truthout--2020-12-01--Right-Wing Orgs Are Enlisting Students in Their War Against Campus Progressives

When President Donald Trump convened the White House Conference on American History in mid-September , he wowed attendees with news that he ’ d signed an executive order establishing a National Committee to Promote Patriotic Education .
This was necessary , he said , because U.S. teachers have been pushing students “ to hate America.
” The major culprit ?
The late Howard Zinn ’ s 40-year-old , 784-page book , A People ’ s History of the United States .
Trump accused the World War II veteran-turned-scholar of promoting “ propaganda ” intended to make students “ ashamed of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s audience ate up these declarations , but however rapturous the response , neither his rhetoric nor his conclusions were particularly new .
In fact , he was repeating a longstanding trope about U.S. education , zeroing in on those responsible for delivering both critical thinking and concrete skills to future generations of leaders and workers .
And , while Trump did not specifically mention college professors , the idea that a cadre of left-wing educators are indoctrinating impressionable young adults has become the raison d ’ être for a host of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a firm toehold on campuses throughout the 50 states : Campus Reform , the College Fix , the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education , the Leadership Institute , the National Association of Scholars and Turning Point USA , among them .
Of particular interest — and urgency — for them is the denunciation of scholar-activists who support Black Lives Matter and anti-fascism ( or “ antifa ” ) .
Alexander Riley , a Bucknell University sociology professor , made the case against antifa on Campus Reform ’ s daily blog , calling @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of half-educated malcontents who entirely reject the logic of intellectual debate.
” He then went on to say that antifa groups want “ to crush the skulls of those with whom they disagree in the manner of sociopathic criminals throughout humanity.
” Black Lives Matter has been similarly slammed , with founder Patrisse Cullors repeatedly referred to as a “ trained Marxist ” whose agenda includes the “ destruction of the family.
” Pulitzer Prize winner Nikole Hannah-Jones ’ s 1619 Project has also been hammered for teaching “ self-loathing.
” As vitriolic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ important to note that Campus Reform does far more than publish a hyperbolic blog .
As Truthout has previously reported , Campus Reform trains conservative students to become paid “ campus journalists ” who “ report ” on progressive faculty and student groups whose views they oppose .
It is a project of the 41-year-old Leadership Institute , a multimillion-dollar organization with deep roots in the Reagan-era New Right , that , in 2016 alone , spent $ 15.8 million on campus activities .
Conservative donors have been more than happy to pony @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Reform ’ s work has been made possible thanks to the support of foundations connected to libertarian billionaire Charles Koch and dark money outlets , including Donors Trust and the Donors Capital Fund that the Charles Koch Foundation controls .
Other support for Campus Reform has come from the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation , the Ed Uihlein Family Foundation , mutual fund manager Foster Friess , and other deep-pocketed donors .
This support has enabled Campus Reform to train students to monitor and report on progressive campus activism and establish conservative organizations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ claim are evident at every college and university in the country .
The group also places affiliated students on a fast-track to jobs at conservative think tanks ; media outlets including Breitbart , The Daily Caller and Fox News ; and with local , state and federal lawmakers once they graduate .
Case in point : Gabriel Nadales .
Nadales is currently the regional field coordinator at the Leadership Institute and is a frequent contributor to the Campus Reform blog .
Although he did not respond to Truthout ’ s three requests for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ frequent appearances on Fox News , and writing about his time as an “ antifa activist ” consistently portray the anti-fascist left as “ hateful people ” who think they are opposing totalitarianism , but who are instead little more than “ domestic terrorists.
” As Nadales tells it , when he was 16 , he was lured to demonstrations protesting cuts to public education .
“ I wanted to be part of fighting for a better world , ” he told Fox News .
“ I thought the U.S. was a fascist @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in America.
” That was in 2010 .
Nadales ’ s conversion to conservatism , he says , occurred after he enrolled in southern California ’ s Citrus College , where he was introduced to the economic theories of Milton Friedman and Thomas Sowell .
Their insights , he says , caused him to do a complete 180 and he subsequently found his way to mentorship at the Leadership Institute , formed a Young Americans for Liberty chapter at Citrus , and took his spot on the conservative lecture circuit after he completed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stand for something .
They stand against something .
They stand against the First Amendment , ” Nadales told Fox News ’ s Laura Ingraham .
“ They are such cowards that they have to cover their faces and are mostly up to something not good.
” Nadales is hardly alone in making these assertions , and they have had an impact , placing faculty who have expressed support for antifa groups and Black Lives Matter in Campus Reform ’ s crosshairs .
Some have also found their way onto the Professor Watchlist @ @ @ @ @ @ @ list of hundreds of college faculty members who are openly critical of capitalism , or who support movements for social justice that the right finds threatening to business as usual .
This includes Truthout contributor and Rutgers history professor Mark Bray , author of Antifa : The Anti-Fascist Handbook , published by Melville House .
“ My first run-in with Campus Reform was right after my book came out in August 2017 when they noticed me on ‘ Meet the Press , ’ ” he told Truthout .
It was two weeks after @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Charlottesville , Virginia , and Bray says that Campus Reform misconstrued his comments about violence and reached out to the president of Dartmouth College , where Bray was then a visiting professor , for comment .
“ President [ Philip ] Hanlon denounced me and because Campus Reform reported this , the story was picked up by Breitbart and I got hate mail and death threats .
But more than 120 Dartmouth faculty and the American Association of University Professors ( AAUP ) signed a letter of support for me , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ enormously .
The bonds of solidarity we build with each other make the threats and doxing less effective .
They ’ re absolutely essential.
” Bray called these bonds into play again this summer after Trump called antifa “ a terrorist organization ” and Bray responded .
Writing in The Washington Post , he noted that Trump misrepresented “ the anti-fascist movement in the interests of delegitimizing militant protest and deflecting attention away from white supremacy and police brutality that the protesters oppose.
” Conservative media outlets including The American Spectator , Breitbart @ @ @ @ @ @ @ well as the Israeli media outlet Haaretz — picked up Bray ’ s comments .
“ I continue to get negative pushback , ” Bray says , and while he finds this “ disturbing , ” it has not been silencing for him .
Like Bray , Campus Reform-target Johnny Eric Williams , a professor of sociology at Connecticut ’ s Trinity College , has also remained outspoken .
Although he was forced to take a semester ’ s leave after he and his workplace were targeted by the group following tweets about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , he has refused to stop speaking out .
“ I ’ ve been through the wringer , but it ’ s my job to tell the truth , ” he told Truthout .
“ Since my leave , the administration has supported my First Amendment speech rights .
That ’ s what academic freedom is all about.
” Tenured Texas A & M sociology professor Wendy Leo Moore agrees .
Moore is currently facing a two-day salary suspension for participating in September ’ s # ScholarStrike .
“ After Jacob Blake was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we had an obligation to do the strike in a way that paused and called attention to racism , police brutality and white supremacy , ” Moore told Truthout .
“ I teach about criminal justice , and while I did not want to disrupt the flow of my classes , and knew that my students had been having a really challenging time due to COVID , I decided it was important to take a stand and participate.
” Moore had been informed that the college opposed faculty participation and had been warned @ @ @ @ @ @ @ illegal work stoppage , a violation of a Texas law banning strikes by state employees .
“ It was not a strike against the state , ” Moore said .
“ It was a work stoppage to support Black Lives Matter and [ oppose ] racism .
It was a pedagogical decision for me to take part.
” To date , Moore ’ s stance has been lambasted in several articles posted by Campus Reform , but like her peers , she is heartened to have received the backing of the American Sociological @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and expects to have a hearing before the college ’ s Committee on Academic Freedom , Responsibility and Tenure on Campus in late November .
“ The right wing has targeted people who are pushing economic justice , environmental justice and racial justice , and any professor who explicitly supports Black communities or other communities of color can get the right ’ s attention , ” said Jasmine Banks , executive director of UnKoch My Campus , an organization promoting fiscal transparency and democracy on campus .
“ Their tactics aim to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ inclusion.
” Naming names and stealth attacks — including the surreptitious taping of speeches , lectures and programs — are part of the right ’ s game plan , Banks says .
Since “ gotcha ” -type provocations orchestrated by well-known conservative provocateur James O ’ Keefe took place in 2015 , Campus Reform has largely focused on overt , coordinated disruptions and threats to particular faculty members , with each attack lasting for about a week before the group moves on to someone else .
Last winter , Liberty University business marketing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ contributor and Turning Point USA activist , was accused of illegally recording private conversations on campus .
Under Virginia state law , failure to get the consent of at least one party to the taping of a conversation is a felony , but as of October 20 , 2020 , Smith was still writing for Campus Reform and appears judicially unscathed .
Truthout reached out to the Campus Reform writers Lacey Kestecher , Leo Thuman and McKenna Dallmeyer to request comment for inclusion in this article , along with numerous people from the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but none of them responded to requests for comment .
“ Groups like Campus Reform work hard to create the illusion that conservatives are a beleaguered minority on campuses , ” says Isaac Kamola , a political science professor at Trinity College and creator of Campus Reform Early Responders , a year-old effort to assist individuals and institutions that have become the focus of right-wing acrimony .
“ In truth , they ’ re going after anyone who is not teaching a worldview that they subscribe to — for example , that the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a viewpoint they call ‘ un-American.
’ This can then roll out into calls for violence against an individual or an institution , or calls for a professor to be fired or sanctioned.
” But the ultimate agenda is not simply to boot out progressive faculty , Kamola says .
Rather , it ’ s to gain a greater foothold into the academy for conservative , libertarian ideas .
“ Their conservatives-as-victims narrative reinforces straight , white , male power .
Charles Koch and his allies believe that if you can get people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them jobs and a chance to meet prominent scholars and activists , launch them into careers , you ’ ll have an unparalleled power base , ” he said .
“ Our job is to call them out on this .
”

