thenation--2020-10-30--The Many Abuses at the Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia

“ This place is hell… .
My experience was darkness , dirtiness , muddiness .
The floors—dirty .
The walls—dirty .
Everything was dirty.
” In 2019 , Jaromy Floriano Navarro was sent to the Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia , where she was held for nearly a year before being deported to Mexico in September .
While at Irwin , she had a distressing experience with a medical provider who treated detainees at the facility .
“ I met [ gynecologist ] Dr. [ Mahendra ] Amin in March .
He said I had a cyst… .
He @ @ @ @ @ @ @ my cyst removed .
I was going to have three little dots on my belly , and it would take 20 minutes .
One hole by my belly , one by my womb , one by my vagina , ” she said .
“ The nurse who was taking me to the hospital told me that I was going to have my womb removed .
I was like , ‘ What ?
No , that ’ s not right .
I am going to have my cyst removed.
’ ” Upon arriving at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Navarro learned that she was positive for Covid-19 antibodies and her procedure would be delayed .
When she returned to Irwin , she said , she was put in isolation .
A few days later , she was told that she could now have her surgery .
She said , “ I refused , and this made them mad .
They were so mad .
[ They said , ] ‘ You stay here .
You get the surgery .
We ’ ve already paid for it.
’ ” Floriano Navarro began talking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ learned that others had had similar experiences .
Then on September 14 of this year , whistleblower Dawn Wooten went public with the claim that Amin had been performing an unusually large number of hysterectomies on women held at the center .
“ You could quote me as the one that got away , ” Floriano Navarro said .
Wooten , who was a licensed practical nurse at the facility , reported that several detained women told her they were given hysterectomies and did not understand why .
In a complaint , she @ @ @ @ @ @ @ practice spread , many detainees became wary of seeing doctors at the facility at all and other staffers began to wonder how widespread the practice was .
“ We ’ ve questioned among ourselves like goodness he ’ s taking everybody ’ s stuff out… .
That ’ s his specialty , he ’ s the uterus collector , ” Wooten said in her complaint .
“ I know that ’ s ugly…is he collecting these things or something… .
Everybody he sees , he ’ s taking all their uteruses out or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” This Simple Change Could Legalize Millions of Immigrants The complaint , filed with the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security ( DHS ) by human rights groups , including Project South , quoted an Irwin detainee who had spoken with other detained immigrants who had received hysterectomies , saying that they “ reacted confused when explaining why they had one done.
” The woman told Project South that it was as though they were “ trying to tell themselves it ’ s going to be OK. ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all these women who had had surgeries , I thought this was like an experimental concentration camp .
It was like they ’ re experimenting with our bodies.
” Since the complaint went public , multiple women have come forward with accounts of similar experiences at Irwin .
One former detainee , Pauline Binam , said she had her fallopian tubes removed without her consent .
Mileidy Cardentey Fernandez told The Guardian that she was told she would undergo an operation to treat ovarian cysts but she remained unsure of what procedure she @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Los Angeles Times reported on the accounts of 19 mostly Black and Latinx women who underwent or were pressured to undergo “ overly aggressive ” or “ medically unnecessary ” surgeries without their consent while detained at Irwin , according to a report by nine board-certified ob-gyns and two nursing experts who reviewed thousands of pages of those women ’ s medical records .
Wendy Dowe , speaking to the Los Angeles Times , said she told Amin , “ I ’ ve got the right to know what ’ s going on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was surprised to see bandages on her stomach .
She wrote to his medical office , asking , “ What type of surgery did I have ?
” Amin has seen at least 60 women detained at Irwin , according to a lawyer investigating the alleged wrongdoing , and is now under investigation by the DHS ’ s inspector general .
But the problems at Irwin are hardly limited to the alleged sterilizations .
The women interviewed by Project South reported horrifying conditions at the detention center as well as widespread medical neglect @ @ @ @ @ @ @ found evidence of sexual abuse , inadequate medical care , lack of prenatal care for pregnant women , a lack of clean drinking water , and rampant use of solitary confinement at the facility , ” said Azadeh Shahshahani , Project South ’ s legal and advocacy director .
“ Detained immigrants who have spoken out about the conditions have faced retaliation.
” A Southern Poverty Law Center report noted that an Irwin detainee was placed in solitary confinement for three days for helping another complete a grievance form .
Wooten and several @ @ @ @ @ @ @ facility failed to follow best practices to prevent the spread of the coronavirus .
In the complaint , Wooten stated that Dr. Howard McMahan , the medical director at Irwin , pleaded with warden David Paulk in March to halt all transfers of individuals in and out the facility after it recorded its first Covid-19 case .
Yet McMahan ’ s pleas went unheeded : People with Covid have been entering the facility , which has also transferred immigrants out who were Covid-positive or had been tested but had not yet received their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at Irwin have reported that entire dorm units are placed under quarantine for 14 days after one individual is suspected of having or is confirmed to have Covid .
The staffers mix new transfers with people who are under quarantine , resulting in greater vulnerability and risk .
Representative Raul Ruiz , a California Democrat and an emergency physician , toured the center with other legislators after the allegations became public and said he saw , among other horrors , black mold in the shower stalls , which can cause or exacerbate serious @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Center is run by LaSalle Corrections , a private corporation contracted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement .
LaSalle operates seven immigration detention facilities in four states ; Irwin , which houses about 800 people , has long been known for its unsafe conditions .
In 2017 , ICE ’ s own review of the center found that certain areas were unsanitary and that “ floors and patient examination tables were dirty.
” LaSalle receives $ 60 a day from the federal government for each immigrant it houses , a sum intended to cover @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , according to a report by the Southern Poverty Law Center .
In response to the recent revelations , Project South and other local groups—including Georgia Detention Watch , the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights , and the South Georgia Immigrant Support Network—are gathering signatures for a petition to close the facility and to seek redress for those harmed inside it .
Meanwhile , the US House of Representatives has passed a resolution condemning the medical abuse and calling on the DHS to pause the deportation of people who experienced any medical @ @ @ @ @ @ @ individuals involved in the procedures accountable .
The United States has a long history of reproductive violence against people who have been incarcerated or institutionalized or are otherwise seen as unfit to have children .
In 1899 , Harry C. Sharp , a physician at the Indiana Reformatory in Jeffersonville pioneered a program to sterilize incarcerated men .
At that point in Indiana ’ s history , a number of social upheavals—including industrialization , urbanization , and a fear that people of color and poor white Kentuckians were encroaching on homogeneous communities—worried the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
His solution was to sterilize those considered dangerous , particularly those with a mental or physical illness .
In 1907 , Indiana passed the country ’ s first sterilization law , intended “ to prevent [ the ] procreation of confirmed criminals , idiots , imbeciles , and rapists.
” Though the law was struck down as unconstitutional in 1921 , the state government estimated that approximately 2,500 people were sterilized through 1974 , before the practice ended .
These sterilizations of incarcerated people were only the beginning of many similar efforts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ including people of color and people with disabilities , as a public health intervention .
From 1919 to 1952 , California sterilized approximately 20,000 institutionalized people because they were deemed “ unfit ” or “ defective.
” From 1929 to 1974 , at least 7,500 people were sterilized in North Carolina , most of them without their consent , because the state Eugenics Board claimed they were unfit to reproduce .
Many of them were poor Black or Indigenous women , though records show that children as young as 10 were sterilized .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ past .
In 2013 , Reveal reported that from 2006 to 2010 , at least 148 inmates in two California prisons were sterilized without proper state approvals or oversight , and there may be 100 more such incidents dating back to the late 1990s .
Knowing this long history of state-sanctioned eugenics policies is the first step in understanding the significance of the allegations by Wooten and the women detained at Irwin .
As Dorothy Roberts , a professor of law and sociology at the University of Pennsylvania , explains in her seminal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Reproduction , and the Meaning of Liberty , the idea of population control as a social good is part of the fabric of US public health policy .
Roberts argues that the American project of eugenics is rooted in the enslavement of African people and the complete denial of reproductive control .
For Amari Sutton , an organizer with Project South , the abuses alleged at Irwin “ must be understood as the result of fascist state control and abuse of Black and brown bodies [ and ] the historical capitalist interest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ slavery.
” Representatives Rashida Tlaib , Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez , Ayanna Pressley , and Ilhan Omar are calling on international agencies to conduct investigations .
“ Holding the Department of Homeland Security accountable for its long history of abuses is a human rights , reproductive justice , and public health imperative—one that has been put on the backburner at the expense and detriment of our immigrant neighbors , ” Tlaib said in a statement .
Like prisons , immigration detention centers are often isolated spaces , hard to reach and to monitor by design @ @ @ @ @ @ @ great risks to expose what they know .
Speaking to The Nation from Mexico in October , Floriano Navarro was distraught .
“ I wish I was back home in South Carolina with my daughters , ” she said .
“ It ’ s like I can ’ t breathe .
The mental abuse and the depression I go through is so hard .
When I ’ m alone and I drift into my thoughts , I think about how it felt to be there .
I want you to write about the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” She added , “ When you are inside there , it ’ s like you have no control of your life , it ’ s like they can do whatever they want to you .
”

