thenation--2020-10-14--Paula Jean Swearengin Wants to Turn West Virginia Blue

It ’ s no hard task to imagine the rivalry between Senator Shelley Moore Capito and Paula Jean Swearengin playing out between both candidates ’ grandfathers in Appalachia 100 years ago .
The two women running for the US Senate in West Virginia come down on opposite sides of just about every issue , much as their fathers and grandfathers had before them .
Swearengin descends from two generations of coal miners , while Capito belongs to a five-generation dynasty of West Virginia politicians .
To this day , the century-long tension between the extractive-industry barons of West Virginia and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ still on display around the necks of Swearengin and her Republican opponent : Paula Jean favors the red bandanna made famous by militant “ redneck ” coal miners , while Capito never fails to appear at committee meetings in pearls .
The race pitting a coal miner ’ s daughter against a political matriarch mirrors the stark contradictions of a state where Bernie Sanders won the Democratic primary in every county in 2016 but which Trump took by an overwhelming 68 percent in the general election—the largest Trump vote share of any state @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that has flourished since 2016 , the moderate politics of West Virginia ’ s Republican Senator Capito and Democratic Senator Joe Manchin are almost indistinguishable from each other , placing them both at odds with much of the electorate .
As the state ’ s red hue deepens and Trump ’ s GOP drags Capito further to the right , those moderate politics are sure to change , one way or another .
A Capito victory would signal total Republican capture of a state where Republicans also hold the governor ’ s house @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and the attorney general ’ s seat .
Democrats have made large gains in the state House , but with total Republican command of top posts in state government , Democrats face mounting challenges .
Ultimately , national Democrats ’ total abandonment of the state—accelerated by Trump ’ s election—is what allowed Republicans to initiate their takeover in the first place .
With no plans for an economic stimulus to replace the dying coal industry , the national Democratic Party has written off West Virginia , declining to flex its financial muscle in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ during his gubernatorial bid and failing to focus any serious money or organizing resources on rebuilding power in the state .
Democrats ’ refusal to support progressives in what was once a deep-blue union state ignores the 23 percent of voters registered as independents , as well as the fact that more West Virginian voters are still registered as Democrats than as Republicans .
Richard Ojeda ’ s 2018 loss to Carol Miller for one of West Virginia ’ s three House seats served as a testament to the uphill battle that any @ @ @ @ @ @ @ running for office in the state .
Ojeda , a rabble-rousing former paratrooper running on a populist platform , rocketed into the spotlight after hitching his wagon to the statewide teachers strike .
It wasn ’ t clear if Ojeda ’ s maverick personality always served to bolster the public ’ s confidence , and whether his Facebook rants enamored him to older voters or scared them away .
But his idiosyncrasies as a candidate aside , his loss by an astounding 13 points to the Trump-endorsed Miller illustrated just how hard winning @ @ @ @ @ @ @ become .
West Virginia ’ s House congressional districts run from east to west , creating a three-way split that fractures pockets of blue support in the far northern and southwestern parts of the state .
With those demographics diluted , the chance of unseating a Republican incumbent in the House is kept out of reach .
The strength of incumbency changes , though , when it comes to the Senate .
A Republican hasn ’ t won reelection there since 1907 , and Capito , the daughter of former West Virginia governor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to break the trend , in spite of her father ’ s fraught history in the state .
Governor Moore survived blowback from a federal extortion investigation in 1975 and the public outrage stemming from a deal he struck accepting 1 percent of the damages originally sought by the state after the Buffalo Creek Disaster that killed 125 and left 4,000 homeless , signing off on the deal just days before leaving office .
His record of criminal wrongdoings ultimately caught up with him , and he pleaded guilty to mail fraud , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of justice , receiving a five-year sentence in 1990 .
Most notable among Arch Moore ’ s crimes was helping the coal company Maben Energy Corporation secure a $ 2 million refund from West Virginia ’ s Black Lung Fund—a trust for miners with black lung funded by employers—in exchange for a $ 570,000 payoff .
As Moore stuck his hand in the Black Lung Fund that miners relied on to support themselves and their families , Swearengin ’ s father and uncle toiled in the coal fields that would eventually cause their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ uncle died of black lung—her father of cancer at the age of 55 .
Arch Moore died a free man in 2015 at the age of 91 , one day after his daughter was sworn in to the US Senate , and two years before his grandson , Riley Moore , entered the West Virginia House of Delegates .
Arriving in the Senate in 2015 , Capito furthered her father ’ s legacy in the state by helping coal companies attack the Black Lung Fund yet again , this time by targeting the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dwindling reserve .
The Black Lung Benefits Act of 1978 established a government trust to pay benefits to miners and the families of miners disabled by the occupational disease .
The fund is supposed to be supported by the excise tax charged to coal producers on every ton of coal mined for domestic use , but the US Treasury has spent billions bailing it out since its inception .
A 2018 study released by the Government Accountability Office estimated that the fund ’ s debt could rise to $ 15 billion by 2050 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the tax was once $ 1.10 for every ton of coal mined from subsurface mines , and $ .50 for every ton mined from the surface , it dropped to $ .50 and $ .25 respectively after the funding hike expired .
Though it was raised back up to the $ 1.10 level for this year after a one-year extension squeaked in by Congress , the future of the tax , opposed by the coal industry , remains uncertain .
In March , the United Mine Workers of America endorsed Capito , despite @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the AFL-CIO and her record supporting “ right to work ” legislation .
The union ’ s stated reason : Last year Capito helped to secure a bailout for the UMWA ’ s underwater pension fund , sunk into oblivion by coal company bankruptcies .
Companies like Patriot Coal paid out millions in executive bonuses while leaving the pensions of the miners who built their empire of coal bone dry .
Capito has wielded the billion-dollar bailout and the UMWA ’ s desperation as a bludgeon to beat back those who point out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ extension of the excise tax that pays for the black lung fund in the same bill funding the UMWA ’ s bailout .
In the omnibus bill passed in 2019 , the 10-year extension was nowhere to be found , and Capito has refused to cosponsor Senator Manchin ’ s renewed effort to pass the life-saving extension .
In short , the black lung fund was traded away for the bailout , which by McConnell ’ s calculation was the only way to stave off a blue wave of miner fury .