When President Donald Trump convened the White House Conference on American History in mid-September, he wowed attendees with news that he’d signed an executive order establishing a National Committee to Promote Patriotic Education.
This was necessary, he said, because U.S. teachers have been pushing students “to hate America.” The major culprit? The late Howard Zinn’s 40-year-old, 784-page book, A People’s History of the United States. Trump accused the World War II veteran-turned-scholar of promoting “propaganda” intended to make students “ashamed of their own history.”
Unsurprisingly, Trump’s audience ate up these declarations, but however rapturous the response, neither his rhetoric nor his conclusions were particularly new. In fact, he was repeating a longstanding trope about U.S. education, zeroing in on those responsible for delivering both critical thinking and concrete skills to future generations of leaders and workers. And, while Trump did not specifically mention college professors, the idea that a cadre of left-wing educators are indoctrinating impressionable young adults has become the raison d’être for a host of conservative groups that are working to establish a firm toehold on campuses throughout the 50 states: Campus Reform, the College Fix, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, the Leadership Institute, the National Association of Scholars and Turning Point USA, among them.
Of particular interest — and urgency — for them is the denunciation of scholar-activists who support Black Lives Matter and anti-fascism (or “antifa”).
Alexander Riley, a Bucknell University sociology professor, made the case against antifa on Campus Reform’s daily blog, calling the anti-fascist movement “a loose confederation of half-educated malcontents who entirely reject the logic of intellectual debate.” He then went on to say that antifa groups want “to crush the skulls of those with whom they disagree in the manner of sociopathic criminals throughout humanity.”
Black Lives Matter has been similarly slammed, with founder Patrisse Cullors repeatedly referred to as a “trained Marxist” whose agenda includes the “destruction of the family.” Pulitzer Prize winner Nikole Hannah-Jones’s 1619 Project has also been hammered for teaching “self-loathing.”
As vitriolic as these statements are, it is important to note that Campus Reform does far more than publish a hyperbolic blog.
Training the Next Generation
As Truthout has previously reported, Campus Reform trains conservative students to become paid “campus journalists” who “report” on progressive faculty and student groups whose views they oppose. It is a project of the 41-year-old Leadership Institute, a multimillion-dollar organization with deep roots in the Reagan-era New Right, that, in 2016 alone, spent $15.8 million on campus activities.
Campus Reform’s work has been made possible thanks to the support of foundations connected to libertarian billionaire Charles Koch and dark money outlets.
Conservative donors have been more than happy to pony up for the cause, and Campus Reform’s work has been made possible thanks to the support of foundations connected to libertarian billionaire Charles Koch and dark money outlets, including Donors Trust and the Donors Capital Fund that the Charles Koch Foundation controls. Other support for Campus Reform has come from the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, the Ed Uihlein Family Foundation, mutual fund manager Foster Friess, and other deep-pocketed donors.
This support has enabled Campus Reform to train students to monitor and report on progressive campus activism and establish conservative organizations to counter the purported left-wing biases they claim are evident at every college and university in the country. The group also places affiliated students on a fast-track to jobs at conservative think tanks; media outlets including Breitbart, The Daily Caller and Fox News; and with local, state and federal lawmakers once they graduate.
Case in point: Gabriel Nadales. Nadales is currently the regional field coordinator at the Leadership Institute and is a frequent contributor to the Campus Reform blog. Although he did not respond to Truthout’s three requests for an interview, his YouTube videos, frequent appearances on Fox News, and writing about his time as an “antifa activist” consistently portray the anti-fascist left as “hateful people” who think they are opposing totalitarianism, but who are instead little more than “domestic terrorists.” As Nadales tells it, when he was 16, he was lured to demonstrations protesting cuts to public education. “I wanted to be part of fighting for a better world,” he told Fox News. “I thought the U.S. was a fascist nation. I didn’t believe in America.”
That was in 2010. Nadales’s conversion to conservatism, he says, occurred after he enrolled in southern California’s Citrus College, where he was introduced to the economic theories of Milton Friedman and Thomas Sowell. Their insights, he says, caused him to do a complete 180 and he subsequently found his way to mentorship at the Leadership Institute, formed a Young Americans for Liberty chapter at Citrus, and took his spot on the conservative lecture circuit after he completed his studies.
“Antifa does not stand for something. They stand against something. They stand against the First Amendment,” Nadales told Fox News’s Laura Ingraham. “They are such cowards that they have to cover their faces and are mostly up to something not good.”
Very Fine People
Nadales is hardly alone in making these assertions, and they have had an impact, placing faculty who have expressed support for antifa groups and Black Lives Matter in Campus Reform’s crosshairs. Some have also found their way onto the Professor Watchlist maintained by Turning Point USA, a list of hundreds of college faculty members who are openly critical of capitalism, or who support movements for social justice that the right finds threatening to business as usual.
“Groups like Campus Reform work hard to create the illusion that conservatives are a beleaguered minority on campuses.”
This includes Truthout contributor and Rutgers history professor Mark Bray, author of Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook, published by Melville House. “My first run-in with Campus Reform was right after my book came out in August 2017 when they noticed me on ‘Meet the Press,’” he told Truthout. It was two weeks after the “Unite the Right” march in Charlottesville, Virginia, and Bray says that Campus Reform misconstrued his comments about violence and reached out to the president of Dartmouth College, where Bray was then a visiting professor, for comment. “President [Philip] Hanlon denounced me and because Campus Reform reported this, the story was picked up by Breitbart and I got hate mail and death threats. But more than 120 Dartmouth faculty and the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) signed a letter of support for me,” he said. “This helped me enormously. The bonds of solidarity we build with each other make the threats and doxing less effective. They’re absolutely essential.”
Bray called these bonds into play again this summer after Trump called antifa “a terrorist organization” and Bray responded. Writing in The Washington Post, he noted that Trump misrepresented “the anti-fascist movement in the interests of delegitimizing militant protest and deflecting attention away from white supremacy and police brutality that the protesters oppose.”
Conservative media outlets including The American Spectator, Breitbart and the Campus Reform blog — as well as the Israeli media outlet Haaretz — picked up Bray’s comments. “I continue to get negative pushback,” Bray says, and while he finds this “disturbing,” it has not been silencing for him.
Like Bray, Campus Reform-target Johnny Eric Williams, a professor of sociology at Connecticut’s Trinity College, has also remained outspoken. Although he was forced to take a semester’s leave after he and his workplace were targeted by the group following tweets about racism and white supremacy that went viral, he has refused to stop speaking out. “I’ve been through the wringer, but it’s my job to tell the truth,” he told Truthout. “Since my leave, the administration has supported my First Amendment speech rights. That’s what academic freedom is all about.”
Tenured Texas A&M sociology professor Wendy Leo Moore agrees. Moore is currently facing a two-day salary suspension for participating in September’s #ScholarStrike. “After Jacob Blake was shot, many of us felt that we had an obligation to do the strike in a way that paused and called attention to racism, police brutality and white supremacy,” Moore told Truthout. “I teach about criminal justice, and while I did not want to disrupt the flow of my classes, and knew that my students had been having a really challenging time due to COVID, I decided it was important to take a stand and participate.”
Moore had been informed that the college opposed faculty participation and had been warned that the college considered the strike an illegal work stoppage, a violation of a Texas law banning strikes by state employees. “It was not a strike against the state,” Moore said. “It was a work stoppage to support Black Lives Matter and [oppose] racism. It was a pedagogical decision for me to take part.”
To date, Moore’s stance has been lambasted in several articles posted by Campus Reform, but like her peers, she is heartened to have received the backing of the American Sociological Association, PEN America and the AAUP, and expects to have a hearing before the college’s Committee on Academic Freedom, Responsibility and Tenure on Campus in late November.
“Their conservatives-as-victims narrative reinforces straight, white, male power.”
“The right wing has targeted people who are pushing economic justice, environmental justice and racial justice, and any professor who explicitly supports Black communities or other communities of color can get the right’s attention,” said Jasmine Banks, executive director of UnKoch My Campus, an organization promoting fiscal transparency and democracy on campus. “Their tactics aim to make it risky to promote equity and inclusion.”
Naming names and stealth attacks — including the surreptitious taping of speeches, lectures and programs — are part of the right’s game plan, Banks says. Since “gotcha”-type provocations orchestrated by well-known conservative provocateur James O’Keefe took place in 2015, Campus Reform has largely focused on overt, coordinated disruptions and threats to particular faculty members, with each attack lasting for about a week before the group moves on to someone else.
Last winter, Liberty University business marketing student Addison Smith, a Campus Reform contributor and Turning Point USA activist, was accused of illegally recording private conversations on campus. Under Virginia state law, failure to get the consent of at least one party to the taping of a conversation is a felony, but as of October 20, 2020, Smith was still writing for Campus Reform and appears judicially unscathed.
Truthout reached out to the Campus Reform writers Lacey Kestecher, Leo Thuman and McKenna Dallmeyer to request comment for inclusion in this article, along with numerous people from the Leadership Institute, including Gabriel Nadales, but none of them responded to requests for comment.
“Groups like Campus Reform work hard to create the illusion that conservatives are a beleaguered minority on campuses,” says Isaac Kamola, a political science professor at Trinity College and creator of Campus Reform Early Responders, a year-old effort to assist individuals and institutions that have become the focus of right-wing acrimony.
“In truth, they’re going after anyone who is not teaching a worldview that they subscribe to — for example, that the U.S. was founded on structural racism — a viewpoint they call ‘un-American.’ This can then roll out into calls for violence against an individual or an institution, or calls for a professor to be fired or sanctioned.”
But the ultimate agenda is not simply to boot out progressive faculty, Kamola says. Rather, it’s to gain a greater foothold into the academy for conservative, libertarian ideas. “Their conservatives-as-victims narrative reinforces straight, white, male power. Charles Koch and his allies believe that if you can get people when they’re young, give them jobs and a chance to meet prominent scholars and activists, launch them into careers, you’ll have an unparalleled power base,” he said. “Our job is to call them out on this.”
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
Copyright © Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission.


