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 America's plutocrats lining up to support Trump, not because they like him,

but because he will extend the Trump tax cuts for the ultra-rich when they expire next year.

Joining us to discuss the motives and machinations of the biggest donor to the Republicans,

Jeffrey Yass, is Jacob Silverman, a contributing writer for the new republic and a contributing

editor for the Baffler, covering tech and national security.

He's the author of Terms of Service, Social Media and the Price of Constant Connection,

and his latest book, An Instant New York Times bestseller co-author with Ben McKenzie,

is Easy Money, Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Asia Fraud.

He also blogs at jacobtsilverman.com, where his latest articles include

Jeffrey Yass, GOP Megadona and TikTok investor, gets his turn directing Republican

policy. Then we'll examine the credentials or the lack thereof of RFK Jr's running mate

as his vice president, Nicole Shanahan, whose main qualification appears to be that she has

the money to get Kennedy on the ballots in more states

than the one he is on now, Utah, the Harry and Norman Chandler Professor of Communication at Stanford University.

He's the author, a co-author of five books, including Seeing Silicon Valley,

life inside of Fraying America, the democratics surround multimedia and

American liberalism from World War II to the psychedelic 60s, from counterculture to cyberculture,

Stuart Brand, the whole Earth network, and the rise of digital utopianism, and echoes of combat

the Vietnam War in American memory.

Then finally we look into what is fueling the anarchy in Haiti, now controlled by marauding gangs,

...