But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 750 million in taxpayer subsidies to the UMWA fund , sick coal miners are still struggling to make ends meet and to pay for health care .
Many are locked in battles with coal companies for what they are owed , even lobbying unsuccessfully for a state-backed black lung fund , financed by a new energy-producer tax .
McConnell may have staved off the blowback from thousands of angry miners losing their pensions , but their battles for health care and fair compensation are far from won .
In addition to the UMWA @ @ @ @ @ @ @ benefited from a much larger bailout , this time after the government ’ s intervention to save the banks during the 2008 financial crash .
While serving as a US representative before her election to the Senate , Capito sat on the House Financial Services Committee , where she was briefed during the lead-up to the crash on the instability of America ’ s biggest banks .
Among them was Citigroup , where her husband worked , and where the Capito family owned considerable shares of stock .
As the Charleston Gazette-Mail reported @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Disclosure Statement to the House for 2008 , ’ Capito reported selling Citigroup stock shares worth between $ 100,000 and $ 250,000 in three different sales .
The last sale took place on Nov. 18 , a day before Citigroup stock lost 23 percent of its value.
” The trades not only avoided a massive loss on return ; it actually netted the Capito family $ 50,000 in profit , more money than the median household income in West Virginia .
The same year that Capito touted her vote against the bank bailout @ @ @ @ @ @ @ big banks : one from Morgan Stanley , one from Citigroup , and one from United Bank , all three of which received millions in taxpayer-funded bailouts .
When pressed to disclose the exact amount of those salaries , Capito and her husband refused .
With the recent passing of Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg , a new variable has complicated the race to elect West Virginia ’ s senator : how Capito and Manchin will vote should the Senate attempt to push through Trump ’ s SCOTUS nominee before the November @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to confirm Trump ’ s past appointments to the Supreme Court , but with a 6-3 conservative majority now at stake , a yes vote from Capito could imperil the ACA , which tens of thousands of West Virginians rely on for health coverage .
It could also roll back more than a century of labor protections that would affect the workers represented by the AFL-CIO and UMWA .
On the other hand , a no vote would enrage the pro-Trump voter base that Capito relies on to maintain her incumbency .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wary right now of what a 6-3 conservative deliberate split would mean for not just unions but for working people generally.
” Jason Kozlowski , a labor historian and labor educator at West Virginia University told The Nation .
“ From the UMWA ’ s standpoint though , Capito represents the values of its conservative wing .
Despite her support for right-to-work legislation and her conservative stance on prevailing wage which hurts other union members and workers , she does have a decent track record on defending miners specifically.
” Kozlowski says he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ get involved with the race given their preference for endorsing pro-labor candidates in down-ballot West Virginia races .
Regardless of union endorsements , the tremendous damage a conservative Supreme Court justice poses to labor could bolster the cause of a candidate like Swearengin , whose maverick appeal speaks to West Virginian voters .
“ It was telling that Sanders won the Democratic primary by almost the same percentage as Trump won the presidential election , ” Kozlowski said .
“ I think some of that is the outsider appeal that speaks to people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 20th century where socialist candidates gained office here in the state.
” With the coal industry on the brink of total collapse despite Trump ’ s promises to revitalize it , a perverse suicide pact has emerged in West Virginia .
Miners rely on the pittance afforded them by politicians enthralled in the donations of declining coal companies , who in turn rely on the politicians to block legislation that would tax their coal or force them to pay out the pensions they owe to miners .
As the population continues to decline @ @ @ @ @ @ @ into poverty and dysfunction , neither Capito nor Manchin is willing to be the first to admit that coal is no longer a viable way forward for West Virginia , or offer any substitute to revitalize the Mountain State .
That ’ s why Swearengin says partisan politics should come second to material issues : Before her most recent bid to challenge the Republican Capito , she ran to unseat Democratic Manchin in 2018 .
Swearengin told The Nation that her priority is fighting for working-class people , no matter the party affiliation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ Here in West Virginia we had 93 candidates who stood up and are not taking corporate PAC dollars with West Virginia Can ’ t Wait .
Forty-three won their primaries .
Now we ’ re going to take the fight to the Senate , and win .
It ’ s about people over corporations , and refusing their dirty money , regardless of party.
” As The Intercept reported in June , West Virginia Can ’ t wait formed a coalition of Democrats , independents , Mountain Party candidates , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ PACs , corporate lobbyists or executives from Big Pharma , Big Energy , or out-of-state land-holding companies.
” Paula Jean has made her grassroots funding a centerpiece of her campaign , contrasting it with the millions in high-dollar corporate donations Capito has deposited into her war chest .
“ The reason we went for Sanders in the primary and Trump in the general is because people are fed up with the same tired politicians that have failed us over and over again , ” Swearengin said .
This election cycle , Capito is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ industry donations , and the third-highest recipient from for-profit prisons , according to the Center for Responsive Politics .
She ’ s also taken $ 180,000 from the telecom industry , despite West Virginia ’ s ranking towards the bottom of all states for high-speed Internet access .
In contrast , Swearengin ’ s platform relies on small-dollar donations , and has prioritized Medicare for All and a two-pronged commitment to fight for the protection of active and retired miners , while simultaneously creating green jobs for those who have been locked out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ major coal companies .
So far , Swearengin has won the endorsements of Brand New Congress , the Working Families Party , Blue America , Flip the Senate , Save Main Street , Progressives Rising , Future Generations , 90 for 90 , the Eastern Panhandle Green Coalition , and Senators Bernie Sanders and Ed Markey .
She says that it ’ s important that the people representing West Virginia actually know and talk like real West Virginians .
The single mother of four has waited tables and flipped burgers at McDonalds .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ medical billing office , where she witnessed people unable to pay for basic health services struggling under sky-high deductibles and the lack of advocacy that afflicts nonunion workers .
“ Right now we have fewer and fewer union coal miners in West Virginia every day , ” she said .
“ Patriot filed for bankruptcy , they gave themselves big bonuses , and then they opened up nonunion scab mines .
And then I hear Manchin and Capito talking about holding the industry accountable .
Well , if I were in Congress , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ six tons of hell over this .
We tapped into the abandoned mine land fund to pay for pensions , and that money was to clean up the mines , not make up the difference of what the companies stole from workers .
