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 the tabloid presidency creating tabloid headlines

as the public spat between two infantile egomaniacs,

the world's richest man and the world's most powerful man, dominate the news.

As the sick marriage of wealth and power is now ending and heading for

divorce, we will speak with Moira Donagan, 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 Paris Review, and she's 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,

The Inevitable Trump-Musk feud is finally here, and it's pathetic.

Then we'll look into the mayoral race in New York City that appears to be emblematic of the choices facing the Moribund Democratic Party,

whether to support political activism or centrist pragmatism.

We will discuss the surging campaign of the upstart socialist Zoran Kwame Memdami,

who is supported by small donations from tenants and former Governordami, who is supported by small donations from tenants, and former Governor Cuomo,

who is supported by big donations from landlords.

Joining us is Harold Myerson, one of the nation's best-known progressive columnist and

editor-at-large of the American prospect, where his latest articles are,

Trump-Labor nominee indifferent to workers' rights, and polling conundrums,

activist government C, Democrats, no.

Then finally we'll assess whether Trump, who recently said Putin is tapping him along,

is stringing us all along, pretending to be the honest broker

...