This article appears in the November 16/23, 2020 issue.
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“This place is hell…. My experience was darkness, dirtiness, muddiness. The floors—dirty. The walls—dirty. Everything was dirty.”
In 2019, Jaromy Floriano Navarro was sent to the Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia, where she was held for nearly a year before being deported to Mexico in September. While at Irwin, she had a distressing experience with a medical provider who treated detainees at the facility. “I met [gynecologist] Dr. [Mahendra] Amin in March. He said I had a cyst…. He told me about the process to get my cyst removed. I was going to have three little dots on my belly, and it would take 20 minutes. One hole by my belly, one by my womb, one by my vagina,” she said. “The nurse who was taking me to the hospital told me that I was going to have my womb removed. I was like, ‘What? No, that’s not right. I am going to have my cyst removed.’”
Upon arriving at the hospital for the procedure, Floriano Navarro learned that she was positive for Covid-19 antibodies and her procedure would be delayed. When she returned to Irwin, she said, she was put in isolation. A few days later, she was told that she could now have her surgery. She said, “I refused, and this made them mad. They were so mad. [They said,] ‘You stay here. You get the surgery. We’ve already paid for it.’”
Floriano Navarro began talking to other women housed at Irwin and learned that others had had similar experiences. Then on September 14 of this year, whistleblower Dawn Wooten went public with the claim that Amin had been performing an unusually large number of hysterectomies on women held at the center. “You could quote me as the one that got away,” Floriano Navarro said. Wooten, who was a licensed practical nurse at the facility, reported that several detained women told her they were given hysterectomies and did not understand why. In a complaint, she alleged that once the information about this practice spread, many detainees became wary of seeing doctors at the facility at all and other staffers began to wonder how widespread the practice was. “We’ve questioned among ourselves like goodness he’s taking everybody’s stuff out…. That’s his specialty, he’s the uterus collector,” Wooten said in her complaint. “I know that’s ugly…is he collecting these things or something…. Everybody he sees, he’s taking all their uteruses out or he’s taken their tubes out.” Related Article This Simple Change Could Legalize Millions of Immigrants Felipe de la Hoz
The complaint, filed with the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) by human rights groups, including Project South, quoted an Irwin detainee who had spoken with other detained immigrants who had received hysterectomies, saying that they “reacted confused when explaining why they had one done.” The woman told Project South that it was as though they were “trying to tell themselves it’s going to be OK.” She added, “When I met all these women who had had surgeries, I thought this was like an experimental concentration camp. It was like they’re experimenting with our bodies.” Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann
Since the complaint went public, multiple women have come forward with accounts of similar experiences at Irwin. One former detainee, Pauline Binam, said she had her fallopian tubes removed without her consent. Mileidy Cardentey Fernandez told The Guardian that she was told she would undergo an operation to treat ovarian cysts but she remained unsure of what procedure she actually underwent. Most recently, the Los Angeles Times reported on the accounts of 19 mostly Black and Latinx women who underwent or were pressured to undergo “overly aggressive” or “medically unnecessary” surgeries without their consent while detained at Irwin, according to a report by nine board-certified ob-gyns and two nursing experts who reviewed thousands of pages of those women’s medical records. Wendy Dowe, speaking to the Los Angeles Times, said she told Amin, “I’ve got the right to know what’s going on with me.” After surgery, she was surprised to see bandages on her stomach. She wrote to his medical office, asking, “What type of surgery did I have?”
Amin has seen at least 60 women detained at Irwin, according to a lawyer investigating the alleged wrongdoing, and is now under investigation by the DHS’s inspector general. But the problems at Irwin are hardly limited to the alleged sterilizations. The women interviewed by Project South reported horrifying conditions at the detention center as well as widespread medical neglect. In the interviews, “we found evidence of sexual abuse, inadequate medical care, lack of prenatal care for pregnant women, a lack of clean drinking water, and rampant use of solitary confinement at the facility,” said Azadeh Shahshahani, Project South’s legal and advocacy director. “Detained immigrants who have spoken out about the conditions have faced retaliation.” A Southern Poverty Law Center report noted that an Irwin detainee was placed in solitary confinement for three days for helping another complete a grievance form. Current Issue View our current issue
Wooten and several of the immigrants also claimed that the facility failed to follow best practices to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. In the complaint, Wooten stated that Dr. Howard McMahan, the medical director at Irwin, pleaded with warden David Paulk in March to halt all transfers of individuals in and out the facility after it recorded its first Covid-19 case. Yet McMahan’s pleas went unheeded: People with Covid have been entering the facility, which has also transferred immigrants out who were Covid-positive or had been tested but had not yet received their results. Wooten and various people detained at Irwin have reported that entire dorm units are placed under quarantine for 14 days after one individual is suspected of having or is confirmed to have Covid. The staffers mix new transfers with people who are under quarantine, resulting in greater vulnerability and risk. Representative Raul Ruiz, a California Democrat and an emergency physician, toured the center with other legislators after the allegations became public and said he saw, among other horrors, black mold in the shower stalls, which can cause or exacerbate serious pulmonary diseases.
The Irwin County Detention Center is run by LaSalle Corrections, a private corporation contracted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. LaSalle operates seven immigration detention facilities in four states; Irwin, which houses about 800 people, has long been known for its unsafe conditions. In 2017, ICE’s own review of the center found that certain areas were unsanitary and that “floors and patient examination tables were dirty.” LaSalle receives $60 a day from the federal government for each immigrant it houses, a sum intended to cover food, shelter, and medical care, according to a report by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
In response to the recent revelations, Project South and other local groups—including Georgia Detention Watch, the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, and the South Georgia Immigrant Support Network—are gathering signatures for a petition to close the facility and to seek redress for those harmed inside it. Meanwhile, the US House of Representatives has passed a resolution condemning the medical abuse and calling on the DHS to pause the deportation of people who experienced any medical procedures at Irwin and to hold the individuals involved in the procedures accountable.
The United States has a long history of reproductive violence against people who have been incarcerated or institutionalized or are otherwise seen as unfit to have children. In 1899, Harry C. Sharp, a physician at the Indiana Reformatory in Jeffersonville pioneered a program to sterilize incarcerated men. At that point in Indiana’s history, a number of social upheavals—including industrialization, urbanization, and a fear that people of color and poor white Kentuckians were encroaching on homogeneous communities—worried the state’s middle and upper classes. His solution was to sterilize those considered dangerous, particularly those with a mental or physical illness. In 1907, Indiana passed the country’s first sterilization law, intended “to prevent [the] procreation of confirmed criminals, idiots, imbeciles, and rapists.” Though the law was struck down as unconstitutional in 1921, the state government estimated that approximately 2,500 people were sterilized through 1974, before the practice ended.
These sterilizations of incarcerated people were only the beginning of many similar efforts to sterilize members of other groups, including people of color and people with disabilities, as a public health intervention. From 1919 to 1952, California sterilized approximately 20,000 institutionalized people because they were deemed “unfit” or “defective.” From 1929 to 1974, at least 7,500 people were sterilized in North Carolina, most of them without their consent, because the state Eugenics Board claimed they were unfit to reproduce. Many of them were poor Black or Indigenous women, though records show that children as young as 10 were sterilized. Nor are these abuses confined to decades past. In 2013, Reveal reported that from 2006 to 2010, at least 148 inmates in two California prisons were sterilized without proper state approvals or oversight, and there may be 100 more such incidents dating back to the late 1990s.
Knowing this long history of state-sanctioned eugenics policies is the first step in understanding the significance of the allegations by Wooten and the women detained at Irwin. As Dorothy Roberts, a professor of law and sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, explains in her seminal text Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty, the idea of population control as a social good is part of the fabric of US public health policy. Roberts argues that the American project of eugenics is rooted in the enslavement of African people and the complete denial of reproductive control. For Amari Sutton, an organizer with Project South, the abuses alleged at Irwin “must be understood as the result of fascist state control and abuse of Black and brown bodies [and] the historical capitalist interest in incarceration and detainment that mirrors chattel slavery.”
Representatives Rashida Tlaib, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, and Ilhan Omar are calling on international agencies to conduct investigations. “Holding the Department of Homeland Security accountable for its long history of abuses is a human rights, reproductive justice, and public health imperative—one that has been put on the backburner at the expense and detriment of our immigrant neighbors,” Tlaib said in a statement.
Like prisons, immigration detention centers are often isolated spaces, hard to reach and to monitor by design. These activists and detainees are taking great risks to expose what they know. Speaking to The Nation from Mexico in October, Floriano Navarro was distraught. “I wish I was back home in South Carolina with my daughters,” she said. “It’s like I can’t breathe. The mental abuse and the depression I go through is so hard. When I’m alone and I drift into my thoughts, I think about how it felt to be there. I want you to write about the depression. It’s so hard.”
She added, “When you are inside there, it’s like you have no control of your life, it’s like they can do whatever they want to you.”