truthout--2020-12-02--Trump Tells Party Faithful He Will Run for President Again in 2024

For the first time in a public setting , President Donald Trump appeared to say Tuesday that he is considering another run for president in 2024 , even as he continues refusing to concede that he has lost this year ’ s race .
“ It ’ s been an amazing four years .
We are trying to do another four years .
Otherwise , I ’ ll see you in four years , ” Trump said during a White House Christmas party on Tuesday evening that was attended mostly by members of the Republican National Committee .
According to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ president also continued to spout off a number of baseless allegations regarding his recent election loss , asserting without evidence ( as he has for several weeks now ) that the contest between him and President-elect Joe Biden was rife with fraud .
“ It ’ s certainly an unusual year .
We won an election , ” Trump told those in attendance .
“ But they don ’ t like that .
I call it a rigged election , and I always will.
” Rumors had previously circulated about Trump having privately @ @ @ @ @ @ @ advisers , but his statement on Tuesday night offers a stronger indication that those discussions have indeed been happening .
If Trump officially announces a plan to run in 2024 , the timing of such an announcement would impact the politics of the next four years .
Doing so within the next few weeks , as many have alleged he will do , could put a “ freeze ” on the field of possible presidential candidates within the GOP in 2024 .
It could also lead Republican lawmakers across the country , including @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as though Trump is the de facto party leader , legislating and voting in ways shaped by a desire not to upset him .
According to sources that have spoken to NBC News , Trump is weighing the possibility of announcing another run for office on January 20 , the day Biden is set to be inaugurated .
Those same sources told NBC that Trump is not planning to attend Biden ’ s swearing-in ceremony , thwarting a tradition of outgoing presidents attending such events for incoming chief executives that has only been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s history .
If Trump decides to skip the event — and announce his intention to run for president at the same time — Trump would be violating norms and breaching cordialities in an unprecedented way .
Such a breach could also stir up his base , which would likely see it as an act of defiance against an incoming administration that many on the right baselessly view as illegitimate .
Public intellectual Noam Chomsky , who recently spoke with Truthout contributor C.J .
Polychroniou , hypothesizes that such a move could @ @ @ @ @ @ @ could risk making the government “ ungovernable ” for the next four years , if it indeed happens .
“ I think both Trump and Trumpism will remain with us for a long time , both the individual himself and the poisonous currents he has unleashed , ” Chomsky added later in the interview .

Trump’s statement on Tuesday was his first public acknowledgment of considering another run for office.
For the first time in a public setting, President Donald Trump appeared to say Tuesday that he is considering another run for president in 2024, even as he continues refusing to concede that he has lost this year’s race.
“It’s been an amazing four years. We are trying to do another four years. Otherwise, I’ll see you in four years,” Trump said during a White House Christmas party on Tuesday evening that was attended mostly by members of the Republican National Committee.
According to a video of the event, the president also continued to spout off a number of baseless allegations regarding his recent election loss, asserting without evidence (as he has for several weeks now) that the contest between him and President-elect Joe Biden was rife with fraud.
“It’s certainly an unusual year. We won an election,” Trump told those in attendance. “But they don’t like that. I call it a rigged election, and I always will.”
Rumors had previously circulated about Trump having privately discussed running for president again with his advisers, but his statement on Tuesday night offers a stronger indication that those discussions have indeed been happening.
If Trump officially announces a plan to run in 2024, the timing of such an announcement would impact the politics of the next four years. Doing so within the next few weeks, as many have alleged he will do, could put a “freeze” on the field of possible presidential candidates within the GOP in 2024. It could also lead Republican lawmakers across the country, including in Washington, to continue to act as though Trump is the de facto party leader, legislating and voting in ways shaped by a desire not to upset him.
According to sources that have spoken to NBC News, Trump is weighing the possibility of announcing another run for office on January 20, the day Biden is set to be inaugurated. Those same sources told NBC that Trump is not planning to attend Biden’s swearing-in ceremony, thwarting a tradition of outgoing presidents attending such events for incoming chief executives that has only been interrupted a few times over the nation’s history.
If Trump decides to skip the event — and announce his intention to run for president at the same time — Trump would be violating norms and breaching cordialities in an unprecedented way. Such a breach could also stir up his base, which would likely see it as an act of defiance against an incoming administration that many on the right baselessly view as illegitimate.
Public intellectual Noam Chomsky, who recently spoke with Truthout contributor C.J. Polychroniou, hypothesizes that such a move could lead to a series of events that could risk making the government “ungovernable” for the next four years, if it indeed happens.
“I think both Trump and Trumpism will remain with us for a long time, both the individual himself and the poisonous currents he has unleashed,” Chomsky added later in the interview.
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
Copyright © Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission.


