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 Trump's campaign capping rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday,

at which warm-up acts spewed racist hatred and threats of retribution, only to be crowned by

Trump's attacks on immigrants and so-called enemies within.

Joining us is Anne Nelson, an author and lecture in the fields of international affairs,

media and human rights, who was the director of the international program at the Columbia School

of Journalism, where she created the first curriculum in human rights reporting.

Her books include Red Orchestra, the Pearl

Inn Underground and the Circle of Friends who resisted Hitler, and Shadow Network, media,

money, and the secret hub of the radical right, now out in an up naked paperback version.

The new film, Bad Faith, Christian Nationalism's War and Democracy, based on her book Shadow Network,

is streaming on many platforms. Then we'll look into how billionaires and the CEOs of the

world's biggest companies, Apple, Google, Amazon, and Meta are hedging their bets pandering to

Trump in fear of his vengeance.

Joining us is David K. Johnston, a professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology,

and a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter and best-selling author of the making of Donald Trump.

A 13-year veteran of the New York Times, he won the Pulitzer Prize for reporting that uncovered loopholes and inequities in the U.S. tax code, and he has uncovered so many tax dodgers that he has

been called the de facto tax enforcement officer of the United States. His latest book is The Big Cheat,

how Donald Trump fleeced American enriched himself and his family,

is also the co-founder of DCReport.org,

where his latest article is,

...