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 House Republicans coming together today to elect a new speaker, Mike Johnson,

after Trump had torpedoed the Republican whip Tom Emma.

Now with Trump's blessing, since Johnson led the effort to hand Trump an unelected second term,

a more presentable and youthful,

maga, faithful, with an agreeable low-key persona, has the gavel. Joining us to assess the

victory of this hard right-wing unity candidate, now the highest-ranking elected Republican in the

land, is Alan Lickman, a political historian who teaches at American

University and has studied both the American right and the presidency. The author of the case for

impeachment and the keys to the White House, a surefire way of predicting the next president.

His prediction system has correctly predicted the outcomes of all U.S. presidential

elections since 1984, including the 2016 election, when against all odds he predicted

a Trump victory. His most recent book is 13 cracks repairing American democracy after Trump.

Then we'll get a strategic overview of the Middle East on the brink of a wider war,

with Iran and Hezbollah threatening retaliation if Israel invades Gaza,

and Israel determined to eliminate Iran's proxy Hamas,

even if it means going after the source in Tehran.

Joining us is Nicholas Harris, a senior director for Strategy and Innovation at the New Lines Institute,

who, from 2016 to 2017, served as the 10th First Lieutenant Andrew J. Basevic Jr., USA Fellow,

at the Center for New American Security.

He's the author of From the Bottom Up, a strategy for Middle East military support for

...