truthout--2020-12-02--Biden Taps Two BlackRock Executives for Top Economic Posts

For his incoming economic team , President-elect Joe Biden has picked several people associated with the investment giant BlackRock , which has been called “ the fourth branch of government.
” This includes his choice of Brian Deese , a former adviser to Barack Obama , to be his director of the National Economic Council .
Deese was the global head of sustainable investing for BlackRock , which is the world ’ s largest asset manager , with over $ 7 trillion in its portfolio .
This comes as progressives are demanding a Cabinet free of Wall Street influence .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ reputation as a sort of ‘ good guy ’ on Wall Street ” that is contradicted by their conduct , notes Kate Aronoff , staff writer at The New Republic .
“ Time after time , they have sought to shirk regulation and — in the last year especially , and while Brian Deese has been there — really greenwashed their image.
” This is a rush transcript .
Copy may not be in its final form .
AMY GOODMAN : I want to look at look at President-elect Joe Biden ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ adviser to Barack Obama , to be the director of the National Economic Council .
Deese was not present on the stage Tuesday when Biden announced his economic nominees .
After leaving the White House , he became global head of sustainable investing at the investment giant BlackRock .
This is Deese speaking to Christiane Amanpour earlier this year about BlackRock ’ s climate plan .
AMY GOODMAN : Deputy treasury secretary nominee Wally Adeyemo also has ties to BlackRock .
He ’ s the former chief of staff to BlackRock ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ addition to Briahna Joy Gray , I want to bring in Kate Aronoff .
She is a staff writer at The New Republic .
Her latest piece , just out , “ The Problem with Putting a BlackRock Alum in Charge of Greening the Economy , ” it follows up on her story in June that asked “ Is BlackRock the New Vampire Squid ?
” She ’ s the co-author of A Planet to Win : Why We Need a Green New Deal .
Kate , if you can talk about the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : Sure .
Thanks for having me .
So , Brian Deese has spent a lot of time in Washington and has spent a lot of time at BlackRock , right ?
So , a lot of the sort of talk about Brian Deese ’ s nomination in the last couple of days , since sort of rumors came out about him being appointed to NEC , has focused on that he ’ s a good person , that he spent time in the Obama administration working on things like the Paris Agreement @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , like many of the progressives who have put a real question about Brian Deese ’ s record out there — don ’ t necessarily think that ’ s enough — right ?
— for someone to serve on one of the most important economic bodies in the world , right ?
So , BlackRock has very smartly cultivated its reputation as a sort of “ good guy ” on Wall Street , right ?
They ’ re not an investment bank .
They just handle the money of retirees .
They ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have very cannily cultivated this reputation and an enormous amount of unaccountable power .
Time after time , they have sought to shirk regulation and — in the last year especially , and while Brian Deese has been there — really greenwashed their image , so put out this sort of idea that BlackRock is taking the climate crisis seriously , all the while continuing to invest in fossil fuels at an enormous rate .
So , you know , I think that it doesn ’ t necessarily matter so much whether Brian @ @ @ @ @ @ @ You know , he may well be , right ?
I don ’ t know .
I don ’ t know Brian Deese personally .
But I think it deserves looking at both BlackRock ’ s ambitions , the kind of power they ’ re trying to amass in government , both here and in the European Union , which maybe we can talk about , and also Brian Deese ’ s own record , which is not sterling , right ?
Like I said , he ’ s worked more on climate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ did for the Obama administration , and was , by all accounts , just a very stalwart defender of business as usual in the Obama administration .
We ’ ve seen nothing really to suggest that he has changed — right ?
— that he doesn ’ t support all of the above , what he did in the Obama administration , really going to bat for Arctic drilling , praising the fact that oil production had been expanded under Obama ’ s tenure .
So I think there ’ s just not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Brian Deese ’ s own personal character can overcome the sort of danger of putting one of the largest companies in the world in charge of a very , very important economic body in the U.S. JUAN GONZÁLEZ : Well , Kate , specifically to that point of one of the largest financial companies in the world , most people are not familiar with BlackRock .
They certainly are familiar with Citigroup or Goldman Sachs or Chase .
Could you talk a little bit about the extent of BlackRock ’ s financial prowess @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you could comment about the choice of John Kerry as a climate envoy by Joe Biden ?
KATE ARONOFF : Sure .
So , to talk about BlackRock a little bit , they control $ 7 trillion worth of assets .
And that has grown enormously in the last 10 years .
So , prior to the Great Recession , when interest rates were a bit higher , sort of big institutional investors like pension funds would put their money into sort of safe assets , like Treasury bonds , which offer reliable @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as interest rates have gone down as a response to the crisis of the financial crisis , that has become a less attractive option , and so you have these big institutional investors who are seeking reliable returns , right ?
And so , the products that BlackRock offers , like other asset managers , have become very attractive , and particularly these passive funds which are managed by algorithms and which , notably , are not subject to the sort of sustainability screens that Brian Deese has spent his last four years @ @ @ @ @ @ @ these are enormously powerful sort of bodies .
Institutional investors , generally — sorry , these big asset managers , generally , have become sort of bigger than anyone would have imagined .
And BlackRock , in particular , is a sort of monopoly provider of risk management software , through this thing called Aladdin , to central banks around the world .
People might also know that they managed the debt-buying programs that the Fed has run , both in the last financial crisis and in the most recent recession .
And @ @ @ @ @ @ @ just accumulate an enormous amount of power and , by all accounts , are very much striving to be a fourth branch of government , which has included hiring Obama-era alumni to create a sort of positive reputation among Democrats especially , and with the full knowledge that these people might get hired back , which , you know , has borne out in picks for — Biden ’ s pick for Treasury and for the National Economic Council .
So I think there ’ s just a lot of questions , that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ see folks in the climate world coming to Brian Deese ’ s defense without really thinking about what the problem with putting BlackRock in the National Economic Council means .
And just briefly on this , I mean , we ’ ve seen this before , right ?
We ’ ve seen what putting allies of Wall Street into important economic posts has meant , not just for the country — right ?
— not just in putting forth a much too small stimulus like Larry Summers pushed for in 2008 , when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the National Economic Council , but electorally , right ?
Democrats lost in a blowout in 2010 and continued to lose every branch of government , because they pursued austerity .
They pursued the sort of fiscal discipline that Brian Deese himself preached when he was the deputy and then acting director of the Office of Management and Budget .
So , this is a dangerous strategy , just sort of self-evidently , in Democrats ’ own self-interest , right ?
So , you know , that ’ s — I ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Kerry now .
So , he was appointed to head this new climate envoy on the National Security Council .
I think a lot of climate activists can rightly see this as a win , that there is a Cabinet-level post for climate , right ?
That is nothing to sort of take for granted .
It ’ s a huge step forward in terms of how seriously this administration is at least claiming to take the climate crisis .
But again , I think there ’ s a lot of questions remaining @ @ @ @ @ @ @ views since the Obama administration , where he was a very vocal defender of the Trans-Pacific Partnership , which would have opened up the U.S. to challenges from investor-state dispute settlements , that allow corporations to sue governments for things like environmental and climate protections .
He has consistently preached that climate change is primarily a national security threat , which I think , combined with the position of his envoy post and the rest of Biden ’ s foreign policy team , who are , by all accounts , really hawks on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ know , sets up maybe seeing this crisis not as a threat to humanity , but as a threat to U.S. military assets — right ?
— which I think is a sort of dangerous way to view this problem .
AMY GOODMAN : Can you also comment on Cedric Richmond , the Louisiana congressmember , former Congressional Black Caucus chair , that Biden has named to lead the White House Office on Public Engagement ?
The Sunrise Movement called the move a “ betrayal , ” adding Richmond has , quote , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fuel industry during his Congressional career than nearly any other Democrat , cozied up to Big Oil and Gas , and stayed silent and ignored meeting with organizations in his own community while they suffered from toxic pollution and sea-level rise.
” If you can talk about BlackRock , as well as the Cedric Richmond appointment and the whole issue of who is making up this Cabinet ?
What does this say to the progressive wing of the Democratic Party , that feels that they threw in their lot wholeheartedly and pushed hard @ @ @ @ @ @ @ what kind of sway they have at this point ?
KATE ARONOFF : Yeah , I think , you know , the statement from Sunrise about Cedric Richmond is pretty spot on , I would say .
So , he represents a part of the country known as Cancer Alley in Louisiana , which has just been inundated by pollution from chemicals companies and the petrochemicals industry and oil companies , and has routinely just ignored concerns from his constituents about the fact that many , many of their neighbors are coming down @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t need to have , because these companies are not being held accountable for polluting these communities .
And so , I think it ’ s a real — it ’ s a real thumb of the nose to the folks who worked to elect Joe Biden , right ?
Young people made a lot of phone calls for Joe Biden .
They knocked doors for Joe Biden .
Progressives , you know , in places like Ilhan Omar ’ s district and Rashida Tlaib ’ s district , really fought to deliver @ @ @ @ @ @ @ like Brian Deese and like Cedric Richmond , you know , they ’ re not getting anything for their buck , right ?
I mean , they really went to bat for a candidate who was not their choice , who was not the person they wanted to see in the White House , and yet knew the stakes of this election , knew that it was important to have a Democrat and get Donald Trump out of office .
And they ’ re just not really — they ’ re not really @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
I think that ’ s disappointing , you know , for the fact that we have a giant climate crisis , which I am personally not so confident that Biden ’ s picks so far will take on at the scale that that crisis desires , but also that — you know , why would you so actively try to turn off what is going to be the biggest part of the Democratic base in the coming years , right ?
If you look back to the history of the Democratic Party @ @ @ @ @ @ @ majorities ?
When was it controlling Congress for decades on end ?
It was after the New Deal , when it delivered for people , when it built new coalitions , when it sought to actually expand its base — certainly not when it tried to target tiny , tiny slivers of suburban white women to win them over with the most sort of poll-tested talking points they could find , right ?
I think there ’ s a lot of — just a big lack of self-reflection from people who have been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ years , at a time when the Democratic Party has really faced a crisis in terms of who its base is , moving forward .
And so , I think it ’ s concerning for all those reasons .
And , you know , I would like Democrats to control the Senate , if they don ’ t win these runoff elections .
I would like strong Democratic majorities to push through climate action .
And I ’ m just not sure that that is really the goal that Joe Biden is chasing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
If I can , I just wanted to ask Briahna , in the few seconds we have left — Briahna , can you give us a sense whether you believe that there ’ s still a role for Bernie Sanders in a Biden administration ?
AMY GOODMAN : Briahna , could you start again ?
BRIAHNA JOY GRAY : Yeah .
It ’ s difficult to say that even if there were a role , that Bernie Sanders could have any significant influence , given the overwhelming gestalt of the picks so @ @ @ @ @ @ @ firmly committed to throughout his campaign , which is that nothing will fundamentally change .
And it ’ s not clear to me that Bernie will have more leverage or influence within Biden ’ s administration than he would as a relative outsider in the Senate .
Moreover , it seems , by the — you know , every indication is that Joe Biden doesn ’ t have any interest in giving anything over to the left , offering anything to the left .
You see olive branches being extended to Republicans , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all saw the extent to which Republicans were given a platform at the national convention .
And I think that that ’ s a trend we should expect to continue , that this isn ’ t an administration that ’ s particularly interested in offering much to the base of the Democratic Party .
AMY GOODMAN : We want to thank you both for being with us .
Of course , these conversations will continue .
Briahna Joy Gray , former national press secretary for Bernie Sanders 2020 , co-host of Bad Faith @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
And thanks to Kate Aronoff , staff writer at The New Republic , co-author of A Planet to Win : Why We Need a Green New Deal .
We ’ ll link to your latest piece in The New Republic .
When we come back , The Dead Are Arising : The Life of Malcolm X.
We ’ ll look at the new National Book Award-winning biography .
Stay with us .