I buried my baby brother this year because of the opioid crisis , I ’ ve seen my friends and family , strong miners born and bred in these hills out of work , and people crying out for help.
” Along with Democratic party officials , pundits and pollsters @ @ @ @ @ @ @ solid-red state , with The Cook Political Report giving all three house races and the Capito-Swearengin match-up solid R ratings .
But it ’ s a prophecy that Democrats have conjured into existence , weighing the political benefit of investment in the state and ultimately choosing to look away from the barbarism seeping out of West Virginia ’ s rapidly darkening coal fields .
Political polarization has gripped the state , and Trump has capitalized on a power vacuum that could have handily been seized by radical Democrats .
While Paula Jean ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ long shot , her resolve to carry the torch of progressivism in West Virginia is stronger than ever .
“ If Shelley Moore Capito thinks she can sell out workers while striking back-room deals with the coal companies that hung them out to dry , well , she has another thing coming in November .
”

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It’s no hard task to imagine the rivalry between Senator Shelley Moore Capito and Paula Jean Swearengin playing out between both candidates’ grandfathers in Appalachia 100 years ago. The two women running for the US Senate in West Virginia come down on opposite sides of just about every issue, much as their fathers and grandfathers had before them.
Swearengin descends from two generations of coal miners, while Capito belongs to a five-generation dynasty of West Virginia politicians. To this day, the century-long tension between the extractive-industry barons of West Virginia and the workers toiling in their mines is still on display around the necks of Swearengin and her Republican opponent: Paula Jean favors the red bandanna made famous by militant “redneck” coal miners, while Capito never fails to appear at committee meetings in pearls.
The race pitting a coal miner’s daughter against a political matriarch mirrors the stark contradictions of a state where Bernie Sanders won the Democratic primary in every county in 2016 but which Trump took by an overwhelming 68 percent in the general election—the largest Trump vote share of any state. Despite the talk of political polarization that has flourished since 2016, the moderate politics of West Virginia’s Republican Senator Capito and Democratic Senator Joe Manchin are almost indistinguishable from each other, placing them both at odds with much of the electorate. As the state’s red hue deepens and Trump’s GOP drags Capito further to the right, those moderate politics are sure to change, one way or another.
A Capito victory would signal total Republican capture of a state where Republicans also hold the governor’s house, the auditor’s office, and the attorney general’s seat. Democrats have made large gains in the state House, but with total Republican command of top posts in state government, Democrats face mounting challenges. Ultimately, national Democrats’ total abandonment of the state—accelerated by Trump’s election—is what allowed Republicans to initiate their takeover in the first place.
With no plans for an economic stimulus to replace the dying coal industry, the national Democratic Party has written off West Virginia, declining to flex its financial muscle in support of progressive firebrands like Stephen Smith during his gubernatorial bid and failing to focus any serious money or organizing resources on rebuilding power in the state. Democrats’ refusal to support progressives in what was once a deep-blue union state ignores the 23 percent of voters registered as independents, as well as the fact that more West Virginian voters are still registered as Democrats than as Republicans. Richard Ojeda’s 2018 loss to Carol Miller for one of West Virginia’s three House seats served as a testament to the uphill battle that any Democrat, outsider or otherwise, faces running for office in the state. 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
Ojeda, a rabble-rousing former paratrooper running on a populist platform, rocketed into the spotlight after hitching his wagon to the statewide teachers strike. It wasn’t clear if Ojeda’s maverick personality always served to bolster the public’s confidence, and whether his Facebook rants enamored him to older voters or scared them away. But his idiosyncrasies as a candidate aside, his loss by an astounding 13 points to the Trump-endorsed Miller illustrated just how hard winning a blue seat in the state has become. West Virginia’s House congressional districts run from east to west, creating a three-way split that fractures pockets of blue support in the far northern and southwestern parts of the state. With those demographics diluted, the chance of unseating a Republican incumbent in the House is kept out of reach.
The strength of incumbency changes, though, when it comes to the Senate. A Republican hasn’t won reelection there since 1907, and Capito, the daughter of former West Virginia governor Arch Moore, could be the senator to break the trend, in spite of her father’s fraught history in the state. Governor Moore survived blowback from a federal extortion investigation in 1975 and the public outrage stemming from a deal he struck accepting 1 percent of the damages originally sought by the state after the Buffalo Creek Disaster that killed 125 and left 4,000 homeless, signing off on the deal just days before leaving office. His record of criminal wrongdoings ultimately caught up with him, and he pleaded guilty to mail fraud, tax fraud, extortion, and obstruction of justice, receiving a five-year sentence in 1990. Current Issue View our current issue
Most notable among Arch Moore’s crimes was helping the coal company Maben Energy Corporation secure a $2 million refund from West Virginia’s Black Lung Fund—a trust for miners with black lung funded by employers—in exchange for a $570,000 payoff. As Moore stuck his hand in the Black Lung Fund that miners relied on to support themselves and their families, Swearengin’s father and uncle toiled in the coal fields that would eventually cause their deaths. Both her grandfather and an uncle died of black lung—her father of cancer at the age of 55. Arch Moore died a free man in 2015 at the age of 91, one day after his daughter was sworn in to the US Senate, and two years before his grandson, Riley Moore, entered the West Virginia House of Delegates.
Arriving in the Senate in 2015, Capito furthered her father’s legacy in the state by helping coal companies attack the Black Lung Fund yet again, this time by targeting the tax on coal companies that supports the dwindling reserve. The Black Lung Benefits Act of 1978 established a government trust to pay benefits to miners and the families of miners disabled by the occupational disease. The fund is supposed to be supported by the excise tax charged to coal producers on every ton of coal mined for domestic use, but the US Treasury has spent billions bailing it out since its inception. A 2018 study released by the Government Accountability Office estimated that the fund’s debt could rise to $15 billion by 2050. To make matters worse, while the tax was once $1.10 for every ton of coal mined from subsurface mines, and $.50 for every ton mined from the surface, it dropped to $.50 and $.25 respectively after the funding hike expired. Though it was raised back up to the $1.10 level for this year after a one-year extension squeaked in by Congress, the future of the tax, opposed by the coal industry, remains uncertain.