thenation--2020-10-30--Don’t Hide the Art of Philip Guston

Don’t Hide the Art of Philip Guston

Philip Guston didn ’ t want his work to go down easy—with others or , above all , with himself .
He felt himself to be one of those who , as his friend Willem de Kooning put it , was “ too nervous to find out where they ought to sit .
They do not want to ‘ sit in style.
’ ” Having once , like many of his generation , tossed aside figurative art and found success in abstraction , he was still unhappy .
Toward the end of the 1960s , “ sick and tired of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ abstraction ( so most of his colleagues thought ) and forged a new approach to painting : funky , demotic , blunt .
A critic in The New York Times dismissed him as a mandarin masquerading as a stumblebum .
Among the paintings he made in this later phase were images of hooded Ku Klux Klansmen .
Sinister yet unfrightening , these stumblebums were reminiscent of the Klansmen that Guston saw and painted as a young man .
He remembered how , in the Los Angeles of his youth , they were deployed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the police .
So for Guston , who died in 1980 , painting the Klan was a gesture of protest , though when he turned to the theme as a mature artist , it was also a kind of self-portraiture .
“ I perceive myself as being behind a hood , ” he said and referred to one of his favorite writers .
“ Rather like Isaac Babel who had joined the Cossacks , lived with them and written stories about them , I almost tried to imagine that I was living with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ like to be evil ?
” I think of something that Paul Gauguin ( an artist who was not a reference point for Guston , however ) wrote in his journal : “ We never really know what stupidity is until we have experimented on ourselves.
” That brings us back to the National Gallery , which announced that it and three other museums would postpone a long-planned Guston retrospective “ until a time at which we think that the powerful message of social and racial justice that is at the center of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more clearly interpreted ” —that needful time being foreseen as 2024 .
The gallery ’ s director , Kaywin Feldman , could not quite bring herself to articulate why this delay was necessary or what use it would serve , but mortification over Guston ’ s Klan imagery was evidently the reason .
I probably shouldn ’ t put the onus on Feldman .
Directors serve at the pleasure of their boards , and among the leading members of hers is Darren Walker , the head of the Ford Foundation , with its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ much good , and it had better if it ’ s going to keep making up for its cofounder Henry Ford ’ s terrible legacy of anti-Semitism , which he eventually recanted .
Walker has been the most vocal proponent of the exhibition ’ s postponement .
Strange irony : The caretaker of the legacy of the young artist ’ s enemy becomes the opponent of his posthumous exhibition .
Never mind that Walker can not distinguish between racist imagery and imagery depicting racists .
The real tell is that in a statement @ @ @ @ @ @ @ now would have been “ tone deaf.
” That ’ s the language of corporate image control .
To many of the people who run our museums—not art people but bean counters—art is merely branding for the institution .
That indifference to art and therefore to the sometimes difficult and contrary people who make it was made clear in the museums ’ haughty unwillingness to acknowledge the call by many of the country ’ s leading artists for the Guston show to open next year as scheduled .
That letter , drafted mainly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ others and precious editorial input from Adrian Piper , was posted by The Brooklyn Rail on September 30 , with some 90 signatories , including critics , curators , historians of art , collectors , dealers , choreographers , poets , and above all , some of the most renowned artists at work today : Matthew Barney , Mel Chin , Nicole Eisenman , Charles Gaines , Ellen Gallagher , William Pope.L , Martin Puryear , Amy Sillman , Lorna Simpson , Mickalene Thomas , Rirkrit Tiravanija , Stanley Whitney , and of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a few .
More than 2,600 people have subsequently signed the letter .
One artist who didn ’ t sign it is Cauleen Smith .
Her response to the letter was sympathy with pointed questions : “ Are all white artists going to hide behind Guston now ?
A more urgent and pressing question is why is there so little work like this ?
Work that addresses white culpability in sanctioned violence against non-whites ?
… Why is dismantling whiteness and its violences so hard for white artists ?
Can one painter dude @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I do not think so.
” Me neither .
No more than we hide Guston away should we hide behind him .
Feldman said we don ’ t need “ a white artist to explain racism.
” She ’ s right .
Giving explanations is not what paintings are for .
More to the point , do we need white museum directors—especially ones who can ’ t even bring themselves to mention the KKK when it ’ s what they want to talk about—to explain it ?
Guston saw his Klansmen as “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , remorseful , reassuring one another.
” Sounds like the scene inside the National Gallery right now .
Update : On October 28 , after this article went to press , the National Gallery announced that its Guston exhibition would open in 2022 .
The museum ’ s spokeswoman , Anabeth Guthrie , told The New York Times that the rescheduling had nothing to do with the criticism occasioned by the sudden delay .
Rather , she blamed complications arising from the coronavirus pandemic without explaining how 2022 would be less complicated than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of 2021 .
Nor did she mention anything about the desire , expressed by the museum ’ s director in September , to wait for a “ time at which we think that the powerful message of social and racial justice that is at the center of Philip Guston ’ s work can be more clearly interpreted ” or the need to “ bring in additional perspectives and voices to shape how we present Guston ’ s work to our public.
” Notwithstanding this bureaucratic reticence , the museum ’ s backpedaling on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ victory for the thousands of artists , critics , curators , and just plain art lovers who spoke up .

This article appears in the November 16/23, 2020 issue.
Philip Guston didn’t want his work to go down easy—with others or, above all, with himself. He felt himself to be one of those who, as his friend Willem de Kooning put it, was “too nervous to find out where they ought to sit. They do not want to ‘sit in style.’” Having once, like many of his generation, tossed aside figurative art and found success in abstraction, he was still unhappy. Toward the end of the 1960s, “sick and tired of all that Purity,” he betrayed abstraction (so most of his colleagues thought) and forged a new approach to painting: funky, demotic, blunt. A critic in The New York Times dismissed him as a mandarin masquerading as a stumblebum. Among the paintings he made in this later phase were images of hooded Ku Klux Klansmen. Sinister yet unfrightening, these stumblebums were reminiscent of the Klansmen that Guston saw and painted as a young man. He remembered how, in the Los Angeles of his youth, they were deployed to break unions in an alliance with the police.
So for Guston, who died in 1980, painting the Klan was a gesture of protest, though when he turned to the theme as a mature artist, it was also a kind of self-portraiture. “I perceive myself as being behind a hood,” he said and referred to one of his favorite writers. “Rather like Isaac Babel who had joined the Cossacks, lived with them and written stories about them, I almost tried to imagine that I was living with the Klan. What would it be like to be evil?” I think of something that Paul Gauguin (an artist who was not a reference point for Guston, however) wrote in his journal: “We never really know what stupidity is until we have experimented on ourselves.”
That brings us back to the National Gallery, which announced that it and three other museums would postpone a long-planned Guston retrospective “until a time at which we think that the powerful message of social and racial justice that is at the center of Philip Guston’s work can be more clearly interpreted”—that needful time being foreseen as 2024. The gallery’s director, Kaywin Feldman, could not quite bring herself to articulate why this delay was necessary or what use it would serve, but mortification over Guston’s Klan imagery was evidently the reason.
I probably shouldn’t put the onus on Feldman. Directors serve at the pleasure of their boards, and among the leading members of hers is Darren Walker, the head of the Ford Foundation, with its $13 billion endowment—a foundation that does much good, and it had better if it’s going to keep making up for its cofounder Henry Ford’s terrible legacy of anti-Semitism, which he eventually recanted. Walker has been the most vocal proponent of the exhibition’s postponement. Strange irony: The caretaker of the legacy of the young artist’s enemy becomes the opponent of his posthumous exhibition. Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann
Never mind that Walker cannot distinguish between racist imagery and imagery depicting racists. The real tell is that in a statement he said that to mount the exhibition now would have been “tone deaf.” That’s the language of corporate image control. To many of the people who run our museums—not art people but bean counters—art is merely branding for the institution.
That indifference to art and therefore to the sometimes difficult and contrary people who make it was made clear in the museums’ haughty unwillingness to acknowledge the call by many of the country’s leading artists for the Guston show to open next year as scheduled. That letter, drafted mainly by me, with advice from several others and precious editorial input from Adrian Piper, was posted by The Brooklyn Rail on September 30, with some 90 signatories, including critics, curators, historians of art, collectors, dealers, choreographers, poets, and above all, some of the most renowned artists at work today: Matthew Barney, Mel Chin, Nicole Eisenman, Charles Gaines, Ellen Gallagher, William Pope.L, Martin Puryear, Amy Sillman, Lorna Simpson, Mickalene Thomas, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Stanley Whitney, and of course, Piper, to name just a few. More than 2,600 people have subsequently signed the letter.
One artist who didn’t sign it is Cauleen Smith. Her response to the letter was sympathy with pointed questions: “Are all white artists going to hide behind Guston now? A more urgent and pressing question is why is there so little work like this? Work that addresses white culpability in sanctioned violence against non-whites?… Why is dismantling whiteness and its violences so hard for white artists? Can one painter dude really redeem all ya’ll? I do not think so.” Me neither. No more than we hide Guston away should we hide behind him. Current Issue View our current issue
Feldman said we don’t need “a white artist to explain racism.” She’s right. Giving explanations is not what paintings are for. More to the point, do we need white museum directors—especially ones who can’t even bring themselves to mention the KKK when it’s what they want to talk about—to explain it?
Guston saw his Klansmen as “dumb, melancholy, guilty, fearful, remorseful, reassuring one another.” Sounds like the scene inside the National Gallery right now.
Update: On October 28, after this article went to press, the National Gallery announced that its Guston exhibition would open in 2022. The museum’s spokeswoman, Anabeth Guthrie, told The New York Times that the rescheduling had nothing to do with the criticism occasioned by the sudden delay. Rather, she blamed complications arising from the coronavirus pandemic without explaining how 2022 would be less complicated than either 2024 or the previously announced date of 2021. Nor did she mention anything about the desire, expressed by the museum’s director in September, to wait for a “time at which we think that the powerful message of social and racial justice that is at the center of Philip Guston’s work can be more clearly interpreted” or the need to “bring in additional perspectives and voices to shape how we present Guston’s work to our public.” Notwithstanding this bureaucratic reticence, the museum’s backpedaling on the show’s postponement is a victory for the thousands of artists, critics, curators, and just plain art lovers who spoke up.