For his incoming economic team, President-elect Joe Biden has picked several people associated with the investment giant BlackRock, which has been called “the fourth branch of government.” This includes his choice of Brian Deese, a former adviser to Barack Obama, to be his director of the National Economic Council. Deese was the global head of sustainable investing for BlackRock, which is the world’s largest asset manager, with over $7 trillion in its portfolio. This comes as progressives are demanding a Cabinet free of Wall Street influence. “BlackRock has very smartly cultivated its reputation as a sort of ‘good guy’ on Wall Street” that is contradicted by their conduct, notes Kate Aronoff, staff writer at The New Republic. “Time after time, they have sought to shirk regulation and — in the last year especially, and while Brian Deese has been there — really greenwashed their image.”
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to look at look at President-elect Joe Biden’s choice of Brian Deese, the former adviser to Barack Obama, to be the director of the National Economic Council. Deese was not present on the stage Tuesday when Biden announced his economic nominees. After leaving the White House, he became global head of sustainable investing at the investment giant BlackRock. This is Deese speaking to Christiane Amanpour earlier this year about BlackRock’s climate plan.
BRIAN DEESE: The most important thing to identify is not necessarily are you going to divest from entire sectors or segments, but, instead, where are those companies and where are those business models that are most prepared for this transition. And so, we spend a lot of time asking the question, not necessarily are you going to exit the entire oil and gas industry or all utilities globally, but, instead, within those sectors, which are the companies that are the most prepared, that are investing the most in the clean technologies of the future, and which of those companies are less prepared.
AMY GOODMAN: Deputy treasury secretary nominee Wally Adeyemo also has ties to BlackRock. He’s the former chief of staff to BlackRock’s chief executive, Larry Fink.
In addition to Briahna Joy Gray, I want to bring in Kate Aronoff. She is a staff writer at The New Republic. Her latest piece, just out, “The Problem with Putting a BlackRock Alum in Charge of Greening the Economy,” it follows up on her story in June that asked “Is BlackRock the New Vampire Squid?” She’s the co-author of A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal.
Kate, if you can talk about the choice of Brian Deese?
KATE ARONOFF: Sure. Thanks for having me.
So, Brian Deese has spent a lot of time in Washington and has spent a lot of time at BlackRock, right? So, a lot of the sort of talk about Brian Deese’s nomination in the last couple of days, since sort of rumors came out about him being appointed to NEC, has focused on that he’s a good person, that he spent time in the Obama administration working on things like the Paris Agreement and conservation work. And I think, like many of the progressives who have put a real question about Brian Deese’s record out there — don’t necessarily think that’s enough — right? — for someone to serve on one of the most important economic bodies in the world, right?
So, BlackRock has very smartly cultivated its reputation as a sort of “good guy” on Wall Street, right? They’re not an investment bank. They just handle the money of retirees. They’re an asset manager. And they have very cannily cultivated this reputation and an enormous amount of unaccountable power. Time after time, they have sought to shirk regulation and — in the last year especially, and while Brian Deese has been there — really greenwashed their image, so put out this sort of idea that BlackRock is taking the climate crisis seriously, all the while continuing to invest in fossil fuels at an enormous rate.
So, you know, I think that it doesn’t necessarily matter so much whether Brian Deese is personally a good person. You know, he may well be, right? I don’t know. I don’t know Brian Deese personally. But I think it deserves looking at both BlackRock’s ambitions, the kind of power they’re trying to amass in government, both here and in the European Union, which maybe we can talk about, and also Brian Deese’s own record, which is not sterling, right?
Like I said, he’s worked more on climate issues for BlackRock now than he ever did for the Obama administration, and was, by all accounts, just a very stalwart defender of business as usual in the Obama administration. We’ve seen nothing really to suggest that he has changed — right? — that he doesn’t support all of the above, what he did in the Obama administration, really going to bat for Arctic drilling, praising the fact that oil production had been expanded under Obama’s tenure. So I think there’s just not enough evidence out there to think that Brian Deese’s own personal character can overcome the sort of danger of putting one of the largest companies in the world in charge of a very, very important economic body in the U.S.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, Kate, specifically to that point of one of the largest financial companies in the world, most people are not familiar with BlackRock. They certainly are familiar with Citigroup or Goldman Sachs or Chase. Could you talk a little bit about the extent of BlackRock’s financial prowess around the world? And also if you could comment about the choice of John Kerry as a climate envoy by Joe Biden?
KATE ARONOFF: Sure. So, to talk about BlackRock a little bit, they control $7 trillion worth of assets. And that has grown enormously in the last 10 years. So, prior to the Great Recession, when interest rates were a bit higher, sort of big institutional investors like pension funds would put their money into sort of safe assets, like Treasury bonds, which offer reliable returns, right? And so, as interest rates have gone down as a response to the crisis of the financial crisis, that has become a less attractive option, and so you have these big institutional investors who are seeking reliable returns, right? And so, the products that BlackRock offers, like other asset managers, have become very attractive, and particularly these passive funds which are managed by algorithms and which, notably, are not subject to the sort of sustainability screens that Brian Deese has spent his last four years at BlackRock talking about.
So, these are enormously powerful sort of bodies. Institutional investors, generally — sorry, these big asset managers, generally, have become sort of bigger than anyone would have imagined. And BlackRock, in particular, is a sort of monopoly provider of risk management software, through this thing called Aladdin, to central banks around the world. People might also know that they managed the debt-buying programs that the Fed has run, both in the last financial crisis and in the most recent recession.
And so, they have really tried to just accumulate an enormous amount of power and, by all accounts, are very much striving to be a fourth branch of government, which has included hiring Obama-era alumni to create a sort of positive reputation among Democrats especially, and with the full knowledge that these people might get hired back, which, you know, has borne out in picks for — Biden’s pick for Treasury and for the National Economic Council. So I think there’s just a lot of questions, that I have been sort of concerned to see folks in the climate world coming to Brian Deese’s defense without really thinking about what the problem with putting BlackRock in the National Economic Council means.
And just briefly on this, I mean, we’ve seen this before, right? We’ve seen what putting allies of Wall Street into important economic posts has meant, not just for the country — right? — not just in putting forth a much too small stimulus like Larry Summers pushed for in 2008, when he was head of — incoming head of the National Economic Council, but electorally, right? Democrats lost in a blowout in 2010 and continued to lose every branch of government, because they pursued austerity. They pursued the sort of fiscal discipline that Brian Deese himself preached when he was the deputy and then acting director of the Office of Management and Budget. So, this is a dangerous strategy, just sort of self-evidently, in Democrats’ own self-interest, right?
So, you know, that’s — I’ll talk a little bit about John Kerry now. So, he was appointed to head this new climate envoy on the National Security Council. I think a lot of climate activists can rightly see this as a win, that there is a Cabinet-level post for climate, right? That is nothing to sort of take for granted. It’s a huge step forward in terms of how seriously this administration is at least claiming to take the climate crisis.
But again, I think there’s a lot of questions remaining about whether John Kerry has changed his views since the Obama administration, where he was a very vocal defender of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which would have opened up the U.S. to challenges from investor-state dispute settlements, that allow corporations to sue governments for things like environmental and climate protections. He has consistently preached that climate change is primarily a national security threat, which I think, combined with the position of his envoy post and the rest of Biden’s foreign policy team, who are, by all accounts, really hawks on foreign policy, I think, you know, sets up maybe seeing this crisis not as a threat to humanity, but as a threat to U.S. military assets — right? — which I think is a sort of dangerous way to view this problem.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you also comment on Cedric Richmond, the Louisiana congressmember, former Congressional Black Caucus chair, that Biden has named to lead the White House Office on Public Engagement? The Sunrise Movement called the move a “betrayal,” adding Richmond has, quote, “taken more donations from the fossil fuel industry during his Congressional career than nearly any other Democrat, cozied up to Big Oil and Gas, and stayed silent and ignored meeting with organizations in his own community while they suffered from toxic pollution and sea-level rise.” If you can talk about BlackRock, as well as the Cedric Richmond appointment and the whole issue of who is making up this Cabinet? What does this say to the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, that feels that they threw in their lot wholeheartedly and pushed hard for the Biden-Harris ticket and are wondering what kind of sway they have at this point?
KATE ARONOFF: Yeah, I think, you know, the statement from Sunrise about Cedric Richmond is pretty spot on, I would say. So, he represents a part of the country known as Cancer Alley in Louisiana, which has just been inundated by pollution from chemicals companies and the petrochemicals industry and oil companies, and has routinely just ignored concerns from his constituents about the fact that many, many of their neighbors are coming down with cancer, that they didn’t need to have, because these companies are not being held accountable for polluting these communities.
And so, I think it’s a real — it’s a real thumb of the nose to the folks who worked to elect Joe Biden, right? Young people made a lot of phone calls for Joe Biden. They knocked doors for Joe Biden. Progressives, you know, in places like Ilhan Omar’s district and Rashida Tlaib’s district, really fought to deliver him key states. And with appointments like Brian Deese and like Cedric Richmond, you know, they’re not getting anything for their buck, right? I mean, they really went to bat for a candidate who was not their choice, who was not the person they wanted to see in the White House, and yet knew the stakes of this election, knew that it was important to have a Democrat and get Donald Trump out of office. And they’re just not really — they’re not really seeing any gift from the Biden administration.
I think that’s disappointing, you know, for the fact that we have a giant climate crisis, which I am personally not so confident that Biden’s picks so far will take on at the scale that that crisis desires, but also that — you know, why would you so actively try to turn off what is going to be the biggest part of the Democratic base in the coming years, right? If you look back to the history of the Democratic Party, when was the party winning big majorities? When was it controlling Congress for decades on end? It was after the New Deal, when it delivered for people, when it built new coalitions, when it sought to actually expand its base — certainly not when it tried to target tiny, tiny slivers of suburban white women to win them over with the most sort of poll-tested talking points they could find, right?
I think there’s a lot of — just a big lack of self-reflection from people who have been doing politics the same way for 20 years, at a time when the Democratic Party has really faced a crisis in terms of who its base is, moving forward. And so, I think it’s concerning for all those reasons. And, you know, I would like Democrats to control the Senate, if they don’t win these runoff elections. I would like strong Democratic majorities to push through climate action. And I’m just not sure that that is really the goal that Joe Biden is chasing.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Hello, Kate. If I can, I just wanted to ask Briahna, in the few seconds we have left — Briahna, can you give us a sense whether you believe that there’s still a role for Bernie Sanders in a Biden administration?
BRIAHNA JOY GRAY: [inaudible] or influence Bernie Sanders —
AMY GOODMAN: Briahna, could you start again?
BRIAHNA JOY GRAY: Yeah. It’s difficult to say that even if there were a role, that Bernie Sanders could have any significant influence, given the overwhelming gestalt of the picks so far and what Joe Biden has very firmly committed to throughout his campaign, which is that nothing will fundamentally change. And it’s not clear to me that Bernie will have more leverage or influence within Biden’s administration than he would as a relative outsider in the Senate.
Moreover, it seems, by the — you know, every indication is that Joe Biden doesn’t have any interest in giving anything over to the left, offering anything to the left. You see olive branches being extended to Republicans, Cindy McCain. You know, we all saw the extent to which Republicans were given a platform at the national convention. And I think that that’s a trend we should expect to continue, that this isn’t an administration that’s particularly interested in offering much to the base of the Democratic Party.
AMY GOODMAN: We want to thank you both for being with us. Of course, these conversations will continue. Briahna Joy Gray, former national press secretary for Bernie Sanders 2020, co-host of Bad Faith podcast and contributing editor to Current Affairs. And thanks to Kate Aronoff, staff writer at The New Republic, co-author of A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal. We’ll link to your latest piece in The New Republic.
When we come back, The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X. We’ll look at the new National Book Award-winning biography. Stay with us.