In March, the United Mine Workers of America endorsed Capito, despite her failing 28 percent lifetime rating from the AFL-CIO and her record supporting “right to work” legislation. The union’s stated reason: Last year Capito helped to secure a bailout for the UMWA’s underwater pension fund, sunk into oblivion by coal company bankruptcies. Companies like Patriot Coal paid out millions in executive bonuses while leaving the pensions of the miners who built their empire of coal bone dry.
Capito has wielded the billion-dollar bailout and the UMWA’s desperation as a bludgeon to beat back those who point out that Mitch McConnell stripped out a 10-year extension of the excise tax that pays for the black lung fund in the same bill funding the UMWA’s bailout. In the omnibus bill passed in 2019, the 10-year extension was nowhere to be found, and Capito has refused to cosponsor Senator Manchin’s renewed effort to pass the life-saving extension. In short, the black lung fund was traded away for the bailout, which by McConnell’s calculation was the only way to stave off a blue wave of miner fury.
But even with the annual commitment of $750 million in taxpayer subsidies to the UMWA fund, sick coal miners are still struggling to make ends meet and to pay for health care. Many are locked in battles with coal companies for what they are owed, even lobbying unsuccessfully for a state-backed black lung fund, financed by a new energy-producer tax. McConnell may have staved off the blowback from thousands of angry miners losing their pensions, but their battles for health care and fair compensation are far from won.
In addition to the UMWA’s pension fund, Capito also benefited from a much larger bailout, this time after the government’s intervention to save the banks during the 2008 financial crash. While serving as a US representative before her election to the Senate, Capito sat on the House Financial Services Committee, where she was briefed during the lead-up to the crash on the instability of America’s biggest banks. Among them was Citigroup, where her husband worked, and where the Capito family owned considerable shares of stock.
As the Charleston Gazette-Mail reported in 2014, “In her ‘Disclosure Statement to the House for 2008,’ Capito reported selling Citigroup stock shares worth between $100,000 and $250,000 in three different sales. The last sale took place on Nov. 18, a day before Citigroup stock lost 23 percent of its value.”
The trades not only avoided a massive loss on return; it actually netted the Capito family $50,000 in profit, more money than the median household income in West Virginia. The same year that Capito touted her vote against the bank bailout, her husband drew three salaries from big banks: one from Morgan Stanley, one from Citigroup, and one from United Bank, all three of which received millions in taxpayer-funded bailouts. When pressed to disclose the exact amount of those salaries, Capito and her husband refused.
With the recent passing of Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a new variable has complicated the race to elect West Virginia’s senator: how Capito and Manchin will vote should the Senate attempt to push through Trump’s SCOTUS nominee before the November election. Both Capito and Manchin voted to confirm Trump’s past appointments to the Supreme Court, but with a 6-3 conservative majority now at stake, a yes vote from Capito could imperil the ACA, which tens of thousands of West Virginians rely on for health coverage. It could also roll back more than a century of labor protections that would affect the workers represented by the AFL-CIO and UMWA. On the other hand, a no vote would enrage the pro-Trump voter base that Capito relies on to maintain her incumbency.
“I’m sure unions are very wary right now of what a 6-3 conservative deliberate split would mean for not just unions but for working people generally.” Jason Kozlowski, a labor historian and labor educator at West Virginia University told The Nation. “From the UMWA’s standpoint though, Capito represents the values of its conservative wing. Despite her support for right-to-work legislation and her conservative stance on prevailing wage which hurts other union members and workers, she does have a decent track record on defending miners specifically.”
Kozlowski says he’s doubtful that the AFL-CIO will get involved with the race given their preference for endorsing pro-labor candidates in down-ballot West Virginia races. Regardless of union endorsements, the tremendous damage a conservative Supreme Court justice poses to labor could bolster the cause of a candidate like Swearengin, whose maverick appeal speaks to West Virginian voters.
“It was telling that Sanders won the Democratic primary by almost the same percentage as Trump won the presidential election,” Kozlowski said. “I think some of that is the outsider appeal that speaks to people and has a history in the early 20th century where socialist candidates gained office here in the state.”
With the coal industry on the brink of total collapse despite Trump’s promises to revitalize it, a perverse suicide pact has emerged in West Virginia. Miners rely on the pittance afforded them by politicians enthralled in the donations of declining coal companies, who in turn rely on the politicians to block legislation that would tax their coal or force them to pay out the pensions they owe to miners. As the population continues to decline and the state spirals deeper and deeper into poverty and dysfunction, neither Capito nor Manchin is willing to be the first to admit that coal is no longer a viable way forward for West Virginia, or offer any substitute to revitalize the Mountain State.
That’s why Swearengin says partisan politics should come second to material issues: Before her most recent bid to challenge the Republican Capito, she ran to unseat Democratic Manchin in 2018. Swearengin told The Nation that her priority is fighting for working-class people, no matter the party affiliation of the person standing in her way.
“Here in West Virginia we had 93 candidates who stood up and are not taking corporate PAC dollars with West Virginia Can’t Wait. Forty-three won their primaries. Now we’re going to take the fight to the Senate, and win. It’s about people over corporations, and refusing their dirty money, regardless of party.”
As The Intercept reported in June, West Virginia Can’t Wait formed a coalition of Democrats, independents, Mountain Party candidates, and Libertarians that pledged to reject “corporate PACs, corporate lobbyists or executives from Big Pharma, Big Energy, or out-of-state land-holding companies.” Paula Jean has made her grassroots funding a centerpiece of her campaign, contrasting it with the millions in high-dollar corporate donations Capito has deposited into her war chest. “The reason we went for Sanders in the primary and Trump in the general is because people are fed up with the same tired politicians that have failed us over and over again,” Swearengin said.
This election cycle, Capito is the second-highest recipient of chemical and mining industry donations, and the third-highest recipient from for-profit prisons, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. She’s also taken $180,000 from the telecom industry, despite West Virginia’s ranking towards the bottom of all states for high-speed Internet access.
In contrast, Swearengin’s platform relies on small-dollar donations, and has prioritized Medicare for All and a two-pronged commitment to fight for the protection of active and retired miners, while simultaneously creating green jobs for those who have been locked out of work by the bankruptcies sweeping the major coal companies. So far, Swearengin has won the endorsements of Brand New Congress, the Working Families Party, Blue America, Flip the Senate, Save Main Street, Progressives Rising, Future Generations, 90 for 90, the Eastern Panhandle Green Coalition, and Senators Bernie Sanders and Ed Markey.
