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Background Briefing: February 7, 2021
Biden Cuts Off Trump’s Intelligence Briefings as it Becomes Clear Trump Was Behind the Storming of the Capitol
We begin with President Biden’s decision not to provide Trump the courtesy of continuing intelligence briefings because of his “erratic behavior” and concerns that Trump who Biden considers dangerous, reckless and an existential threat, “might slip and say something.” Joining us is Paul Pillar, a 30 year veteran of the CIA who was National Intelligence Officer for the Near East and South Asia and headed the Assessments and Information Group of the Counterterrorist Center and is now a professor of Security Studies at Georgetown University. We discuss the growing
evidence that Trump organized and orchestrated the assault on the Capitol which will emerge as evidence against him in next week’s impeachment trial in the Senate. We also assess whether eventually the full history of Trump’s ties to Putin and Russian financing of his many failed businesses will be made public. Although the counterintelligence files detailing Trump’s criminal and traitorous liaisons will be harder to access due to their highly secret nature and the risk of revealing sources and methods.
The Uncanny Similarities Between Trump and Senator Joe McCarthy
Then we explore the emerging evidence that Trump was at the epicenter of the QAnon “Storm” that culminated in the assault on the Capitol which came close to succeeding and would have resulted in the arrests and possible execution of Democratic leaders deemed as Satan-worshipping pedophiles by the cult that Mike Flynn is a leader of who see Trump as their messiah poised to purge the evils of the “deep state” which has been hampering his efforts to make America great again. Similarities between Trump’s use of the “big lie” that he won the election combined with his cult-like following, and the big lies of Senator Joe McCarthy arise, and we discuss the uncanny resemblance of these malignant political forces. Both were tied by the same mentor Roy Cohn and Trump’s claim he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and get away with it is alarmingly similar
to polling pioneer George Gallop’s observation 62 years earlier that “Even If it were known that McCarthy had killed five innocent children, they would probably still go along with him.” Larry Tye, the author of Demagogue: The Life and Long Shadow of Senator Joe McCarthy joins us to discuss his article at CNN “Why Donald Trump could melt away.”
Protests by India’s Farmers as Modi Cracks Down on the Press
Then finally we examine the on-going protests by farmers in India and how the religious authoritarian government of Prime Minister Modi is cracking down on the press in a country that prides itself as the world’s largest democracy. Sumit Ganguly, the Rabindranath Tagore Chair in Indian Cultures and Civilizations at Indiana University joins us to discuss his article at Foreign Policy, “Why India’s Farmers Won’t Stop Protesting” and how Modi is intimidating India’s once free press.
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