Background Briefing with Ian Masters - podcast cover

Background Briefing with Ian Masters

Background Briefing goes far beyond the headlines and deep under the radar to bring forward truths unheard elsewhere in American media. Background Briefing features international and national news, expert guests, policymakers, and critics offering analysis and insight on national security, foreign and domestic policy, political, cultural, and social issues. backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
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Episodes

November 24, 2025 - Anand Giridharadas | Robert Benson | Peter Dreier

America's Morally Bankrupt, Corrupt and Anti-Democratic Power Elite as Revealed in the Epstein Emails | Trump's Treasonous Sellout of Ukraine Is As If Chamberlain Showed Up at Munich With Hitler's "Peace Plan" | Sasha Linden Cohen on How the "Socialist" Handled the "Fascist" backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Nov 24, 20251 hr 9 min

November 23, 2025 - Dan Alexander | William Cohan | Anders Aslund

Trump's Decades-Long Obsession With Getting On the Forbes 400 List and How Much Saudi Money Has Lined His Pockets | Musk's $Trillion Payday and How Billionaires Donated 1 in 13 Dollars Spent in the Last Election, Over 80% of Which Went to Republicans | Trump is Shoving Putin's Wish List Down Zelensky's Throat With a Thursday Deadline to Capitulate backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgrou...

Nov 23, 20251 hr 4 min

November 20, 2025 - Lucian Truscott IV | JB Branch | Alexander Sammon

A Dangerous and Demented Trump Calls For the Execution of Democratic Senators and Congressmen and Women Who Are Military and Intelligence Veterans | In the Service of His Billionaire Tech Bro Buddies, Trump Doubles Down on Stopping States From Regulating AI | How Ordinary Citizens Witness and Record ICE and CBP's Brutality and Cruelty backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Nov 20, 20251 hr 1 min

November 19, 2025 - Jacob Heilbrunn | David Halperin | Christopher Miller

A Weakened Trump As a Split in MAGA Emerges With Tucker Carlson and J.D. Vance Jockeying to Succeed America's Most Corrupt and Disastrous President | Trump's Plan to Gut the Department of Education That Only Congress Has the Legal Right to Do | Trump is Pressuring a Weakened Zelensky to Accept a Sellout Peace Plan That is Putin's Wish List backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefi...

Nov 19, 20251 hr 5 min

November 18, 2025 - Ken Klippenstein | Sarah Leah Whitson | Brendan Benedict

The Loophole in the Epstein Files Bill Passed by the House Today 427 to 1 That Allows Trump to Classify What He Does Not Want the Public to See | The Former Pariah's Lavish White House Welcome With Trump Dismissing MBS's Murder and Dismemberment of a Critic as "Things Happen" | Meta Wins the Antitrust Case Against the Tech Giant on the Basis Facebook Has Lost So Much Market Share to TikTok and YouTube backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky...

Nov 19, 20251 hr 1 min

November 17, 2025 - Jonathan Larsen | Mietek Boduszynski | Ben Freeman

The Cast of Characters Feeding the Bogus and Delusional Intel Trump is Using to Justify a War With Venezuela | Apparent Russian Sabotage of Poland's Rail Link to Ukraine | As They Throw Money at the Pentagon, When Will Our Politicians Address the Guns Versus Butter Issue? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia youtube.com/@ianmastersnet instagram.com/ianmastersmedia

Nov 17, 20251 hr

November 16, 2025 - Daniel Boguslaw | Faiza Patel | Aaron Regunberg

Epstein's Ties to Foreign Leaders and How Much the CIA Has an Epstein Problem | In Targeting an Organization That Does Not Exist, Trump Can Now Target Anyone |Will AI be an Issue in the Next Election? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Nov 16, 20251 hr 1 min

November 13, 2025 - Matthew Petti | Louise Shelley | Christopher Prebble

One of the First Journalists to Reveal the Email Trove Linking Epstein With Israeli Intelligence | The Damaging Scandal of Zelensky's Former Media Partner on the Lam With $100 Million in Energy Repairs Stolen | Does the U.S. Need Trump's Security Pact With Saudi Arabia? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Nov 13, 20251 hr 2 min

November 12, 2025 - Nina Burleigh | Fred Turner | Jonathan Guyer

More Damaging Epstein Emails Emerge While the Real "Smoking Gun" Remains Epstein's Ties to Israeli Intelligence | Silicon Valley's Migration to Texas with Musk's Monarcho-Capitalism Embracing the Christian Nationalist of Petrobaptists | A New Poll That Finds GOP Voters See Trump as Tough, Intelligent or a Peacemaker While Democrats and Independents Say He's Destructive, Erratic or Reckless backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social face...