She says that it’s important that the people representing West Virginia actually know and talk like real West Virginians. The single mother of four has waited tables and flipped burgers at McDonald’s. Most recently, she worked in a medical billing office, where she witnessed people unable to pay for basic health services struggling under sky-high deductibles and the lack of advocacy that afflicts nonunion workers.
“Right now we have fewer and fewer union coal miners in West Virginia every day,” she said. “Patriot filed for bankruptcy, they gave themselves big bonuses, and then they opened up nonunion scab mines. And then I hear Manchin and Capito talking about holding the industry accountable. Well, if I were in Congress, you better believe I would have raised six tons of hell over this. We tapped into the abandoned mine land fund to pay for pensions, and that money was to clean up the mines, not make up the difference of what the companies stole from workers. I buried my baby brother this year because of the opioid crisis, I’ve seen my friends and family, strong miners born and bred in these hills out of work, and people crying out for help.”
Along with Democratic party officials, pundits and pollsters have written of West Virginia as a solid-red state, with The Cook Political Report giving all three house races and the Capito-Swearengin match-up solid R ratings. But it’s a prophecy that Democrats have conjured into existence, weighing the political benefit of investment in the state and ultimately choosing to look away from the barbarism seeping out of West Virginia’s rapidly darkening coal fields. Political polarization has gripped the state, and Trump has capitalized on a power vacuum that could have handily been seized by radical Democrats. While Paula Jean’s odds for victory may be a long shot, her resolve to carry the torch of progressivism in West Virginia is stronger than ever.
“If Shelley Moore Capito thinks she can sell out workers while striking back-room deals with the coal companies that hung them out to dry, well, she has another thing coming in November.”


thenation--2020-10-14--The Simple, Profound Message of Pope Francis’s New Encyclical

Pope Francis ’ s new Encyclical , Fratelli Tutti ( “ All Brothers ” ) , calls for all of us to anchor our societies and our politics in encounter : the actual meeting of people who think differently and have different life experiences .
This call to encounter is a refreshing approach to shaping our world not through power dynamics but through the experience of all—especially those who are marginalized .
It is an invigorating approach amid the hyper-partisan electoral politics in the United States .
Let me get my complaint out of the way first .
Many women @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Italian title using a masculine noun to allegedly include women as well .
The Vatican defended the title as just an innocent limitation of a Romance language !
It is disappointing they could not find a way to be more intentionally inclusive , but I have a deeper critique of the document itself .
While I laud Pope Francis ’ s message , I lament the fact that he does not cite one woman in this entire encyclical .
He does not lift up a woman ’ s perspective anywhere other than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
He quotes bishops ’ conferences from around the world , composed entirely of men .
He quotes saints , all men .
He quotes theologians , all men .
It is shocking to me that the call to encounter leaves out more than half of the people on the planet .
Because of this , I believe that the call to encounter must be turned to the Vatican and to Pope Francis himself .
If this call is to be believed , there must be a conscious inclusion of women !
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Undo the Harm Turning from this shortcoming in an otherwise substantive document , let us examine its rich content .
As I read , it seemed that Pope Francis was directing this letter specifically to the United States in the midst of our political turmoil .
He calls for a use of power that engages those who are marginalized , for us all to learn from the lesson of the Good Samaritan who shatters preconceptions of who is an outsider .
He challenges politicians and those engaged in public service to engage in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coordinating institutions , promoting best practices and overcoming undue pressure and bureaucratic inertia… .
We can not expect economics to do this , nor can we allow economics to take over the real power of the state.
” The encyclical goes on to call all of us to a political and effective love grounded on listening to the needs of those who reside in each part of our world .
The pope claims that such a political love will “ spur people to create more sound institutions , more just regulations , more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ politicians must strive to listen and truly care for those who are struggling .
Pope Francis writes , “ This charity , which is the spiritual heart of politics , is always a preferential love shown to those in greatest need.
” This is profound instruction for the chaotic United States , where misplaced government priorities have consistently shifted more money to those at the top of the income and wealth ladder and away from those at the bottom .
Everyone with a hand in this country ’ s refusal to raise salaries @ @ @ @ @ @ @ read this document and take it to heart !
As I read , I remembered attending a Voices of Faith meeting last year in Rome , for which Catholic sisters gathered from many different countries .
As we talked about the situation in our respective home countries , I heard of the ways many nations are suffering a similar breakdown of governance .
One sister from the Philippines described the horror of extrajudicial killings promoted by President Duterte and carried out by the police .
A sister from India described how national leaders @ @ @ @ @ @ @ thus tearing down their multiethnic , multireligious society .
A sister who had been serving in Bolivia spoke about how her service of marginalized people did not serve the government ’ s narrative and she was not allowed to return to her ministry after a visit with her family .
From these encounters , it is evident that the United States is not the only country in a societal crisis that threatens our democratic institutions .
This is an international reality that we must address .
Where do we start ?
I know @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can make change .
I have the honor of being the leader of a campaign called Nuns on the Bus .
Starting in 2012 , we have held seven cross-country trips and had the opportunity to listen to the experiences of hundreds of people across our nation .
Right now , we are in the middle of our first virtual trip as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic .
In these virtual meetings , I have heard the terror people have about losing their health care—or being unable to afford it .
I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ clinics that provide health care to those who are left out , but may be too overwhelmed to service everyone in need .
In our Dialogues Across Geographic Divides , we have experienced the challenge of many rural communities who lack broadband and have a difficult time simply connecting with the rest of the world .
Last week , I spoke with a couple driving around a large parking lot in their town trying to find better reception .
How can we learn about one another and grow together if we can not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ another part of the state ?
Amy Coney Barrett Is an Extremist—Just Not the Kind You Think I have listened to people in California , Texas , Michigan , Kentucky , and Pennsylvania talk about the anguish of the racial divides in our nation and the echoes of slavery and dislocation .
We heard from the Angry Tias and Abuelas on the US-Mexico border who are trying valiantly to minister to the needs of migrants now caught in camps on the Mexican side .
I have learned of people doing the direct service @ @ @ @ @ @ @ connecting that to our policies .