thenation--2020-10-30--Why I Hope Trump Does Not Watch ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’

I know it ’ s unlikely that Trump would change the channel from Fox to Netflix and watch the new Aaron Sorkin film The Trial of the Chicago 7 .
Sorkin—best known for The West Wing on TV—is a master of “ liberal wishful thinking , ” as New York Times critic A.O .
Scott put it , and Trump ’ s taste in movies goes more toward Rambo and Death Wish .
But if he did watch The Trial of the Chicago 7 , he might call his attorney general , Bill Barr , and say , “ Why @ @ @ @ @ @ @ leaders of Black Lives Matter what Nixon did to the Chicago 7 ?
Why don ’ t we put protest movement leaders on trial for conspiracy to incite a riot ?
” He ’ s tweeted about it , sort of , writing , “ Crossing State lines to incite violence is a FEDERAL CRIME !
” That was back on May 30 , at the very beginning of the George Floyd protests in Minneapolis .
And that , in fact , is what the Chicago defendants were accused of .
“ Liberal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , “ must get MUCH tougher or the Federal Government will step in and do what has to be done , and that includes using the unlimited power of our Military.
” ( Of course , the law provides that the guilty individuals go to prison , not that the military occupy their cities . )
But of course Trump hasn ’ t charged anyone with federal crimes .
Instead , he ’ s threatened mayors with cuts in federal funding .
A bit of history : At the end of Nixon ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , eight activists went on trial in federal court in Chicago , charged with conspiracy and crossing state lines to incite a riot at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968 .
Prosecutors told the jury that the defendants encouraged people to come to Chicago to riot and “ defy the orders of the police and the military.
” Trump and Barr could tell a jury that protest leaders this past summer did the same thing .
( In fact , as the movie shows , the Chicago organizers had spent months @ @ @ @ @ @ @ upcoming protest legal and peaceful , but their applications were denied by the city and the courts . )
For the Nixon administration , the trial was intended to portray demonstrators not as citizens exercising their constitutional right to challenge a policy they considered immoral and wrong , but rather as victims of a few self-appointed leaders who duped and manipulated them into joining an illegal and violent conspiracy .
That idea would probably appeal to Trump .
But instead he came up with a different idea .
Trump in September called Seattle @ @ @ @ @ @ @ anarchist jurisdictions , ” and declared that “ my administration will not allow federal tax dollars to fund cities that allow themselves to deteriorate into lawless zones.
” Attorney General Barr added that the cities “ permitted violence and destruction of property to persist and have refused to undertake reasonable measures to counteract criminal activities.
” Trump doesn ’ t have a legal basis for his idea ; funding for cities , and everything else , is controlled by Congress , not the president .
Nevertheless , federal officials in October hinted that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for certain transit grants , which city officials took as a threat that the feds might cut funding not only for the MTA but also for the health department and the police .
So New York City , along with Portland and Seattle , sued the Trump administration on October 22 , asking the courts to rule that such a move would be unconstitutional .
One of Trump ’ s campaign themes has been that American cities are “ violent hellscapes that only he can save , ” as Maggie Haberman and Jesse @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Of course , almost all of them elected Democratic mayors and voted against Trump in 2016 ( and all have been overwhelmingly peaceful ) .
During the campaign he has focused , appropriately , on Democrats rather than on protesters , but after Election Day he may be looking for escapist entertainment .
I hope he sticks with the Rambo sequels .

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I know it’s unlikely that Trump would change the channel from Fox to Netflix and watch the new Aaron Sorkin film The Trial of the Chicago 7. Sorkin—best known for The West Wing on TV—is a master of “liberal wishful thinking,” as New York Times critic A.O. Scott put it, and Trump’s taste in movies goes more toward Rambo and Death Wish. But if he did watch The Trial of the Chicago 7, he might call his attorney general, Bill Barr, and say, “Why don’t we do to the leaders of Black Lives Matter what Nixon did to the Chicago 7? Why don’t we put protest movement leaders on trial for conspiracy to incite a riot?”
He’s tweeted about it, sort of, writing, “Crossing State lines to incite violence is a FEDERAL CRIME!” That was back on May 30, at the very beginning of the George Floyd protests in Minneapolis. And that, in fact, is what the Chicago defendants were accused of. “Liberal Governors and Mayors,” Trump continued, “must get MUCH tougher or the Federal Government will step in and do what has to be done, and that includes using the unlimited power of our Military.” (Of course, the law provides that the guilty individuals go to prison, not that the military occupy their cities.) But of course Trump hasn’t charged anyone with federal crimes. Instead, he’s threatened mayors with cuts in federal funding.
A bit of history: At the end of Nixon’s first year in office, 1969, eight activists went on trial in federal court in Chicago, charged with conspiracy and crossing state lines to incite a riot at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968. Prosecutors told the jury that the defendants encouraged people to come to Chicago to riot and “defy the orders of the police and the military.” Trump and Barr could tell a jury that protest leaders this past summer did the same thing. (In fact, as the movie shows, the Chicago organizers had spent months beforehand applying for permits to make the upcoming protest legal and peaceful, but their applications were denied by the city and the courts.)
For the Nixon administration, the trial was intended to portray demonstrators not as citizens exercising their constitutional right to challenge a policy they considered immoral and wrong, but rather as victims of a few self-appointed leaders who duped and manipulated them into joining an illegal and violent conspiracy. That idea would probably appeal to Trump. Sorkinesque Aaron Sorkin Sanitizes the Chicago 7 Jeet Heer
But instead he came up with a different idea. Trump in September called Seattle, Portland, and New York “anarchist jurisdictions,” and declared that “my administration will not allow federal tax dollars to fund cities that allow themselves to deteriorate into lawless zones.” Attorney General Barr added that the cities “permitted violence and destruction of property to persist and have refused to undertake reasonable measures to counteract criminal activities.”
Trump doesn’t have a legal basis for his idea; funding for cities, and everything else, is controlled by Congress, not the president. Nevertheless, federal officials in October hinted that New York City might not be eligible for certain transit grants, which city officials took as a threat that the feds might cut funding not only for the MTA but also for the health department and the police. So New York City, along with Portland and Seattle, sued the Trump administration on October 22, asking the courts to rule that such a move would be unconstitutional.
One of Trump’s campaign themes has been that American cities are “violent hellscapes that only he can save,” as Maggie Haberman and Jesse McKinley wrote in The New York Times. Of course, almost all of them elected Democratic mayors and voted against Trump in 2016 (and all have been overwhelmingly peaceful). During the campaign he has focused, appropriately, on Democrats rather than on protesters, but after Election Day he may be looking for escapist entertainment. I hope he sticks with the Rambo sequels.


