SUMMARY: One of the goals of this year’s Democratic National Convention is to unite a divided party. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders was former Vice President Joe Biden’s biggest challenger during the Democratic primaries, and some of his supporters have vowed not to support Biden. Sanders joins Judy Woodruff to discuss working with Biden on policy proposals and progressive representation at the DNC.
SUMMARY: Tuesday's primaries spanned the country and the political spectrum, from more liberal Oregon, to conservative Idaho and Nebraska, to swing-state Pennsylvania, where wins by women were particularly notable. Lisa Desjardins learns more from Dave Davies of WHYY in Philadelphia.
Before the election, I wrote an article that touched on some of the same points I'm going to talk about here. However, I felt as if it needed a bit of a “refresh,” of sorts, based on the absolute chaos we've seen since Donald Trump was sworn into office on January 20, 2017.
The words I used at the beginning of that article ring as true now as they did when I first wrote them:
There's not even a shred of sane or rational logic anyone can use to defend Donald Trump.
Say what you want about him, and there's plenty to say, but Trump knew what he was talking about when, over a year ago, he said his supporters were mindless sheep who'll support him no matter what.
Sure, his approval numbers have hit historic lows, and most of the country thinks he's doing a piss-poor job as “Commander-in-Chief,” but the overwhelming majority of Republicans still fully support him.
As I've said before, I don't think most of his supporters care if he did collude with Russia during the election. He could admit he worked with Putin to undermine the integrity of our democracy and the vast majority of Republicans would still probably support him.
His supporters can't even defend his campaign promises anymore considering we now know they were total bullshit. Mexico's not paying for his border wall, he's not going to prosecute Hillary Clinton, and the health care plan he supports isn't anything that he said it would be prior to getting “elected.”
And just like I wrote several months ago, at this point, if you're still a supporter of Donald Trump, here's what you really are: You're someone who's cemented your place in history as an individual who we're all going to look back upon with disgust and shame because you were ignorant enough to support the most corrupt, dishonest, vile, and incompetent “President” in United States history.
This is a man who's:
- Mocked a man with disabilities.
- Attacked the parents of a fallen American hero.
- Belittled POWs and the war record of Sen. John McCain.
- Lied about how much money he raised for veterans.
- Called a former Miss Universe “disgusting” and fat, telling his Twitter followers to find her non-existent sex tape.
- Accused an American-born federal judge of being unfit to do his job because of his Mexican heritage.
- Likely avoided paying taxes for nearly two decades.
- Called most Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals, even though that's not remotely factual.
- Lied about seeing “thousands and thousands” of Muslims celebrating in New Jersey on 9/11.
- Lied about getting a letter from the NFL complaining about the debate schedule.
- Tried to exploit the death of an African American woman in Chicago to say that's why black voters will support him.
- Found the “bright side” to tragedies because his poll numbers tend to go up.
- Settled with the Department of Justice after his company was found guilty of racially discriminating against minorities.
- Has cheated on at least one wife.
- Was discovered on video admitting that he not only tried to cheat on his current wife, but he attempted to do so with another married woman.
- Had his first wife publicly say that he did nothing when it came to raising their children until they were old enough to talk business.
- Tweeted that women should have expected to be sexually assaulted when they mixed males and females together in the military.
- Said he wants to target the families of terrorists.
- Stated that he wants to ban an entire religion.
- Praised a Russian President who obviously hates the U.S. and Americans.
- Encouraged the Russian government to commit espionage against Americans.
- Insinuated that another Republican's wife was ugly.
- Tried to implicate another Republican's father in JFK's assassination.
- Sought out the help of former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes after he was fired following multiple allegations that he had sexually harassed women for years.
- Made Breitbart's Steve Bannon one of his top campaign people.
- Had a former campaign manager abruptly resign after a report came out linking him to pro-Russian groups that were directly trying to undermine U.S. policy in eastern Europe.
- Called Carly Fiorina ugly.
- Has said climate change was a hoax created by the Chinese — then denied saying it.
- Was a leading conspiracy theorist when it came to the racist-driven birther conspiracies against President Obama.
- Dismissed nearly eight years of accusing the President of not being an American with a less than 30 second statement where he didn't apologize for any of it.
- Tried to blame Hillary Clinton for his racism.
- Re-tweeted anti-African American propaganda created by a white supremacy group.