As Angry Tias member Lizze of South Texas said , “ Before this I never knew that politics mattered .
Now I see the pain and suffering that bad policy inflicts .
I need to be involved in politics.
” Speaking from Philadelphia at the Women ’ s Community Revitalization Project , member Lynette said , “ Learning about politics is one of the things that ’ s making my community stronger.
” This is what Pope Francis means by the call to encounter : Get involved @ @ @ @ @ @ @ your ears to hear , and then make sure to base your policies on the lived reality of our people .
So many of the people we are visiting through Nuns in the Bus are putting this into action .
Through my experiences , I have come to believe future presidential administrations need a White House Office of Public Listening .
With such an office , proactive listening could begin to heal our nation .
In these difficult times , the United States must heed Pope Francis ’ s call to encounter , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ if we hope to build a more hopeful , more inclusive , and more loving future out of this current suffering and chaos .

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Pope Francis’s new Encyclical, Fratelli Tutti (“All Brothers”), calls for all of us to anchor our societies and our politics in encounter: the actual meeting of people who think differently and have different life experiences. This call to encounter is a refreshing approach to shaping our world not through power dynamics but through the experience of all—especially those who are marginalized. It is an invigorating approach amid the hyper-partisan electoral politics in the United States.
Let me get my complaint out of the way first. Many women were rightly concerned when the Vatican announced the Italian title using a masculine noun to allegedly include women as well. The Vatican defended the title as just an innocent limitation of a Romance language! It is disappointing they could not find a way to be more intentionally inclusive, but I have a deeper critique of the document itself. While I laud Pope Francis’s message, I lament the fact that he does not cite one woman in this entire encyclical. He does not lift up a woman’s perspective anywhere other than a brief reference to Jesus’ mother. He quotes bishops’ conferences from around the world, composed entirely of men. He quotes saints, all men. He quotes theologians, all men. It is shocking to me that the call to encounter leaves out more than half of the people on the planet. Because of this, I believe that the call to encounter must be turned to the Vatican and to Pope Francis himself. If this call is to be believed, there must be a conscious inclusion of women! Related Article The Vatican Sex-Abuse Summit Was Never Going to Undo the Harm Michael F. Pettinger
Turning from this shortcoming in an otherwise substantive document, let us examine its rich content. As I read, it seemed that Pope Francis was directing this letter specifically to the United States in the midst of our political turmoil. He calls for a use of power that engages those who are marginalized, for us all to learn from the lesson of the Good Samaritan who shatters preconceptions of who is an outsider. He challenges politicians and those engaged in public service to engage in a “healthy politics…capable of reforming and coordinating institutions, promoting best practices and overcoming undue pressure and bureaucratic inertia…. We cannot expect economics to do this, nor can we allow economics to take over the real power of the state.”
The encyclical goes on to call all of us to a political and effective love grounded on listening to the needs of those who reside in each part of our world. The pope claims that such a political love will “spur people to create more sound institutions, more just regulations, more supportive structures.” In this context, politicians must strive to listen and truly care for those who are struggling. Pope Francis writes, “This charity, which is the spiritual heart of politics, is always a preferential love shown to those in greatest need.” This is profound instruction for the chaotic United States, where misplaced government priorities have consistently shifted more money to those at the top of the income and wealth ladder and away from those at the bottom. Everyone with a hand in this country’s refusal to raise salaries for low-wage workers—an absolute moral failure—needs to read this document and take it to heart! 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
As I read, I remembered attending a Voices of Faith meeting last year in Rome, for which Catholic sisters gathered from many different countries. As we talked about the situation in our respective home countries, I heard of the ways many nations are suffering a similar breakdown of governance. One sister from the Philippines described the horror of extrajudicial killings promoted by President Duterte and carried out by the police. A sister from India described how national leaders were promoting religious and ethnic bigotry and thus tearing down their multiethnic, multireligious society. A sister who had been serving in Bolivia spoke about how her service of marginalized people did not serve the government’s narrative and she was not allowed to return to her ministry after a visit with her family.
From these encounters, it is evident that the United States is not the only country in a societal crisis that threatens our democratic institutions. This is an international reality that we must address. Where do we start?
Pope Francis says: Current Issue View our current issue
Government leaders should be the first to make sacrifices that foster encounter and to seek convergence on at least some issues. They should be ready to listen to other points of view and to make room for everything. Through sacrifice and patience, they can help to create a beautiful polyhedral reality in which everyone has a place.
I know from experience that such encounter and listening can make change.
I have the honor of being the leader of a campaign called Nuns on the Bus. Starting in 2012, we have held seven cross-country trips and had the opportunity to listen to the experiences of hundreds of people across our nation. Right now, we are in the middle of our first virtual trip as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In these virtual meetings, I have heard the terror people have about losing their health care—or being unable to afford it. I have heard of integrated, holistic free clinics that provide health care to those who are left out, but may be too overwhelmed to service everyone in need.
In our Dialogues Across Geographic Divides, we have experienced the challenge of many rural communities who lack broadband and have a difficult time simply connecting with the rest of the world. Last week, I spoke with a couple driving around a large parking lot in their town trying to find better reception. How can we learn about one another and grow together if we cannot even see and hear our neighbors in another part of the state? Related Article Amy Coney Barrett Is an Extremist—Just Not the Kind You Think Elie Mystal
I have listened to people in California, Texas, Michigan, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania talk about the anguish of the racial divides in our nation and the echoes of slavery and dislocation. We heard from the Angry Tias and Abuelas on the US-Mexico border who are trying valiantly to minister to the needs of migrants now caught in camps on the Mexican side. I have learned of people doing the direct service that is right before their eyes and connecting that to our policies. As Angry Tias member Lizze of South Texas said, “Before this I never knew that politics mattered. Now I see the pain and suffering that bad policy inflicts. I need to be involved in politics.” Speaking from Philadelphia at the Women’s Community Revitalization Project, member Lynette said, “Learning about politics is one of the things that’s making my community stronger.”
This is what Pope Francis means by the call to encounter: Get involved, open your eyes to see and your ears to hear, and then make sure to base your policies on the lived reality of our people. So many of the people we are visiting through Nuns in the Bus are putting this into action. Through my experiences, I have come to believe future presidential administrations need a White House Office of Public Listening. With such an office, proactive listening could begin to heal our nation.