Nov 12, 20251 hr

November 10, 2025 - Jeet Heer | Joshua Landis | Jennifer Kavanagh

Senate Democrats Defect to Open the Government on Republican Terms With Empty Promises | Can Trump Overcome Supporters of Israel in Congress to End US Sanctions and Stabilize Syria? | Hegseth Wants Defense Contractors on a "Wartime Footing" as He Plans to Attack Venezuela backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Nov 10, 20251 hr

November 9, 2025 - Jeff Wise | David Graham | J.W. Mason

An Assessment of Air Safety as Air Travel Melts Down | Following Orban's Example, Trump's Announces His Plan to Rig Election So That "We will never lose the midterms, and we will never lose a general election" | A Followup on Mamdani's Victory on How He Will Deal With the Affordability Crisis backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Nov 08, 20251 hr 3 min

November 6, 2025 - Rick Wilson | Michael McDonald | John Lawrence

Mounting Evidence the MAGA Spell Has Been Broken | As a Blue Wave Looms, What Will Trump Do to Rig the Next Election? | Nancy Pelosi's Former Chief of Staff on Her Decision to Retire backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Nov 06, 20251 hr 4 min

November 5, 2025 - Moira Donegan | Alexander Keyssar | Michael Edison Hayden

Having Shunned Mamdani, Will the Democratic Establishment Now Embrace Him? | California Governor Newsom's Warning That Trump Will Do Anything and Everything to Rig the Next Election | The Republicans Are the Real Radicals and They Have a Nazi Problem backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Nov 05, 20251 hr 2 min

November 4, 2025 - Marion Nestle | Ryan Cooper | Dr. Ashley Koning

After Offering to Half-Fund SNAP, Trump Turns Callousness Into Cruelty by Refusing to Fund It At All Until "Radical Left Democrats" Open Up the Government | The Billionaire-Funded Retention Election For the Pennsylvania Supreme Court That Is Going Under the Radar | The Mamdani race in NYC and Sherrill race in NJ as the Personification of the Struggle Within the Democratic Party backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmaster...

Nov 04, 20251 hr 6 min

November 3, 2025 - Javier Corrales | Paul Glastris | Daniel Harawa

Trump Wants to Take Out Maduro Without a War But Replacing Venezuela's Corrupt and Criminal Hierarchy Will Not Be So Easy | Trump Has Project 2025 But the Democrats Have No Plan and They Need to Go On the Offensive With One | Will SCOTUS Shred Its Last Vestige of Legitimacy and Side With Trump on Tariffs? backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Nov 03, 20251 hr 6 min

November 1, 2025 - Joseph Cirincione | Will Bunch | Fatemeh Jamalpour

The Man With His Finger on the Button Doesn't Know What He is Talking About When it Comes to Nuclear Weapons | Trump Doesn't Need a Reichstag Fire, Mike Johnson Has Already Shut Down the Legislature | An Iranian Journalist Banned by Iran's Ministry of Intelligence on Her Book on the Third Anniversary of the Women, Life, Freedom Movement backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Nov 02, 20251 hr 12 min

October 30, 2025 - Miles Taylor & Maria McFarland Sanchez-Moreno | Jochen Hellbeck

Today's Launch ofDEFIANCE.ORG to Help Americans Push Back Against Trump's Revenge | As Putin Behaves Like A Nazi Killing Ukrainian Civilians, Hitler's Murderousness Mobilized the Russians, 26 Million of Whom Died Defeating Nazism backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Oct 30, 20251 hr 6 min

October 29, 2025 - Gina Plata-Nino | Bartlett Naylor | Dennis Hogan

As Trump Rewards Billionaires and Mike Johnson Protects Pedophiles, Americans and Their Children Are About to Go Hungry | The CEO to Worker Pay Ratio Has Gone From 20 to 1 to 360 to 1 But Now Musk Expects a $1 Trillion Paycheck | Trump's Theatrical War on Drugs Has Key Ally Colombia Exiting the Stage;

Oct 29, 20251 hr 4 min

October 28, 2025 - Michael Hudson | Kent Harrington

Reality Versus Fiction in Trump's Asia Tour of Japan Then on to South Korea To Meet Xi | An assessment of Trump's Claim of a "New Golden Age of the U.S. Japan Alliance" backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Oct 28, 20251 hr 3 min