- Played dumb about knowing who former Grand Wizard of the KKK David Duke was.
- Skipped a Presidential debate because he was scared of a moderator.
- Has, on several occasions, suggested he finds his daughter attractive.
- Called a husband doing things like changing diapers and helping with the children, a man “trying to be the wife.”
- Has said he wants more countries to have nuclear weapons.
- Said he can't release his tax returns because they're currently being audited — even though the IRS said that's a lie.
- Feels he has the right to sexually assault women.
- Lied, in the face of indisputable photographic evidence, about the size of his inauguration crowd.
- Continues to push the unfounded conspiracy that “millions of people voted illegally” because his ego can't handle the fact Clinton received 3 million more votes than he did.
- Disgraced the CIA's monument to fallen agents by talking about his electoral college victory.
- After frequently criticizing President Obama for playing golf, has spent nearly half his weekends since being sworn into office playing golf at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
- On pace to cost taxpayers more on “extracurricular” expenses during his first 365 days in office than we spent on Obama during his 2,921 days as President.
- Settled a $25 million lawsuit accusing him of purposely creating a fake university to scam people out of money.
- Has already broken most of his biggest campaign promises.
- Fired the head of the FBI for apparently not “swearing loyalty” and doing what he wanted in regards to the on-going investigations looking into his campaign's ties to Russians.
- Then threatened the former head of the FBI just after firing him in an attempt to intimidate him from speaking out publicly.
- Pushed an unfounded conspiracy against Barack Obama, accusing him of ordering unconstitutional wiretaps placed in Trump Tower — without providing a shred of evidence to back it up.
- Seems to have been working with the head of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Devin Nunes, to undermine congressional investigations into his possible Russian connections.
- Had said, despite promising to do so, he doesn't plan to ever release his tax returns.
- Said he didn't know being “President” would be so hard.
- Apparently needed the President of China to explain to him why dealing with North Korea is complicated.
- Signed two travel bans against Muslims that were overturned as unconstitutional.
- Allowed state-run Russian media to bring electronic and photographic equipment into the Oval Office — while denying entry to any U.S. press — at the request of Vladimir Putin.
- Said his surrogates shouldn't be held accountable for the dishonest or contradictory things they say.
- Admitted Australia, which has universal health care, has better health care than we do, then doubled-down on those comments, yet still supports a bill that's almost the complete opposite of their system.
- Months after the election, continues to bring it up the electoral college, even hanging a large printout of it on a wall in the White House.
- Didn't mention the Jewish people once during his speech on International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
- Blamed Democrats for the initial failure of the House of Representatives being able to pass Trumpcare — even though Republicans have a 44-seat majority.
- Is now bragging about the very same jobs reports he called “fake” and “phony” prior to taking office.
- Continues to call the talk about the investigations into his connections to Russia “FAKE NEWS!” even though the FBI has publicly admitted these investigations are, in fact, real.
- Has the lowest approval rating for a President this early into their presidency — in history.
- Admitted he lied when he publicly threatened that he might have recorded his conversations with the former head of the FBI he had just fired — in a clear attempt to intimidate James Comey into not speaking out about what the two men had discussed.
- Apparently doesn't understand what “collusion” or “obstruction” actually mean.
- Called the very same health care plan he publicly celebrated and said he supports “mean.”
- Launched a disgusting attack against “low I.Q” MSNBC's Mika Brzeninski, accusing her of “bleeding badly from a face-lift” when he saw her back in January, while calling her co-host Joe Scarborough, and former U.S. congressman, “psycho.”
One man has done all of that, and much more.
I'm no mental health expert and I'm not involved in the medical field at all. But based on what I've read and can plainly see about Donald Trump, he exhibits nearly every characteristic linked to a sociopath. He:
- Doesn't believe the rules or laws apply to him.
- Seems to have no concern about the consequences of his actions.
- Is impulsive.
- Shows frequent signs of being reckless.
- Is unpredictable.
- Lacks morals.
- Is a narcissist.
- Has proven to be hot-tempered and a bit of a loose cannon.
- Lacks empathy or sympathy for others.
- Is manipulative to get what he wants.
- Almost never apologizes.
- Often invents outrageous lies about his success or experiences.
- Seems to believe that what he says is the truth, even if it isn't.