thenation--2020-10-30--The Weapons Industry Doesn’t Care Who’s President

This summer , Dave Calhoun , CEO of Boeing—builder of the intercontinental ballistic missile—declared himself cheerfully indifferent to the presidential election .
“ I think both candidates , at least in my view , appear globally oriented and interested in the defense of our country and I believe they ’ ll support the industries , ” he said on a media call .
So don ’ t expect any official endorsements from him and his colleagues .
“ I don ’ t think we ’ re going to take a position on one being better than the other , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ over how potential election outcomes could affect their profits , US military contractors like Boeing—whose Apache helicopter is seen killing civilians in Wikileaks ’ infamous “ Collateral Murder ” video—are directly and indirectly funding both President Trump and former vice president Biden ’ s campaigns .
According to the Center for Responsive Politics ( CRP ) , a nonpartisan research group that tracks the effects of money and lobbying on politics , one of the top contributors to Biden ’ s campaign is Paloma Partners , a multibillion-dollar hedge fund and Democratic coffer-stuffer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ under $ 10 million , at least 90 percent of which comes from S. Donald Sussman , Paloma ’ s founder and chief investment officer .
And apart from Joe Biden for President , a branch of the campaign , the vice president ’ s largest source of funding is the PAC Priorities USA Action , which has chipped in $ 125 million—Paloma is one of the groups most responsible for the PAC ’ s war chest .
Securities and Exchange Commission filings also indicate that Paloma has more than 260,000 shares in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Raytheon is a major supplier of weapons to Saudi Arabia , which has dropped the Massachusetts-based company ’ s bombs on such places as a funeral hall in Sanaa , Yemen , killing at least 140 .
Raytheon ’ s CEO , Gregory Hayes , concurs with Calhoun .
“ Defense has always been a bipartisan issue , ” he recently told CNBC , dismissing the idea that Biden might cut military spending .
President Trump ’ s reelection campaign ’ s funders have similar ties .
One key contributor is an Arkansas-based @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which owns roughly 213,000 shares in Raytheon , 27,000 in Boeing , and 18,000 in Lockheed Martin , manufacturer of a missile system with which NATO once killed 12 Afghan civilians .
Stephens also has 50,000 shares in Kratos Defense , whose products include unmanned ground vehicles and the XQ-58 Valkyrie drone—the US Air Force ’ s top acquisition official envisions the Valkyrie as part of a prototype artificial intelligence program called Skyborg .
In the same vein , Euclidean Capital has lavished Biden with $ 7 million .
Euclidean is the family @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Marilyn Simons account for 90 percent or more of the organization ’ s political largesse .
Jim Simons founded the hedge fund Renaissance Technologies and , while he retired from the firm in 2010 , he continues to have a role at a Renaissance and to benefit from its funds .
According to CRP , Renaissance ’ s “ individual members or employees or owners , and those individuals ’ immediate family members ” have given to the Biden campaign to the extent of putting Renaissance in the top 10 of Biden contributors @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the upper tier of Priorities USA financers .
Renaissance holds 1.2 million shares in Raytheon worth almost $ 75 million , and has over 130,000 shares in Lockheed Martin valued at nearly $ 50 million .
Among Lockheed ’ s most lucrative clients are Israel and Saudi Arabia , two vital US proxies and central contributors to Middle Eastern bloodshed .
Israel used Lockheed ’ s F-35 Lightning II aircraft to bomb Gaza as well as Iranian and Hezbollah targets in Syria .
In 2018 , a US-Saudi coalition air strike hit a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ made by Lockheed and killed dozens of children .
Others making a killing off killing include the $ 500 billion private equity firm Blackstone Group , a leading Trump backer .
The company has 100,000 shares in Kratos .
Blackstone ’ s chief executive , Stephen Schwarzman , has spent $ 27 million bankrolling Republican candidates this election cycle , including the president , and is an unofficial Trump adviser .
In August , Blackstone hired lobbyist David Urban , a member of Trump ’ s reelection advisory committee and a crucial architect @ @ @ @ @ @ @ campaign , in an effort to try to work with the Department of Defense and State Department on “ issues related to military preparedness and training.
” The pipeline goes both ways—Trump ’ s administration already bears evidence of weapons industry ties , featuring both Defense Secretary Mark Esper , a former Raytheon lobbyist , and Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy , once a vice president at Lockheed .
Further back , William Lynn was Raytheon ’ s top lobbyist before the Obama administration made him deputy secretary of defense .
Tom @ @ @ @ @ @ @ State Department ’ s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs , said of arms exports under the Obama-Biden administration in which he served : “ [ We are ] advocating on behalf of our companies and doing everything we can to make sure that these sales go through.
” In 2017 , Kelly became Raytheon ’ s vice president for policy and advocacy .
It ’ s difficult to imagine that the wealthiest investors in the world disburse millions of dollars to political campaigns without the occasional peep at their portfolios .
The institutional logic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ no matter the outcome of Tuesday ’ s vote , the occupant of the White House for the next four years will be there thanks in considerable part to people with a stake in Boeing , Raytheon , and Lockheed ’ s earnings .
War industry firms themselves directly donate to candidates in a fairly bipartisan fashion .
Aerospace companies in the war business focus their political donations on members of the House and Senate Appropriations subcommittees , which dole out federal money , and on members of the Armed Services committees , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can create demand for what this industry sells .
Of the money this sector has donated to 2020 presidential candidates , slightly more has gone to Trump .
Yet the opposite is true of “ defense ” electronics , the field concerned with components and systems designed to ensure technological supremacy in war .
Companies working in this arena have given more to Biden than to Trump , even though this sector has tended in the past to direct its money to the party in power .
CRP numbers that take into account @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or more to candidates show that the weapons industry as a whole has given $ 1.6 million to Trump and $ 2.4 million to Biden .
While Trump has made a show of disavowing any involvement in quid pro quos with American corporations like Exxon , it ’ s safe to say that major industry sees government as a source of opportunity .
Arms dealers and their patrons are no exception ; they exist to make money .
They don ’ t pour cash into the political system out of pure ideological commitment—they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is inaugurated in January , companies whose profits depend on the US military can be expected to have his ear .