In these difficult times, the United States must heed Pope Francis’s call to encounter, to listening, and to profound reform if we hope to build a more hopeful, more inclusive, and more loving future out of this current suffering and chaos.


A Woman’s Life

uffalo , —In memory , my Aunt Dolor is a big woman .
Big hair , big sunglasses , big jewelry , big bold colors , with geometric shapes in the 1960s and ’ 70s especially , when our families saw each other most .
Her husband , my mother ’ s brother , called her Doll .
We buried her this week .
She came to an ordinary end in this now-ordinary time : sick from Covid-19 in a nursing home , alone , and aged with a disintegrating mind , transferred to a hospital , dead within hours @ @ @ @ @ @ @ she really knew of her circumstances or condition in the lead-up ; whether she understood the peril of the time or recognized her youngest daughter waving from the car when she looked out her window ; whether she registered , on her last day , that it was this daughter ’ s voice coming from the space-suited figure whose gloved hand held hers in the hospital as she expired .
Everyone has heard this story countless times since the pandemic descended .
I have heard it countless times , usually without the gloved @ @ @ @ @ @ @ particular death , which came too late to be included in the latest Covid data reported by nursing homes to the CDC ’ s National Healthcare Safety Network : 58,481 residents dead as of September 27 ; 245,912 confirmed cases ; 141,744 suspected cases .
It becomes familiar after seven full months , this raking of the old , the infirm , the enfeebled—about 8,354 nursing home deaths from the virus every month since March .
Naturally , perspective shifts when the number being contemplated is one .
On the Road During a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to Metro D.C. More in this series My aunt came of age when a woman ’ s ordinary destiny was marriage and children .
And so she married , and so she had children .
And moved to the suburbs , to a ranch house with a reinforced and well-equipped fallout shelter .
The children had a collie and a big back yard , and then one of them died .
He was her youngest , her only son , 8 years old .
They laid him out in his white communion suit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ car plowed into the side of his father ’ s Buick , and the child ’ s head was dashed against the inside frame of the backseat .
I think it was a Buick .
My uncle and the oldest daughter were in the hospital in traction with broken femurs for months without proper healing .
Then they had surgery and body casts , and lay for weeks in rented hospital beds set up facing each other in the family room .
And there was Aunt Dolor suddenly in charge , laden with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were incapacitated , striving to be cheerful for them , nursing them once home , cooking and cleaning and dreaming up treats , comforting the other child , the little girl who was scared and sad and who decades later would be with her as she ran out of breath .
A child myself at the time , riveted by death and injury in the family , I didn ’ t fully appreciate all that this cost my aunt .
She bore it with an often comic sense of fate , as she @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the years progressed , reaching for joy in the service of love , making “ a life of abundance every day , ” as her granddaughter said— “ Grandma Doll.
” Since her death , I have thought about all the women whose work is not recognized in “ Those We ’ ve Lost ” newspaper features .
Women who spent down their hours home-making , as it used to be called , and who themselves are socially invisible now that they are 80 or 90 or more , in nursing homes , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” or “ victims of the virus ” —as if they had never labored to produce a generation , loved difficult men ( or women ) , cared for aged relatives , mourned a child lost or mutilated , invented recipes and entertainments , invented themselves when the space for that was narrow , had their hand on history ’ s wheel simply by being .
It isn ’ t death that ’ s so terrible ; it ’ s the eclipse of the courage and creativity of living .
“ At least @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people have said , learning that my aunt died within hours of reaching the hospital .
It ’ s what people often say about death , shortchanging the immense undertaking of life .
Scenes From a Pandemic is a collaboration between The Nation and Kopkind , a living memorial to radical journalist Andrew Kopkind , who from 1982–94 was the magazine ’ s chief political writer and analyst .
This series of dispatches from Kopkind ’ s far-flung network of participants , advisers , guests , and friends is edited by Nation contributor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and appears weekly on thenation.com and kopkind.org .

B uffalo, N.Y. —In memory, my Aunt Dolor is a big woman. Big hair, big sunglasses, big jewelry, big bold colors, with geometric shapes in the 1960s and ’70s especially, when our families saw each other most. Her husband, my mother’s brother, called her Doll.
We buried her this week. She came to an ordinary end in this now-ordinary time: sick from Covid-19 in a nursing home, alone, and aged with a disintegrating mind, transferred to a hospital, dead within hours. We can’t know what she really knew of her circumstances or condition in the lead-up; whether she understood the peril of the time or recognized her youngest daughter waving from the car when she looked out her window; whether she registered, on her last day, that it was this daughter’s voice coming from the space-suited figure whose gloved hand held hers in the hospital as she expired.
Everyone has heard this story countless times since the pandemic descended. I have heard it countless times, usually without the gloved hand, the small mercy of this particular death, which came too late to be included in the latest Covid data reported by nursing homes to the CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network: 58,481 residents dead as of September 27; 245,912 confirmed cases; 141,744 suspected cases. It becomes familiar after seven full months, this raking of the old, the infirm, the enfeebled—about 8,354 nursing home deaths from the virus every month since March.
Naturally, perspective shifts when the number being contemplated is one. Scenes From a Pandemic Untethered, or The Year of Living Virtually Patricia J. Williams The Art of the Meal Mary Lewis Maybe We Shouldn’t Go Back to Normal Bri M.
My aunt came of age when a woman’s ordinary destiny was marriage and children. And so she married, and so she had children. And moved to the suburbs, to a ranch house with a reinforced and well-equipped fallout shelter. The children had a collie and a big back yard, and then one of them died.
He was her youngest, her only son, 8 years old. They laid him out in his white communion suit. His skull was fractured when a car plowed into the side of his father’s Buick, and the child’s head was dashed against the inside frame of the backseat. I think it was a Buick. My uncle and the oldest daughter were in the hospital in traction with broken femurs for months without proper healing. Then they had surgery and body casts, and lay for weeks in rented hospital beds set up facing each other in the family room.