He is essentially the textbook definition of a sociopath. However, despite the fact that he exhibits all of these signs without shame, millions of people support him.
Again, I'm not a mental health professional, but I don't think you need to be one to see that there's clearly something not right with Trump. This type of unhinged behavior is not normal.
So, at this point, after all that Donald Trump has said and done and factoring in the campaign promises he's already broken, if you still support him, you've done nothing more than carved out your spot as someone we will all look back upon with disgust and humiliation that there were so many people like you who eagerly supported one of the most shameful embarrassments in United States history.
SUMMARY: Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Judy Woodruff to discuss the week's news, including how Republican members of Congress are facing heat from crowds of their own constituents while home during recess, why President Trump's views have shifted on China, NATO, and Janet Yellen, and more.
People whose livelihoods can turn with an election can't afford to wait for a third party to rescue them.
In the 40 years that In These Times has spoken truth to power, few topics have generated more spirited discussion among its readers and writers than how the Left should relate to the Democratic Party, whether to challenge the neoliberal establishment from within, or to build a competing political structure from without. This is an old debate, but carries more relevance and urgency today than ever, given the rise of a neofascist Republican presidential nominee.
A core mission of left movements is to promote the interests of working-class and marginalized communities. Yet for many such communities, this debate is far removed from everyday realities. People whose livelihoods can turn with an election don't have the luxury to wait for a messianic third party—or a political revolution, for that matter—to rescue them. As just one example, for those making minimum wage, this election could make the difference between their pay plummeting (if Trump carries through on abolishing the federal floor of $7.25 per hour) or doubling (if Hillary Clinton makes good on the Democratic Party platform promise, pushed through by the Sanders campaign, to raise the minimum to $15). On purely humanitarian terms, progressives must help ensure relief for vulnerable communities by voting without apology for the candidate—yes, Hillary Clinton—who will embrace a minimum wage hike.
There are strategic reasons for doing so, as well. In this election, polls show that African Americans and Latinos overwhelmingly favor Clinton. To engage these communities in movement-building, progressives must listen to them. We cannot say, “To hell with your fears. We know best what's best for you.” The total rejection of the candidate who is supported by a significant segment of the progressive base undercuts the mutual trust necessary for such a conversation.
Bernie Sanders' insurgent campaign indicates that the Democratic Party can be pushed left. Thanks to the Sanders campaign, the Democrats embraced the most progressive platform in their history.
The challenge going forward is to sustain this new energy and translate the noble aspirations of the platform into concrete policy. This can only happen if the progressive movement, in partnership with allies in the Congressional Progressive Caucus, demands that Democratic elected officials advance the platform.
Since its founding, In These Times has championed an inside-outside strategy of political engagement—pushing the Democratic Party left by working through the electoral system while simultaneously building popular movements. That strategy works. Outside, the climate movement forced President Obama to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline in November 2015. Inside, the Sanders campaign pushed Clinton to abandon her support for the pro-corporate Trans-Pacific Partnership. Should Clinton be elected, it will be up to the progressive movement, mobilizing on the outside and organizing on the inside, to encourage her to tack to the left, rather than, as was her husband's wont, to the right.
Here at In These Times, we pledge to continue to help build a national progressive movement by reporting on conditions on the ground and providing a forum to share strategies, solutions and lessons learned. As In These Times' 40 years on the beat demonstrate, we are up to this historic challenge.
GWEN IFILL (Newshour): President Obama's forceful new focus on progressive ideals echoed across the nation on the day after the inauguration. And it earned him both praise and potshots.
The president's inaugural themes lingered in the air this morning at a traditional prayer service at the Washington National Cathedral. Methodist Pastor Adam Hamilton offered words of praise in the cathedral's great vaulted sanctuary.
REV. ADAM HAMILTON, United Methodist Church of the Resurrection: We Americans say it seldom, but we should say it far more often. Thank you for giving yourselves, for sacrificing, for living in glass houses, for accepting the constant barrage of criticism with very little praise, for being willing to risk everything in order to serve this country. Thank you.
ADAM HAMILTON: And, yesterday, you began to lay out a vision for us in your inaugural address that was very powerful and compelling.
GWEN IFILL: Mr. Obama used that 18-minute address to tack toward a more overtly liberal agenda, perhaps most notable on gay rights.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law, for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well.
MAN: I now pronounce you married.