truthout--2020-12-02--Trump Is Headed to Georgia to “Help” With the Runoffs. The GOP Is Terrified.

If you can , carve out some time on Saturday to watch the doings in Georgia .
A whole barnload of Trump chickens are winging their way home .
If they roost just right , Mitch McConnell could lose majority control of the Senate in January , and he and his brigade of calculating Republican lickspittles will only have themselves to blame .
It is , of course , a long shot .
Incumbent GOP Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler are locked in a dual runoff in Georgia against Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock .
The vote is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a monumental grassroots effort by progressive activists like Stacey Abrams , Georgia ’ s presidential vote flipped to the Democrats for the first time since Bill Clinton pulled it off in 1992 .
Now all of that energy is focused on these runoffs , and the state has become a fulcrum point at a moment freighted with COVID , climate crisis and economic calamity .
Democrats have not fared well in Georgia runoffs over the years .
Adding to the challenge , they must win both contests in order to flip control of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ; with a friendly House and Senate , Joe Biden could embark upon a truly ambitious slate of policies and clean the Augean stables of the Trumpian filth that has piled up over the last four years .
It would be a catastrophic rebuke to Trump , McConnell and the entire GOP to lose these seats , and more importantly , to lose control of the ruinous agenda McConnell has pursued with venomous efficiency for almost 15 years .
In an irony so luxurious I want to roll in it like a dog @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they will lose those seats , and all because of Donald Trump .
The soon-to-be ex-president has handled his loss to Biden about as well as a spoiled child who got nothing but broccoli for Christmas — the tree is on fire , the bulbs are all smashed and the screaming just will not stop .
At the core of Trump ’ s ceaseless tirade is the repeatedly debunked claim that the entire election was rigged against him by a network of conspirators that includes ( no really ) Bill Barr ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ governor of Georgia , the nation of Germany and the ghost of Hugo Chavez .
He and his people have been so adamant and persistent in promoting this bag of nonsense that swaths of his devoted supporters have come to embrace these theories , if you ’ ll pardon the sacrilege , as the gospel truth .
But wait : It gets better .
A goodly portion of that devoted base , after taking to heart Trump ’ s claims of a rigged vote , have decided Perdue and Loeffler have been less @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the election away from Biden , and may actually be complicit in Trump ’ s defeat .
Since they already believe the vote in Georgia is clearly rigged anyway ( see : Dem flip back in November ) , members of Trump ’ s base are actively calling for a conservative voter boycott of the January 5 runoff .
“ Driven by Trump ’ s insistence that Georgia ’ s elections are indelibly rife with fraud , conspiratorial MAGA figures are calling for a boycott of the two Senate runoff races , slated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which party controls the upper chamber , ” reports Politico .
“ Their reason : The two GOP candidates , Sens .
Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue , are not only insufficiently pro-Trump , they may be complicit in Georgia ’ s electoral fraud.
” Over the last several days , Trump has done zero favors for his fellow Republicans in the matter of Georgia .
He denounced Georgia ’ s uber-Republican Gov .
Brian Kemp for being “ hapless ” after Kemp followed the law to the letter and certified Biden ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ labeled Georgia ’ s uber-Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger an “ enemy of the people , ” and now Raffensperger has bodyguards .
… and now , Trump is slated to visit Georgia on Saturday so he can “ help ” his fellow Republicans in these runoffs .
What will he say when he meets with Kemp and Raffensperger ?
When confronted by one of his beloved adulation mobs containing supporters who want to boycott the vote in January , will Trump be able to restrain himself ?
Or will he , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to avoid saying anything that disrupts his ersatz narrative of total victory ?
There ’ s a real possibility that Trump the arsonist could once again go for the kerosene and the matches , if only to hear the cheers as the flames burn his party to the ground .
Any network coverage of his visit there this weekend is appointment television .
“ The Trump wing of the Republican Party was always at risk of detaching from the party establishment , ” notes The Washington Post .
“ Trump is such a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ if any can emulate him .
He ’ s just willing to say things that get certain voters riled up that other politicians won ’ t .
That ’ s the crux of the problem Georgia Republicans face.
” It ’ s not just the Georgia Republicans , either .
Trump ’ s defeat has broken the GOP in half , with one side represented by Trump , his base , and all the shabby Republicans too afraid to cross them .
On the other side are McConnell and his cohort of establishment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as the beast they created , coddled and fed now threatens to lay waste to all their works .
This civil war is also playing out in the conservative media .
One of Trump ’ s most visited targets of late has been Fox News , a network that hauled a Pacific Ocean of water for Trump over the years .
Fox inspired Trump ’ s undying wrath when it put Arizona in Biden ’ s corner on election night .
The network since has , very slowly , come to acknowledge Biden @ @ @ @ @ @ @ believers have taken his cue and shunned Fox News by massive numbers , flocking instead to far-right fringe networks like One America News and Newsmax TV , where Trump ’ s version of election reality is promoted with inspired vigor .
After all , there ’ s money to be made off of people who will believe anything .
Fear of the ultimate consequences from this deliberately inflicted mayhem was given voice by yet another Georgia official .
Gabriel Sterling , the voting system implementation manager for the state of Georgia , begged @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up the landscape before someone truly and irrevocably gets hurt .
“ This has to stop , ” Sterling said on Tuesday .
“ Someone is going to get hurt .
Someone is going to get shot .
Someone ’ s going to get killed .
And it ’ s not right .
It ’ s not right.
” There is no way to say how this will all play out , and betting odds still favor the GOP to win at least one of those Georgia runoffs .
Trump will make that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will say this much , however : If Trump ’ s poor-loser shenanigans lead to a double-barreled GOP defeat in Georgia , all forms of hell are going to break loose within that party .
In the interim , the next time you see a “ Dems in Disarray ” news report because progressive House members have a legitimate beef with Biden ’ s cabinet appointments , do what I do : Look to the mayhem on the right side of the aisle , smile and shake your head .
“ Disarray , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ eye of the beholder .

