His tariff chaos and his big, beautiful

bill stalled in the Senate. But now has the focus on LA, a city, he says, is being,

quote, conquered by a foreign enemy. We will look into Trump's own private militias at DHS, ICE,

and the FBI, and the U.S. military, the military being the first tool that all dictators must control,

which has his puppet Hegset in charge, if not in control.

Joining us is Lincoln Mitchell, who teaches in the School of International and Public Affairs

and the Department of Political Science at Columbia University.

He has written numerous books and articles about international affairs,

American politics and baseball. His ninth book, Just Out is Three Years Our Mayor, George

Moscone, in the Making of Modern San Francisco. And he's the author of the popular substack

Kibbutzing with Lincoln, where his latest article we will discuss is Los Angeles shows how Trump is demonstrating

control of the security forces. Then we'll speak with a young Latino journalist who has covered

the Los Angeles protests on the ground since Friday. Gerardo Chagola, a multiple award-winning student journalist and the editor-in-chief

of the Fullerton College newspaper, The Hornet. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of a new

publication in the Fullerton News Journal. He joins us to describe why young Angelinos like himself

and the protesters he has been covering are angry and how they feel

their community has been treated by Trump and portrayed by the media.

Then finally, we'll assess how much Trump's triumphant announcement today of a trade deal with

China and his claim that his relationship with Xi Jinping is excellent in caps, is warranted.

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