GWEN IFILL: The president first announced his support of same-sex marriage last May. But that reference was a first for a presidential inaugural speech. He also raised immigration reform, an issue that went unaddressed for much of his first term.
BARACK OBAMA: Our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity, until bright young students and engineers are enlisted in our work force rather than expelled from our country.
GWEN IFILL: The president singled out climate change as well, another issue that remained largely on the back burner during his first four years in the White House.
BARACK OBAMA: We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations.
BARACK OBAMA: Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms.
GWEN IFILL: The calls to action drew cheers from the hundreds of thousands of well-wishers on the National Mall and from most Democrats. But Republicans complained of a defiant tone and a sharply leftward turn, noting, for example, that the president has mentioned the deficit just once.
The SuperPAC Crossroads GPS unveiled a Web video citing news accounts of the speech.
MAN: The progressive liberal agenda is what he's now clearly staking his second term on.
GWEN IFILL: And at the Capitol today, Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell joined the criticism.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-Ky): One thing that is pretty clear from the president's speech yesterday, the era of liberalism is back. An unabashedly far-left-of-center inauguration speech certainly brings back memories of the Democratic Party of ages past.
If the president pursues that kind of agenda, obviously, it's not designed to bring us together and certainly not designed to deal with the transcendent issue of our era, which is deficit and debt. Until we fix that problem, we can't fix America.
GWEN IFILL: White House officials dismissed that critique today. And they said the president will speak directly to a wider array of issues in his State of the Union address in February.
SUMMARY: In his inaugural address, President Obama laid his plans for the next four years, including more attention to global warming and equal rights for gay Americans. Jeffrey Brown and guests discuss the tone and content of Obama's address and what they hope the president will do over the next four years.
The radical right wing tea party which has taken over the Republican Party seeks to control the federal and state governments with a philosophy that says bring back laissez-faire and don’t have the government do anything to help those who need help.
Today’s incarnation of the radical religious right, has taken the name of the proud patriots of 1773, who threw the tea into the harbor of Boston because they objected to being taxed without representation, (the Tea Party people now would throw everything overboard except tea) and claimed the mantle of Populism which they apparently think means appealing to the basest, crassest and most selfish impulses of the American people. Populism began in the late nineteenth century in America supporting political reform like recall, initiative and referendum, direct primaries and direct election of senators and easy access to currency based on two precious metals not one so that farmers could save their farms from corporate inspired bank foreclosures and urban workers get paid sufficient wages to enable them to become consumers. Boy would Sarah Palin have been uncomfortable as a real Populist.
Beginning at the turn of the 20th century with Theodore Roosevelt and then Woodrow Wilson and Robert Lafollette a Progressive movement grew in America that incorporated the Populists of the 1890’s and merged rural and urban forces – farmers and immigrant workers -- culminating in Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Liberal New Deal. A Liberalism that was overwhelmingly ratified by the American people in the election of 1964 and by the endorsement of most of its tenets by Eisenhower and Nixon.
In 2008 we Progressives thought that America had again ratified the New Deal and Great Society and we saw the election of Obama as the culmination of the cultural revolution of the past few decades. Well the backlash set in after the election. The Tea Party fueled with racist and states’ rights energy sources is today threatening to unravel the entire Progressive program of the past century and build an America where everyone is expected to take care of themselves. Health care – get insurance if you can afford it. Education-- pay for private schools. Workers -- talk with your employers and settle for the job and wage they give you.
Liberals and Progressives need a to build a movement using all the media available to them to fight back, to spread the true facts to those who will listen or read, to protest when and where appropriate, and support Progressive candidates regardless of party label.
This is what is happening in Wisconsin where Progressives united with organized Labor have recalled two Neanderthal state senators who seemed entrenched in their districts. This fighting back is what happening in Ohio where over one million voters signed a petition to put the Governors anti- union bill up to a public referendum this fall (they only needed about 325,000 signatures.)
Across the country liberal Progressive minded people are banding together to fight to maintain the America that was built for all since the time of Theodore Roosevelt. And here in somnolent Delaware County Pennsylvania just the other day liberal Progressives came together to form a Delaware County Progressive Alliance.