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This summer, Dave Calhoun, CEO of Boeing—builder of the intercontinental ballistic missile—declared himself cheerfully indifferent to the presidential election. “I think both candidates, at least in my view, appear globally oriented and interested in the defense of our country and I believe they’ll support the industries,” he said on a media call. So don’t expect any official endorsements from him and his colleagues. “I don’t think we’re going to take a position on one being better than the other,” he concluded. While many industries fret over how potential election outcomes could affect their profits, US military contractors like Boeing—whose Apache helicopter is seen killing civilians in Wikileaks’ infamous “Collateral Murder” video—are directly and indirectly funding both President Trump and former vice president Biden’s campaigns.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP), a nonpartisan research group that tracks the effects of money and lobbying on politics, one of the top contributors to Biden’s campaign is Paloma Partners, a multibillion-dollar hedge fund and Democratic coffer-stuffer. The fund has given Biden just under $10 million, at least 90 percent of which comes from S. Donald Sussman, Paloma’s founder and chief investment officer. And apart from Joe Biden for President, a branch of the campaign, the vice president’s largest source of funding is the PAC Priorities USA Action, which has chipped in $125 million—Paloma is one of the groups most responsible for the PAC’s war chest.
Securities and Exchange Commission filings also indicate that Paloma has more than 260,000 shares in Raytheon, a preeminent weapons manufacturer. Raytheon is a major supplier of weapons to Saudi Arabia, which has dropped the Massachusetts-based company’s bombs on such places as a funeral hall in Sanaa, Yemen, killing at least 140. Raytheon’s CEO, Gregory Hayes, concurs with Calhoun. “Defense has always been a bipartisan issue,” he recently told CNBC, dismissing the idea that Biden might cut military spending.
President Trump’s reelection campaign’s funders have similar ties. One key contributor is an Arkansas-based private investment company called Stephens Inc, which owns roughly 213,000 shares in Raytheon, 27,000 in Boeing, and 18,000 in Lockheed Martin, manufacturer of a missile system with which NATO once killed 12 Afghan civilians. Stephens also has 50,000 shares in Kratos Defense, whose products include unmanned ground vehicles and the XQ-58 Valkyrie drone—the US Air Force’s top acquisition official envisions the Valkyrie as part of a prototype artificial intelligence program called Skyborg. Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann up in arms Defense Contractors Don’t Need Another Covid Bailout Mandy Smithberger
In the same vein, Euclidean Capital has lavished Biden with $7 million. Euclidean is the family office of the billionaire Jim Simons—Jim and Marilyn Simons account for 90 percent or more of the organization’s political largesse. Jim Simons founded the hedge fund Renaissance Technologies and, while he retired from the firm in 2010, he continues to have a role at a Renaissance and to benefit from its funds. According to CRP, Renaissance’s “individual members or employees or owners, and those individuals’ immediate family members” have given to the Biden campaign to the extent of putting Renaissance in the top 10 of Biden contributors; both Euclidean and Renaissance are in the upper tier of Priorities USA financers.
Renaissance holds 1.2 million shares in Raytheon worth almost $75 million, and has over 130,000 shares in Lockheed Martin valued at nearly $50 million. Among Lockheed’s most lucrative clients are Israel and Saudi Arabia, two vital US proxies and central contributors to Middle Eastern bloodshed. Israel used Lockheed’s F-35 Lightning II aircraft to bomb Gaza as well as Iranian and Hezbollah targets in Syria. In 2018, a US-Saudi coalition air strike hit a Yemeni school with a 500-pound laser-guided bomb made by Lockheed and killed dozens of children.
Others making a killing off killing include the $500 billion private equity firm Blackstone Group, a leading Trump backer. The company has 100,000 shares in Kratos. Blackstone’s chief executive, Stephen Schwarzman, has spent $27 million bankrolling Republican candidates this election cycle, including the president, and is an unofficial Trump adviser. In August, Blackstone hired lobbyist David Urban, a member of Trump’s reelection advisory committee and a crucial architect of the president’s successful 2016 campaign, in an effort to try to work with the Department of Defense and State Department on “issues related to military preparedness and training.” Current Issue View our current issue
The pipeline goes both ways—Trump’s administration already bears evidence of weapons industry ties, featuring both Defense Secretary Mark Esper, a former Raytheon lobbyist, and Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy, once a vice president at Lockheed. Further back, William Lynn was Raytheon’s top lobbyist before the Obama administration made him deputy secretary of defense. Tom Kelly, deputy assistant secretary of the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, said of arms exports under the Obama-Biden administration in which he served: “[We are] advocating on behalf of our companies and doing everything we can to make sure that these sales go through.” In 2017, Kelly became Raytheon’s vice president for policy and advocacy.
It’s difficult to imagine that the wealthiest investors in the world disburse millions of dollars to political campaigns without the occasional peep at their portfolios. The institutional logic at work here is such that, no matter the outcome of Tuesday’s vote, the occupant of the White House for the next four years will be there thanks in considerable part to people with a stake in Boeing, Raytheon, and Lockheed’s earnings.
War industry firms themselves directly donate to candidates in a fairly bipartisan fashion. Aerospace companies in the war business focus their political donations on members of the House and Senate Appropriations subcommittees, which dole out federal money, and on members of the Armed Services committees, who help shape military policy and thus can create demand for what this industry sells. Of the money this sector has donated to 2020 presidential candidates, slightly more has gone to Trump. Yet the opposite is true of “defense” electronics, the field concerned with components and systems designed to ensure technological supremacy in war. Companies working in this arena have given more to Biden than to Trump, even though this sector has tended in the past to direct its money to the party in power. CRP numbers that take into account PACs and individuals who gifted $200 or more to candidates show that the weapons industry as a whole has given $1.6 million to Trump and $2.4 million to Biden.
While Trump has made a show of disavowing any involvement in quid pro quos with American corporations like Exxon, it’s safe to say that major industry sees government as a source of opportunity. Arms dealers and their patrons are no exception; they exist to make money. They don’t pour cash into the political system out of pure ideological commitment—they expect a return on investment. Whoever is inaugurated in January, companies whose profits depend on the US military can be expected to have his ear.


thenation--2020-10-30--Donald Trump, Choker in Chief

Donald Trump, Choker in Chief

A salesman through and through , Donald Trump likes to use the curious insult “ choker.
” Although perhaps borrowed from sports , “ choker ” is best understood as a special bit of jargon for those who practice the art of the deal .
A choker is someone who fails in the crucial last step of closing a deal , a loser who can ’ t quite pull it off .
Trump has described Marco Rubio as a “ lightweight choker ” and used the word “ choker ” to characterize both Ted Cruz and Mitt Romney .
Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when he was riding high , having first vanquished Rubio and Cruz before winning the presidential prize that eluded Romney .
In his path to victory , Trump was the opposite of a choker .
His campaign was often chaotic but would pick up momentum and focus before each primary and before the final presidential contest .
By contrast , in 2020 , Trump seems to be choking badly .
He was rattled in the first presidential debate and did himself no favors the second time , either .
While he ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rallies , his message has been scattershot , easily straying from talking about policy into arcane grudges against the media and an array of Democratic politicians .
To be sure , Trump has long had a tendency to digress in his lengthy speeches , which are almost always closer to headlong stream of consciousness than prepared oratory .
Still , in 2016 his proclivity to wander was held in check by a disciplined core message of economic populism , which helped unify his arguments against not just Hillary Clinton but the broader political @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Trump-Obama Feud The ‘ Dark Winter ’ of Covid-19 Overshadows the Debate In a speech at West Palm Beach , Fla , .
on October 13 , 2016 , Trump gave perhaps his most powerful statement of the anti-establishment message that he kept hammering away at in the last weeks of his campaign : The Washington establishment and the financial and media corporations that fund it exist for only one reason : to protect and enrich itself .
The establishment has trillions of dollars at stake in this election .
As an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they ’ d like to pass involves trillions of dollars , controlled by many countries , corporations , and lobbyists .
For those who control the levers of power in Washington , and for the global special interests , they partner with these people that don ’ t have your good in mind .
Our campaign represents a true existential threat like they haven ’ t seen before .
This is not simply another four-year election .
This is a crossroads in the history of our civilization that will determine whether or not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ government .
The political establishment that is trying to stop us is the same group responsible for our disastrous trade deals , massive illegal immigration and economic and foreign policies that have bled our country dry .
In 2020 , Trump has given up the language of radical economic change .
When he does talk about economics , it is not to promise transformation but to tout the status quo .
Before the pandemic , he would call attention to the state of the stock market and employment .
Covid-19 made that difficult @ @ @ @ @ @ @ partial rebound of the last quarter gives him a chance to return to these themes and to warn that stocks and jobs would suffer under Joe Biden .
Thursday was , in theory , a good day for Trump to talk about the economy .
As The New York Times reported , “ Gross domestic product grew 7.4 percent in the third quarter , the Commerce Department said Thursday .
The gain , the equivalent of 33.1 percent on an annualized basis , was by far the biggest since reliable statistics began after @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was only partial , since the economy is still far short of a full recovery .
Still , for someone as boastful as Trump , even moderate good news should be an occasion for a loud tooting of the horn .
This is what Trump ’ s advisers were hoping he would do when he spoke in Tampa .
But at his Tampa rally on Thursday , Trump kept undermining his own economic message .
At one point he said , “ Weekly jobless claims—this is boring but it ’ s really good—just @ @ @ @ @ @ @ audience that a statistic about unemployment is “ boring ” is not the best way to energize supporters .
At another point in the rally , Trump complained about how fellow Republicans want him to talk about the economy , a task he clearly regards as drudgery .
“ I get a call from all the experts , right ?
” Trump said .
“ Guys that ran for president six , seven , eight times .
Never got past the first round , but they ’ re calling me up , ‘ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ speaking about Hunter .
You shouldn ’ t be saying bad things about Biden because nobody cares.
’ I disagree .
Maybe that ’ s why I ’ m here and they ’ re not .
But they say , ‘ Talk about your economic success .
Talk about 33.1 percent , the greatest in history.
’ Now , look , if I do , I mean , how many times can I say it ?
I ’ ll say it five or six times during the speech.
” Trump himself would clearly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than the economy .
Which is why Trump immediately started moaning about how the unsubstantiated allegations about the Bidens weren ’ t getting enough media play .
Trump also took the opportunity to go after Miles Taylor , a former staffer who had written the famous “ Anonymous ” op-ed column and book critical of the president .
Trump went on an extended tirade against Taylor , ranting at one point , “ There should be major criminal liability for some scum like this.
” There were a few moments when Trump was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that worked so well for him in 2016 .
At one point , he sounded like the rabble-rouser of old , saying , “ For half a century , Joe Biden has been outsourcing your jobs , opening your borders , and sacrificing American blood and treasure in endless foreign wars .
In 2016 , Florida voted to fire the depraved political establishment , and you elected an outsider as your president , who is finally , if you don ’ t mind , putting America first.
” But this was a brief @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the discordant clangor of the speech .
As The New York Times reports , “ Trump ’ s own campaign advisers want him to hit on broader political themes , and steer away from personal attacks that will further alienate women and suburban voters.
” But Trump is in no mood for either broader political themes or an overarching economic message .
One big factor is that the agenda he ’ s advocated has already exhausted itself .
He ’ s renegotiated NAFTA , with minimal changes .
His Republican allies have little @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sort Trump has toyed with .
The fact that the stimulus bill has stalled amid a severe recession shows how impossible it is for Trump to square his verbal commitment to populist policies with his need to keep congressional Republicans on his side .
Trump now talks about economics only in generalities about past achievement , not in terms of goals to aim for .
Lacking a clear economic agenda , it ’ s not surprising that he keeps returning to the familiar comforts of attacking Hunter Biden , Miles Taylor , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump is president is that in 2016 he closed with a stirring call to economic populism .
Four years later , he ’ s choking on his own spite .