October 27, 2025 - Dr. Bandy Lee | Stephen Marche | Sarang Shidore

The Unbound Grandiosity of Trump's Ego and Its Frailty as the Most Powerful Man in the World Craves and Demands Praise and Flattery | Trump's Declaration of Economic War on Canada Over a Reagan TV Ad | An Assessment of What Was Achieved and What Was Not at the ASEAN Summit backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Oct 27, 20251 hr 5 min

October 26, 2025 - Sean Wilentz | Sidney Blumenthal | Timothy Shenk

Dwarfing the White House, Trump's Monstrous Monument to His Ego Will be an Enduring Insult From the Worst President in Our History That Will Torment Us For the Ages | The Criminal Takeover of America as Trump Punishes His Enemies and Pardons His Friends While Rewarding Himself, His Family and His Cronies | Democrats Must Run With a Liberal/Populist Coalition to Improve the Lives of Americans Not Remind us How Bad Trump is backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile...

Oct 26, 20251 hr 4 min

October 23, 2025 - David Faris | Richard Briffault | Tamar Jacoby

How Blue States Can Defend Themselves Against the Divisive Partisan Warfare Trump is Waging Against Them | The White House is Being Trashed to Build a Massive Monument to the Worst President in Our History | A Report From Kyiv on Whether Europe's Tough Talk on Russia Will Translate Into Action backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Oct 23, 20251 hr 3 min

October 22, 2025 - Jared Abbott | Robert McElvaine | Priya Jain

Although the Oysterman in Maine is Imploding and Senator Fetterman is a Disappointment, Authentic Populist Democratic Candidates Are Emerging on the Left | Disturbing Similarities With Today's Wall Street Bubble and the 1929 Crash | A Wakeup Call as the People's House is Torn Down to Build a Gilded Palace backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Oct 22, 20251 hr 2 min

October 21, 2025 - David Cay Johnston | James Zirin | William LeoGrande

Trump Tears Down the East Wing For a Gilded Ballroom While Washington's Government Workers Aren't Getting Paid | Trump's Judges Overturn District Court Rulings For Troops to Intimidate Portland and Chicago | Will Trump Attack Venezuela to Please Little Marco? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Oct 21, 20251 hr 3 min

October 20, 2025 - Van Gosse | Dr. Annelle Sheline | Kim Lane Scheppele

Trump's Outlandish Vulgarity Has Support in the GOP and Deep Roots in American Politics | Witkoff and Kushner in Israel to Plug Holes in the israel/Hamas Peace Plan With VP Vance Arriving tomorrow For More Damage Control | The Contentious Trump/Zelensky Meeting at Which Trump Parroted Putin's Talking Points and Russian Propaganda backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Oct 20, 20251 hr 6 min

October 19, 2025 - John Nichols | Joe Feagin | Stephen Kinzer

Resistance to Trump is Growing With 2,600 No Kings Protests Across America | In Spite of JD Vance's Craven Lies, Group Chat Reveals Trump's Appeal to Young Republican Racists, Misogynists and Even Incels | Signs that Trump and Rubio's Plan To Use Military Force Against Venezuela Are Behind the Head of Southcom Stepping Down backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Oct 19, 20251 hr 13 min

October 16, 2025 - Michael Kimmage | David Smilde | Kenneth Vogel

Trump and Putin to Meet in Budapest Soon For Another Summit After the Alaska Fiasco | Trump Authorizes CIA Covert Action Against Venezuela Announcing "We Are Looking at Land Now" | Friends and Relatives of Our Political Leaders Cash in on Dirty Money From Disreputable Despots backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Oct 16, 20251 hr 4 min

October 15, 2025 - David Daley | Dustin Wahl | Richard P. Swanson

SCOTUS Appears Poised To Gut the Voting Rights Act Again to Give Republicans 10 to 12 New House Seats at the Expense of Black Voters Before Votes Are Cast in the Midterms | Younger Candidates Challenging the Gerontocracy Ruling Our Politics | The Weak and Vindictive Case Trump Has Ginned Up Against Leticia James backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Oct 15, 20251 hr 3 min

October 14, 2025 - Asher Kaufman | Harold Meyerson | Nina Burleigh

Hamas Moves to Assert Control Over Gaza Making the Prospect of an Arab/Muslim Police Force Taking Over Dubious While Trump, Miller and Vance's Demonization of the American Left is Ludicrous, We Look Into Rifts Between the Fundis and the Realos | How Far Will the Country Sink Into the Trump Abyss of Corruption, Venality, Malevolence and Vulgarity? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Oct 14, 20251 hr 2 min
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