If you can, carve out some time on Saturday to watch the doings in Georgia. A whole barnload of Trump chickens are winging their way home. If they roost just right, Mitch McConnell could lose majority control of the Senate in January, and he and his brigade of calculating Republican lickspittles will only have themselves to blame.
It is, of course, a long shot. Incumbent GOP Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler are locked in a dual runoff in Georgia against Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. The vote is slated for January 5. Thanks to a monumental grassroots effort by progressive activists like Stacey Abrams, Georgia’s presidential vote flipped to the Democrats for the first time since Bill Clinton pulled it off in 1992. Now all of that energy is focused on these runoffs, and the state has become a fulcrum point at a moment freighted with COVID, climate crisis and economic calamity.
Democrats have not fared well in Georgia runoffs over the years. Adding to the challenge, they must win both contests in order to flip control of the Senate. The stakes are enormous; with a friendly House and Senate, Joe Biden could embark upon a truly ambitious slate of policies and clean the Augean stables of the Trumpian filth that has piled up over the last four years. It would be a catastrophic rebuke to Trump, McConnell and the entire GOP to lose these seats, and more importantly, to lose control of the ruinous agenda McConnell has pursued with venomous efficiency for almost 15 years.
In an irony so luxurious I want to roll in it like a dog, Republicans are becoming increasingly terrified that they will lose those seats, and all because of Donald Trump. The soon-to-be ex-president has handled his loss to Biden about as well as a spoiled child who got nothing but broccoli for Christmas — the tree is on fire, the bulbs are all smashed and the screaming just will not stop.
At the core of Trump’s ceaseless tirade is the repeatedly debunked claim that the entire election was rigged against him by a network of conspirators that includes (no really) Bill Barr’s FBI and Justice Department, the Republican governor of Georgia, the nation of Germany and the ghost of Hugo Chavez. He and his people have been so adamant and persistent in promoting this bag of nonsense that swaths of his devoted supporters have come to embrace these theories, if you’ll pardon the sacrilege, as the gospel truth.
But wait: It gets better. A goodly portion of that devoted base, after taking to heart Trump’s claims of a rigged vote, have decided Perdue and Loeffler have been less than devoted to the cause of flipping the election away from Biden, and may actually be complicit in Trump’s defeat. Since they already believe the vote in Georgia is clearly rigged anyway (see: Dem flip back in November), members of Trump’s base are actively calling for a conservative voter boycott of the January 5 runoff.
When confronted by one of his beloved adulation mobs containing supporters who want to boycott the vote in January, will Trump be able to restrain himself?
“Driven by Trump’s insistence that Georgia’s elections are indelibly rife with fraud, conspiratorial MAGA figures are calling for a boycott of the two Senate runoff races, slated for Jan. 5, that will determine which party controls the upper chamber,” reports Politico. “Their reason: The two GOP candidates, Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, are not only insufficiently pro-Trump, they may be complicit in Georgia’s electoral fraud.”
Over the last several days, Trump has done zero favors for his fellow Republicans in the matter of Georgia. He denounced Georgia’s uber-Republican Gov. Brian Kemp for being “hapless” after Kemp followed the law to the letter and certified Biden’s victory in that state. Trump labeled Georgia’s uber-Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger an “enemy of the people,” and now Raffensperger has bodyguards.
… and now, Trump is slated to visit Georgia on Saturday so he can “help” his fellow Republicans in these runoffs. What will he say when he meets with Kemp and Raffensperger? When confronted by one of his beloved adulation mobs containing supporters who want to boycott the vote in January, will Trump be able to restrain himself? Or will he, overtly or otherwise, bless their endeavors to avoid saying anything that disrupts his ersatz narrative of total victory?
There’s a real possibility that Trump the arsonist could once again go for the kerosene and the matches, if only to hear the cheers as the flames burn his party to the ground. Any network coverage of his visit there this weekend is appointment television.
“The Trump wing of the Republican Party was always at risk of detaching from the party establishment,” notes The Washington Post. “Trump is such a singular figure in U.S. politics, few if any can emulate him. He’s just willing to say things that get certain voters riled up that other politicians won’t. That’s the crux of the problem Georgia Republicans face.”
It’s not just the Georgia Republicans, either. Trump’s defeat has broken the GOP in half, with one side represented by Trump, his base, and all the shabby Republicans too afraid to cross them. On the other side are McConnell and his cohort of establishment Republicans who watch now with growing dread as the beast they created, coddled and fed now threatens to lay waste to all their works.
This civil war is also playing out in the conservative media. One of Trump’s most visited targets of late has been Fox News, a network that hauled a Pacific Ocean of water for Trump over the years. Fox inspired Trump’s undying wrath when it put Arizona in Biden’s corner on election night. The network since has, very slowly, come to acknowledge Biden’s eventual presidency.
The Trump believers have taken his cue and shunned Fox News by massive numbers, flocking instead to far-right fringe networks like One America News and Newsmax TV, where Trump’s version of election reality is promoted with inspired vigor. After all, there’s money to be made off of people who will believe anything.
Fear of the ultimate consequences from this deliberately inflicted mayhem was given voice by yet another Georgia official. Gabriel Sterling, the voting system implementation manager for the state of Georgia, begged Trump and his people to stop tearing up the landscape before someone truly and irrevocably gets hurt. “This has to stop,” Sterling said on Tuesday. “Someone is going to get hurt. Someone is going to get shot. Someone’s going to get killed. And it’s not right. It’s not right.”
There is no way to say how this will all play out, and betting odds still favor the GOP to win at least one of those Georgia runoffs. Trump will make that easier or harder on Saturday. I will say this much, however: If Trump’s poor-loser shenanigans lead to a double-barreled GOP defeat in Georgia, all forms of hell are going to break loose within that party.
In the interim, the next time you see a “Dems in Disarray” news report because progressive House members have a legitimate beef with Biden’s cabinet appointments, do what I do: Look to the mayhem on the right side of the aisle, smile and shake your head. “Disarray,” clearly, is also in the eye of the beholder.
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truthout--2020-12-02--Bernie Sanders Calls Betsy DeVos Worst Education Secretary in US History

Sen. Bernie Sanders late Tuesday called Betsy DeVos “ the worst education secretary in the history of America ” and made abundantly clear that he ’ s not mourning her imminent departure after the billionaire school privatization zealot lashed out at popular proposals to cancel student loan debt and make public colleges and universities tuition-free .
“ What do you call a billionaire who registered a $ 40 million , 164-foot yacht in the Cayman Islands to avoid $ 2.4 million in U.S. taxes , while undermining public schools ?
The worst education secretary in the history of America , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ leading proponent of student debt cancellation and tuition-free higher education .
“ Bye-bye , Betsy DeVos .
You won ’ t be missed.
” In a speech at an Education Department financial aid conference on Tuesday , the outgoing education secretary dismissed as “ government gift-giving ” proposals to forgive crippling student loan debt and eliminate tuition for public colleges and universities .
“ We ’ ve heard shrill calls to cancel , to forgive , to make it all free .
Any innocuous label out there can ’ t obfuscate what it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ DeVos , who last year proposed handing the federal government ’ s $ 1.6 trillion student loan portfolio over to a “ stand-alone government corporation.
” Critics slammed the proposal as an attempt to prevent the next president from canceling any of the debt .
President-elect Joe Biden has vowed to forgive a portion of the student debt held by tens of millions of Americans and make public colleges and universities tuition-free for families with incomes below $ 125,000 a year .
The former vice president has not yet announced his pick to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ remarks Tuesday , Sen. Elizabeth Warren ( D-Mass . )
— one of many lawmakers and activists pressuring Biden to use his authority to cancel student loan debt — tweeted sardonically , “ Because we were all just dying to know what the unqualified billionaire who made this problem worse thinks about helping people .
”