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A salesman through and through, Donald Trump likes to use the curious insult “choker.” Although perhaps borrowed from sports, “choker” is best understood as a special bit of jargon for those who practice the art of the deal. A choker is someone who fails in the crucial last step of closing a deal, a loser who can’t quite pull it off. Trump has described Marco Rubio as a “lightweight choker” and used the word “choker” to characterize both Ted Cruz and Mitt Romney.
Trump threw “choker” around in 2016 when he was riding high, having first vanquished Rubio and Cruz before winning the presidential prize that eluded Romney. In his path to victory, Trump was the opposite of a choker. His campaign was often chaotic but would pick up momentum and focus before each primary and before the final presidential contest.
By contrast, in 2020, Trump seems to be choking badly. He was rattled in the first presidential debate and did himself no favors the second time, either. While he’s been energetically crisscrossing the country to hold rallies, his message has been scattershot, easily straying from talking about policy into arcane grudges against the media and an array of Democratic politicians.
To be sure, Trump has long had a tendency to digress in his lengthy speeches, which are almost always closer to headlong stream of consciousness than prepared oratory. Still, in 2016 his proclivity to wander was held in check by a disciplined core message of economic populism, which helped unify his arguments against not just Hillary Clinton but the broader political establishment as well. More From Jeet Heer The Indigenous Roots of Robbie Robertson’s Rock and Roll Revolution August 14, 2023 Why Does This Racist Keep Getting Silicon Valley Money? August 11, 2023 When Phallocrats Go Limp August 4, 2023
In a speech at West Palm Beach, Fla,. on October 13, 2016, Trump gave perhaps his most powerful statement of the anti-establishment message that he kept hammering away at in the last weeks of his campaign:
In 2020, Trump has given up the language of radical economic change. When he does talk about economics, it is not to promise transformation but to tout the status quo. Before the pandemic, he would call attention to the state of the stock market and employment. Covid-19 made that difficult for a while, but now the partial rebound of the last quarter gives him a chance to return to these themes and to warn that stocks and jobs would suffer under Joe Biden.
Thursday was, in theory, a good day for Trump to talk about the economy. As The New York Times reported, “Gross domestic product grew 7.4 percent in the third quarter, the Commerce Department said Thursday. The gain, the equivalent of 33.1 percent on an annualized basis, was by far the biggest since reliable statistics began after World War II.”
This good news was only partial, since the economy is still far short of a full recovery. Still, for someone as boastful as Trump, even moderate good news should be an occasion for a loud tooting of the horn. This is what Trump’s advisers were hoping he would do when he spoke in Tampa.
But at his Tampa rally on Thursday, Trump kept undermining his own economic message. At one point he said, “Weekly jobless claims—this is boring but it’s really good—just hit a seven-month low.” Telling an audience that a statistic about unemployment is “boring” is not the best way to energize supporters.
At another point in the rally, Trump complained about how fellow Republicans want him to talk about the economy, a task he clearly regards as drudgery. “I get a call from all the experts, right?” Trump said. “Guys that ran for president six, seven, eight times. Never got past the first round, but they’re calling me up, ‘Sir, you shouldn’t be speaking about Hunter. You shouldn’t be saying bad things about Biden because nobody cares.’ I disagree. Maybe that’s why I’m here and they’re not. But they say, ‘Talk about your economic success. Talk about 33.1 percent, the greatest in history.’ Now, look, if I do, I mean, how many times can I say it? I’ll say it five or six times during the speech.”
Trump himself would clearly prefer to talk about Hunter Biden rather than the economy. Which is why Trump immediately started moaning about how the unsubstantiated allegations about the Bidens weren’t getting enough media play. Trump also took the opportunity to go after Miles Taylor, a former staffer who had written the famous “Anonymous” op-ed column and book critical of the president. Trump went on an extended tirade against Taylor, ranting at one point, “There should be major criminal liability for some scum like this.”
There were a few moments when Trump was able to return to the economic populism that worked so well for him in 2016. At one point, he sounded like the rabble-rouser of old, saying, “For half a century, Joe Biden has been outsourcing your jobs, opening your borders, and sacrificing American blood and treasure in endless foreign wars. In 2016, Florida voted to fire the depraved political establishment, and you elected an outsider as your president, who is finally, if you don’t mind, putting America first.” But this was a brief moment that didn’t resonate amid the discordant clangor of the speech.
As The New York Times reports, “Trump’s own campaign advisers want him to hit on broader political themes, and steer away from personal attacks that will further alienate women and suburban voters.” But Trump is in no mood for either broader political themes or an overarching economic message.
One big factor is that the agenda he’s advocated has already exhausted itself. He’s renegotiated NAFTA, with minimal changes. His Republican allies have little appetite for large-scale infrastructure spending of the sort Trump has toyed with. The fact that the stimulus bill has stalled amid a severe recession shows how impossible it is for Trump to square his verbal commitment to populist policies with his need to keep congressional Republicans on his side.
Trump now talks about economics only in generalities about past achievement, not in terms of goals to aim for. Lacking a clear economic agenda, it’s not surprising that he keeps returning to the familiar comforts of attacking Hunter Biden, Miles Taylor, and the fake news media.
One reason Trump is president is that in 2016 he closed with a stirring call to economic populism. Four years later, he’s choking on his own spite.


thenation--2020-10-30--Short of a General Strike, How Can Labor Stop Trump From Stealing the Election?

A rare bright spot in the endlessly discouraging 2020 news cycle was the triumph of ordinary people in Chile voting overwhelmingly on October 25 to rewrite their Constitution .
A supermajority of Chilean voters , 78 percent , voted to scrap their country ’ s dictatorship-era , neoliberal Constitution and start over with a new vision of democracy .
Chile ’ s trade unions played a big role in the get-out-the-vote effort .
More importantly , millions of workers in Chile waged a series of massive strikes in 2019 across key sectors of the country ’ s economy .
Those @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the plebiscite .
In the fall of 2019—when the Chilean president balked at demands by students and women ’ s groups for a bottom-up process to create a new Constitution—construction , dock , education , airport , mining , agricultural , and other workers all walked off the job in support of broad social demands for a better democracy .
There has been a lot of social media chatter about a general strike here in the United States if the results are ambiguous and Trump tries to steal the election .
It would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were prepared to take the same actions in November 2020 that Chile ’ s national unions took in November 2019—but there ’ s absolutely no indication that people in positions of power in significant sectors of the US economy are ready to act as boldly as Chilean leaders did .
Even if a presidential coup warrants a general strike , achieving one as early as next week is wishful thinking .
As a campaign strategist , union organizer , and veteran of both the 2000 Florida recount and many supermajority workplace strikes , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deadly serious and sober about the actual possibilities when it comes to defending what ’ s left of our modicum of democracy .
The last time the United States was rocked by the kind of strikes that could shut down the nation was just after World War II .
Many workers who took part in the 1945 and ’ 46 strikes worked in sectors whose jobs have long ago been automated or shipped to other countries .
At the national level now , there ’ s been just one elected leader who has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” : Sara Nelson , the president of the Association of Flight Attendants .
According to Nelson in a recent phone call , “ Are unions ready ?
No .
But are we theoretically capable ?
Yes.
” Getting from capable to reality is a pressing project , for 2021 , 2022 , and throughout the next national administration—no matter who is in power .
What is possible now , and entirely likely , is that workers at a more local level across the country will take action—including strikes .
Two Area Labor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Seattle , have embraced a call for strikes if a coup is in the works .
Aside from these councils , local unions can demand that their national unions break with the Democratic Party leadership in terms of strategy .
Many regional and local unions are already engaged with social movement partners in a variety of efforts , including through the Working Families Party , in planning for massive direct action if Trump follows through on his threat to falsely claim he is the winner on election night , even if huge @ @ @ @ @ @ @ counted .
Biden Needs to Talk About Jobs on Labor Day .
And Every Day .
We Really Need to Tax the Rich Celebrating May Day Starts by Taking Workers Seriously But it ’ s crucial that we learn several key lessons from the disaster in 2000 .
As one of the first organizers to land in Palm Beach County the morning after the election in 2000 ( and among the last to fly out from there over a month later , after the coup ) , I know that good legal strategies @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for the forces behind Trump .
In fact , some of the same forces that drove the illegitimate conclusion in the 2000 election are working the Trump rule-by-minority today , too .
( Not to mention the fact that three members of George W. Bush ’ s legal team , John Roberts , Brett Kavanaugh , and Amy Coney Barrett , now sit on the Supreme Court . )
It was the Republicans and not the Democrats in 2000 who firmly understood that legal actions , outcomes , and even court rulings are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hugely influenced by the broader social and political context in which they take place .
In Florida in 2000 , the Republicans seized the space the Democrats ceded , creating an escalating series of actions in the streets , allowing them to craft and drive a narrative that it was Gore—not Bush—who was a sore loser and who was stealing the election .
Of course , with Trump , that level of bold deception and media-grabbing is the norm .
Hence the first key lesson : It will be vital that people take @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of and day after Trump ’ s declaration of victory—and every day for as long as needed—to create the narrative that this time ( too ) , it ’ s the Republicans who are out to steal the election .
The second key lesson is breaking with official Democratic Party officials who almost always prefer backroom dealmaking to strategic direct action .
That ingrained behavior handed the loser the presidency in 2000 .
The election next week may well produce a dozen Florida recounts simultaneously .
And in some of the most strategic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ crisscrossing by the day , including Pennsylvania , Michigan , and Wisconsin—unions continue to hold unique power , so bold action by local unions and rank-and-file members in those few key states could decide the fate of the election .
A third key lesson , according to Becky Bond , a veteran presidential campaigner adviser who , along with two others , Brandon Evans and Zack Malitz , wrote The Count , a smart guide to strategy in a contested election : “ The reality of the current situation , with Trump and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than anyone can keep track of , is that Democratic Party leadership might have to create a constitutional crisis in order to avert a far larger and more serious constitutional crisis.
” For example , Democratic governors in swing states—if it is clear Biden actually won the votes in their state—should disregard actions by their Republican state legislatures and certify Biden ’ s victory regardless of what the courts say about when counting does or doesn ’ t stop .
These kind of strong power moves by Democratic officials are unlikely unless there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their constituents .
Finally , and the fourth key lesson , there ’ s another crucial role for unionists , who are used to picket lines and nasty employers and their thugs .
Trump has the Proud Boys and other assorted white nationalists on standby .
He will be deploying these racist forces to try to stop all the votes from being counted .
Our side—and this is a definite role for the already organized forces in the trade union movement—needs to overwhelm these racists with tens of thousands of our members , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ballot-counting locations as well as of the ballot counters themselves .
As someone who was followed by neo-Nazis from the counting room in West Palm Beach to my hotel one night in an effort to intimidate me during the Florida recount , I can tell you that I needed security then .
This year ’ s counters , poll workers , and others officially involved with the election also need people to help them stay safe , especially when the law and law enforcement fails them .
Everything is on the line with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Every person reading this article and everyone you know must be prepared to take to the streets—but to do so with a plan , whether that be with coworkers , neighbors , or friends and family , to sustain the level of direct action to fight for a better democracy and a lot more justice .