They set forth a platform of some of the progressive positions they advocate:
- The immediate withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan and Iraq
- Preserving Medicare as it is – a public insurance program for seniors
- Maintaining Medicaid - providing quality health care to low income Americans
- Solidifying Social Security as a government run old age insurance program
- Enhancing the right of all employees, public and private, to organize for collective bargaining
- Recognizing the right of all persons, regardless of gender or sexual orientation, to marry
- Assuring the right of women to have free choice to determine their reproductive practices
- Full funding for public education at all levels
- An end to big oil companies and corporations being allowed to hide assets overseas.
- Supporting democratic reforms -- universal ballot access, simplified absentee voting, public funding of election campaigns and opposition to Voter suppression tactics, e.g. Voter ID laws
- Strong environmental protections to ensure clean air and clean water for generations of Americans to come
Americans who support Progressive positions must mobilize in their communities as the country once again faces a defining moment when it chooses which fork in the road to take. This country has always moved forward and taken the road to growth and progress for as many as possible. We mustn’t let a minority of misled citizens take us off the path of forward Progress.
The Regressives:
To begin, it is important to note that the regressivism that controls and supports our present government is not a unified political doctrine. Rather, it is a coalition, some factions of which are in strong disagreement with others, most notably “the libertarian right” and “the religious right.”
In general, most regressives tend to believe that the ideal society is merely a collection of autonomous individuals and families in voluntary association. In fact they assert that strictly speaking, as Dame Margaret Thatcher once proclaimed, “There is no such thing as a society -- there are individuals and there are families,” and Ayn Rand, “There is no such entity as ‘the public’ ... the public is merely a number of individuals. ” It follows that there is no such thing as “public goods” and “the public interest,” apart from summation of private goods and interests. Moreover, there are no “victims of society.” The poor choose their condition; poverty is the result of “laziness” or, as the religious right would put it, a “sin.”
Each individual, by acting to maximize his or her personal self-interest, will always act “as if by an invisible hand” (Adam Smith) to promote the well-being of all others in this (so-called) “society:” that which is good for each, is good for all. Accordingly, the optimal economic system is a completely unrestricted and unregulated free market of “capitalist acts by consenting adults.” (Robert Nozick) Moreover, private ownership of all land, resources, infrastructure, and even institutions, will always yield results preferable to common (i.e. government) ownership and control. Finally, the regressives firmly believe that because economic prosperity and growth are accomplished through capital investment, the well-being of all is accomplished by directing wealth into the hands of “the investing class;” i.e. the very rich, whereby that wealth will “trickle down” to the benefit of all others.
The Progressives:
“Progressivism” is essentially the “liberalism” of most of the twentieth century, as promulgated by both Roosevelts, by the Kennedy Brothers, and by many Republicans, such as Dwight Eisenhower, Jacob Javits and Earl Warren. "Progressivism,” to put it simply, is “liberalism,” free of the slanderous connotations heaped upon it by contemporary right-wing propagandists.
In contrast to the regressive, the progressive regards society not as an aggregate of autonomous individuals but as an “emergent” entity that is more than the sum of its individual human components. In this sense, a society is like a chemical compound such as table salt or water: substances with properties that are separate and distinct from the properties of their component elements. It then follows that there are “social goods” and “public interests” that are demonstrably separate from the sum of private goods and interests. Moreover, there are genuine “victims of society” who are in no way responsible for their suffering and poverty. (The illegitimate child of a teen-age heroin addict did not choose her parents. The decision to “outsource” a job was out of the hands of the worker who loses that job).
Because society (or “the public”) is demonstrably distinct from the sum of its component individuals, behavior that might be good for each individual, may be bad for society as a whole; and conversely, what is “bad” for the individual (e.g., taxes and regulations) may benefit society at large. These fundamental precepts: “good for each, bad for all” and “bad for each, good for all” are of essential importance to the defense of progressivism, and by implication to the refutation of regressivism.
The progressive is not “against” free markets, but rather believes that in the organization and functioning of society and its economy, markets are invaluable servants. But markets can also be cruel masters. Thus, in the formulation of public policy, markets should count for something and even for much, but not for everything. There is a “wisdom” of the marketplace, but that “wisdom” is not omniscient. Adam Smith was right: each individual seeking his own gain might act, “as if by an invisible hand,” to the benefit of all. But as Adam Smith also observed and regressive economists tend to forget, there is a “back of the invisible hand,” whereby self-serving action by each individual can bring ruin upon the whole....