Sen. Bernie Sanders late Tuesday called Betsy DeVos “the worst education secretary in the history of America” and made abundantly clear that he’s not mourning her imminent departure after the billionaire school privatization zealot lashed out at popular proposals to cancel student loan debt and make public colleges and universities tuition-free.
“What do you call a billionaire who registered a $40 million, 164-foot yacht in the Cayman Islands to avoid $2.4 million in U.S. taxes, while undermining public schools? The worst education secretary in the history of America,” tweeted the Vermont senator, a leading proponent of student debt cancellation and tuition-free higher education. “Bye-bye, Betsy DeVos. You won’t be missed.”
In a speech at an Education Department financial aid conference on Tuesday, the outgoing education secretary dismissed as “government gift-giving” proposals to forgive crippling student loan debt and eliminate tuition for public colleges and universities.
“We’ve heard shrill calls to cancel, to forgive, to make it all free. Any innocuous label out there can’t obfuscate what it really is: Wrong,” said DeVos, who last year proposed handing the federal government’s $1.6 trillion student loan portfolio over to a “stand-alone government corporation.” Critics slammed the proposal as an attempt to prevent the next president from canceling any of the debt.
President-elect Joe Biden has vowed to forgive a portion of the student debt held by tens of millions of Americans and make public colleges and universities tuition-free for families with incomes below $125,000 a year. The former vice president has not yet announced his pick to succeed DeVos.
In response to DeVos’ remarks Tuesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) — one of many lawmakers and activists pressuring Biden to use his authority to cancel student loan debt — tweeted sardonically, “Because we were all just dying to know what the unqualified billionaire who made this problem worse thinks about helping people.”
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
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truthout--2020-12-02--McConnell COVID Plan: No Direct Payments and Stricter Unemployment Requirements

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday began circulating a coronavirus relief proposal whose contents offer so little assistance to the tens of millions of jobless , hungry , and eviction-prone Americans that critics warned the Kentucky Republican is actively working to ensure the U.S. economy remains mired in deep recession as Biden administration takes charge next month .
Described as a “ targeted ” relief proposal , McConnell ’ s plan is heavily geared toward providing corporations with immunity from coronavirus-related lawsuits ; the offer includes a liability shield that Public Citizen ’ s Remington Gregg described as “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s plan also contains a 100 % tax deduction for business meals .
Meanwhile , McConnell ’ s proposed relief measure does not include a boost to federal unemployment insurance , instead calling for a mere one-month extension of existing programs and stricter requirements for applicants in the name of preventing “ fraud.
” The Republican ’ s proposal also omits another round of direct stimulus payments and aid to cash-strapped state and local governments .
“ Leave it to Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump to propose a bill that creates tax write-offs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ finger to working families and 20 million unemployed Americans , ” said Rep. Don Beyer ( D-Va. ) .
“ This is not a serious proposal , it is a slap in the face to people who need help.
” In the months ahead of the November election and in the weeks since , analysts have cautioned that if McConnell maintains his stranglehold on the Senate , the Kentucky Republican could attempt to impose devastating economic austerity with the goal of undermining Biden ’ s presidency and gaining GOP seats in 2022 and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ proposal only bolstered those concerns .
“ McConnell is making it pretty clear that if Dems don ’ t win the Georgia Senate races , he will cripple the American economy , hoping it will let the GOP win the midterm , ” tweeted journalist Jon Walker .
Wenonah Hauter , executive director of Food & Water Action said in a statement that McConnell ’ s latest coronavirus relief offer is “ nothing but a cruel joke.
” “ Once again , Mitch McConnell shows that he is more interested in protecting corporations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ risk than he is in protecting Americans who have lost their water service , ” said Hauter .
“ As the Covid crisis only grows more deadly , this disgraceful proposal puts the lives of everyday Americans at even greater risk.
” Locked in a standstill for months amid rapidly deteriorating economic conditions and a surging pandemic , coronavirus relief negotiations received something of a push Tuesday when a bipartisan , bicameral group of lawmakers outlined a $ 908 billion stimulus plan that includes a $ 300-per-week federal boost to unemployment benefits and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the one McConnell is pushing .
Ahead of the introduction of the bipartisan proposal , House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ( D-Calif. ) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer ( D-N.Y. ) on Monday sent a relief offer of their own to McConnell but declined to provide specifics .
“ I ’ m not going to get in the details , ” Schumer said Tuesday .
“ It was a private proposal to help us move the ball forward.
” With an estimated 12 million Americans set to lose unemployment benefits on the day @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a group of five senators — including Sens .
Sherrod Brown ( D-Ohio ) , Ron Wyden ( D-Ore. ) , and Schumer — introduced legislation that would retroactively extend the lapsed $ 600-per-week federal boost to unemployment insurance through October 2021 .
“ With the economy backsliding as Covid-19 cases explode nationwide , Senate Republicans are set to push millions of American families off a cliff , ” Wyden warned in a statement .
“ Whether or not you can pay rent or feed your family should not depend on whether or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ political interest .
”

Analysts caution that McConnell’s goal is to undermine Biden’s presidency and gain GOP seats in 2022 and beyond.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday began circulating a coronavirus relief proposal whose contents offer so little assistance to the tens of millions of jobless, hungry, and eviction-prone Americans that critics warned the Kentucky Republican is actively working to ensure the U.S. economy remains mired in deep recession as Biden administration takes charge next month.
Described as a “targeted” relief proposal, McConnell’s plan is heavily geared toward providing corporations with immunity from coronavirus-related lawsuits; the offer includes a liability shield that Public Citizen’s Remington Gregg described as “breathtakingly broad.” The Kentucky Republican’s plan also contains a 100% tax deduction for business meals.
Meanwhile, McConnell’s proposed relief measure does not include a boost to federal unemployment insurance, instead calling for a mere one-month extension of existing programs and stricter requirements for applicants in the name of preventing “fraud.” The Republican’s proposal also omits another round of direct stimulus payments and aid to cash-strapped state and local governments.
“Leave it to Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump to propose a bill that creates tax write-offs for fancy lunches and gives the middle finger to working families and 20 million unemployed Americans,” said Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.). “This is not a serious proposal, it is a slap in the face to people who need help.”
In the months ahead of the November election and in the weeks since, analysts have cautioned that if McConnell maintains his stranglehold on the Senate, the Kentucky Republican could attempt to impose devastating economic austerity with the goal of undermining Biden’s presidency and gaining GOP seats in 2022 and beyond. McConnell’s new relief proposal only bolstered those concerns.
“McConnell is making it pretty clear that if Dems don’t win the Georgia Senate races, he will cripple the American economy, hoping it will let the GOP win the midterm,” tweeted journalist Jon Walker.
HuffPost’s Zach Carter offered a similar assessment:
The core terms here are a one-month extension for expiring unemployment benefits and $330 billion for PPP. Given the scope of the crisis it's hard to interpret as anything other than economic sabotage. https://t.co/djfhOSrFle — Zach Carter (@zachdcarter) December 1, 2020
Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Action said in a statement that McConnell’s latest coronavirus relief offer is “nothing but a cruel joke.”
“Once again, Mitch McConnell shows that he is more interested in protecting corporations that have put workers’ lives at risk than he is in protecting Americans who have lost their water service,” said Hauter. “As the Covid crisis only grows more deadly, this disgraceful proposal puts the lives of everyday Americans at even greater risk.”
Locked in a standstill for months amid rapidly deteriorating economic conditions and a surging pandemic, coronavirus relief negotiations received something of a push Tuesday when a bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers outlined a $908 billion stimulus plan that includes a $300-per-week federal boost to unemployment benefits and a more limited corporate liability shield than the one McConnell is pushing.
Ahead of the introduction of the bipartisan proposal, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Monday sent a relief offer of their own to McConnell but declined to provide specifics.
“I’m not going to get in the details,” Schumer said Tuesday. “It was a private proposal to help us move the ball forward.”
With an estimated 12 million Americans set to lose unemployment benefits on the day after Christmas without action from Congress, a group of five senators — including Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), and Schumer — introduced legislation that would retroactively extend the lapsed $600-per-week federal boost to unemployment insurance through October 2021.
“With the economy backsliding as Covid-19 cases explode nationwide, Senate Republicans are set to push millions of American families off a cliff,” Wyden warned in a statement. “Whether or not you can pay rent or feed your family should not depend on whether or not Mitch McConnell sees it in his political interest.”
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.