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A rare bright spot in the endlessly discouraging 2020 news cycle was the triumph of ordinary people in Chile voting overwhelmingly on October 25 to rewrite their Constitution. A supermajority of Chilean voters, 78 percent, voted to scrap their country’s dictatorship-era, neoliberal Constitution and start over with a new vision of democracy. Chile’s trade unions played a big role in the get-out-the-vote effort. More importantly, millions of workers in Chile waged a series of massive strikes in 2019 across key sectors of the country’s economy. Those strikes played a decisive role in forcing the plebiscite. In the fall of 2019—when the Chilean president balked at demands by students and women’s groups for a bottom-up process to create a new Constitution—construction, dock, education, airport, mining, agricultural, and other workers all walked off the job in support of broad social demands for a better democracy.
There has been a lot of social media chatter about a general strike here in the United States if the results are ambiguous and Trump tries to steal the election. It would be amazing if national trade unions here were prepared to take the same actions in November 2020 that Chile’s national unions took in November 2019—but there’s absolutely no indication that people in positions of power in significant sectors of the US economy are ready to act as boldly as Chilean leaders did. Even if a presidential coup warrants a general strike, achieving one as early as next week is wishful thinking. As a campaign strategist, union organizer, and veteran of both the 2000 Florida recount and many supermajority workplace strikes, I believe it is urgent to remain deadly serious and sober about the actual possibilities when it comes to defending what’s left of our modicum of democracy.
The last time the United States was rocked by the kind of strikes that could shut down the nation was just after World War II. Many workers who took part in the 1945 and ’46 strikes worked in sectors whose jobs have long ago been automated or shipped to other countries. At the national level now, there’s been just one elected leader who has repeatedly mentioned the phrase “general strike”: Sara Nelson, the president of the Association of Flight Attendants. According to Nelson in a recent phone call, “Are unions ready? No. But are we theoretically capable? Yes.” Getting from capable to reality is a pressing project, for 2021, 2022, and throughout the next national administration—no matter who is in power.
What is possible now, and entirely likely, is that workers at a more local level across the country will take action—including strikes. Two Area Labor Councils, in Rochester, N.Y., and Seattle, have embraced a call for strikes if a coup is in the works. Aside from these councils, local unions can demand that their national unions break with the Democratic Party leadership in terms of strategy. Many regional and local unions are already engaged with social movement partners in a variety of efforts, including through the Working Families Party, in planning for massive direct action if Trump follows through on his threat to falsely claim he is the winner on election night, even if huge numbers of votes have not yet been counted. More From Jane McAlevey The Teamsters’ Proposed Agreement With UPS Is a Great Victory by and for the Workers July 28, 2023 Contract Talks by Teamsters and the UAW Have the Potential to Change Our Politics June 27, 2023 How Should Workers Respond to the Supreme Court's Ruling in “Glacier Northwest”? June 1, 2023
But it’s crucial that we learn several key lessons from the disaster in 2000. As one of the first organizers to land in Palm Beach County the morning after the election in 2000 (and among the last to fly out from there over a month later, after the coup), I know that good legal strategies help, but they are no match for the forces behind Trump. In fact, some of the same forces that drove the illegitimate conclusion in the 2000 election are working the Trump rule-by-minority today, too. (Not to mention the fact that three members of George W. Bush’s legal team, John Roberts, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett, now sit on the Supreme Court.) Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann
It was the Republicans and not the Democrats in 2000 who firmly understood that legal actions, outcomes, and even court rulings are not made in a vacuum but are hugely influenced by the broader social and political context in which they take place. In Florida in 2000, the Republicans seized the space the Democrats ceded, creating an escalating series of actions in the streets, allowing them to craft and drive a narrative that it was Gore—not Bush—who was a sore loser and who was stealing the election. Of course, with Trump, that level of bold deception and media-grabbing is the norm. Hence the first key lesson: It will be vital that people take to the streets immediately, the night of and day after Trump’s declaration of victory—and every day for as long as needed—to create the narrative that this time (too), it’s the Republicans who are out to steal the election.
The second key lesson is breaking with official Democratic Party officials who almost always prefer backroom dealmaking to strategic direct action. That ingrained behavior handed the loser the presidency in 2000. The election next week may well produce a dozen Florida recounts simultaneously. And in some of the most strategic swing states—the ones Trump and Biden are crisscrossing by the day, including Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin—unions continue to hold unique power, so bold action by local unions and rank-and-file members in those few key states could decide the fate of the election. Current Issue View our current issue
A third key lesson, according to Becky Bond, a veteran presidential campaigner adviser who, along with two others, Brandon Evans and Zack Malitz, wrote The Count, a smart guide to strategy in a contested election: “The reality of the current situation, with Trump and his allies breaking rules and norms faster than anyone can keep track of, is that Democratic Party leadership might have to create a constitutional crisis in order to avert a far larger and more serious constitutional crisis.” For example, Democratic governors in swing states—if it is clear Biden actually won the votes in their state—should disregard actions by their Republican state legislatures and certify Biden’s victory regardless of what the courts say about when counting does or doesn’t stop. These kind of strong power moves by Democratic officials are unlikely unless there is massive pressure from below, from their constituents.
Finally, and the fourth key lesson, there’s another crucial role for unionists, who are used to picket lines and nasty employers and their thugs. Trump has the Proud Boys and other assorted white nationalists on standby. He will be deploying these racist forces to try to stop all the votes from being counted. Our side—and this is a definite role for the already organized forces in the trade union movement—needs to overwhelm these racists with tens of thousands of our members, who will assure the safety of the ballot-counting locations as well as of the ballot counters themselves. As someone who was followed by neo-Nazis from the counting room in West Palm Beach to my hotel one night in an effort to intimidate me during the Florida recount, I can tell you that I needed security then. This year’s counters, poll workers, and others officially involved with the election also need people to help them stay safe, especially when the law and law enforcement fails them.
Everything is on the line with this election. We know that already. Every person reading this article and everyone you know must be prepared to take to the streets—but to do so with a plan, whether that be with coworkers, neighbors, or friends and family, to sustain the level of direct action to fight for a better democracy and a lot more justice.