And there was Aunt Dolor suddenly in charge, laden with grief and the needs of two who were incapacitated, striving to be cheerful for them, nursing them once home, cooking and cleaning and dreaming up treats, comforting the other child, the little girl who was scared and sad and who decades later would be with her as she ran out of breath. A child myself at the time, riveted by death and injury in the family, I didn’t fully appreciate all that this cost my aunt. She bore it with an often comic sense of fate, as she did her own multiplying health problems as the years progressed, reaching for joy in the service of love, making “a life of abundance every day,” as her granddaughter said—“Grandma Doll.” Current Issue View our current issue
Dolor, Dolores; the name means “sorrow.”
Since her death, I have thought about all the women whose work is not recognized in “Those We’ve Lost” newspaper features. Women who spent down their hours home-making, as it used to be called, and who themselves are socially invisible now that they are 80 or 90 or more, in nursing homes, counted in bulk as “vulnerable populations” or “victims of the virus”—as if they had never labored to produce a generation, loved difficult men (or women), cared for aged relatives, mourned a child lost or mutilated, invented recipes and entertainments, invented themselves when the space for that was narrow, had their hand on history’s wheel simply by being.
It isn’t death that’s so terrible; it’s the eclipse of the courage and creativity of living. “At least she didn’t suffer,” people have said, learning that my aunt died within hours of reaching the hospital. It’s what people often say about death, shortchanging the immense undertaking of life.
Scenes From a Pandemic is a collaboration between The Nation and Kopkind, a living memorial to radical journalist Andrew Kopkind, who from 1982–94 was the magazine’s chief political writer and analyst. This series of dispatches from Kopkind’s far-flung network of participants, advisers, guests, and friends is edited by Nation contributor and Kopkind program director JoAnn Wypijewski, and appears weekly on thenation.com and kopkind.org.


thenation--2020-10-14--The US Is Still the World’s Biggest Arms Dealer

The United States has the dubious distinction of being the world ’ s leading arms dealer .
It dominates the global trade in a historic fashion and nowhere is that domination more complete than in the endlessly war-torn Middle East .
There , believe it or not , the United States controls nearly half the arms market .
From Yemen to Libya to Egypt , sales by this country and its allies are playing a significant role in fueling some of the world ’ s most devastating conflicts .
But Donald Trump , even before he was felled by Covid-19 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , could not have cared less , as long as he thought such trafficking in the tools of death and destruction would help his political prospects .
Look , for example , at the recent “ normalization ” of relations between the United Arab Emirates ( UAE ) and Israel he helped to broker , which has set the stage for yet another surge in American arms exports .
To hear Trump and his supporters tell it , he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for the deal , dubbed “ the Abraham Accords.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ he was eager to brand himself as “ Donald Trump , peacemaker ” in advance of the November election .
This , believe me , was absurd on the face of it .
Until the pandemic swept everything in the White House away , it was just another day in Trump World and another example of the president ’ s penchant for exploiting foreign and military policy for his own domestic political gain .
If the narcissist-in-chief had been honest for a change , he would have dubbed those Abraham Accords the “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , in part , induced to participate in hopes of receiving Lockheed Martin ’ s F-35 combat aircraft and advanced armed drones as a reward .
For his part , after some grumbling , Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to one-up the UAE and seek a new $ 8 billion arms package from the Trump administration , including an additional squadron of Lockheed Martin ’ s F-35s ( beyond those already on order ) , a fleet of Boeing attack helicopters , and so much more .
Were that deal to go @ @ @ @ @ @ @ increase in Israel ’ s more than ample military aid commitment from the United States , already slated to total $ 3.8 billion annually for the next decade .
This wasn ’ t the first time President Trump tried to capitalize on arms sales to the Middle East to consolidate his political position at home and his posture as this country ’ s dealmaker par excellence .
Such gestures began in May 2017 , during his very first official overseas trip to Saudi Arabia .
The Saudis greeted him then with ego-boosting fanfare @ @ @ @ @ @ @ roadways leading into their capital , Riyadh ; projecting a giant image of that same face on the hotel where he was staying ; and presenting him with a medal in a surreal ceremony at one of the kingdom ’ s many palaces .
For his part , Trump came bearing arms in the form of a supposed $ 110 billion weapons package .
Never mind that the size of the deal was vastly exaggerated .
It allowed the president to gloat that his sales deal there would mean “ jobs , jobs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
If he had to work with one of the most repressive regimes in the world to bring those jobs home , who cared ?
Not he and certainly not his son-in-law , Jared Kushner , who would develop a special relationship with the cruel Saudi Crown Prince and heir apparent to the throne , Mohammed bin Salman .
Trump doubled down on his jobs argument in a March 2018 White House meeting with bin Salman .
The president came armed with a prop for the cameras : a map of the United @ @ @ @ @ @ @ swore ) would benefit most from Saudi arms sales , including—you won ’ t be surprised to learn—the crucial election swing states of Pennsylvania , Ohio , and Wisconsin .
Nor will it surprise you that Trump ’ s jobs claims from those Saudi arms sales are almost entirely fraudulent .
In fits of fancy , he ’ s even insisted that he ’ s creating as many as half a million jobs linked to weapons exports to that repressive regime .
The real number is less than one-tenth that amount—and far less @ @ @ @ @ @ @ employment .
But why let the facts get in the way of a good story ?
Donald Trump is far from the first president to push tens of billions of dollars of arms into the Middle East .
The Obama administration , for example , made a record $ 115 billion in arms offers to Saudi Arabia during its eight years in office , including combat aircraft , attack helicopters , armored vehicles , military ships , missile defense systems , bombs , guns , and ammunition .
Those sales solidified Washington ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ arms supplier .
Two-thirds of its air force consists of Boeing F-15 aircraft , the vast bulk of its tanks are General Dynamics M-1s , and most of its air-to-ground missiles come from Raytheon and Lockheed Martin .
And mind you , those weapons aren ’ t just sitting in warehouses or being displayed in military parades .
They ’ ve been among the principal killers in a brutal Saudi intervention in Yemen that has sparked the world ’ s worst humanitarian catastrophe .
A new report from the Arms and Security Program @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which I co-authored ) underscores just how stunningly the United States dominates the Middle Eastern weapons market .
According to data from the arms transfer database compiled by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute , in the period from 2015 to 2019 the United States accounted for 48 percent of major weapons deliveries to the Middle East and North Africa , or ( as that vast region is sometimes known acronymically ) MENA .
Those figures leave deliveries from the next largest suppliers in the dust .
They represent nearly three times the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ times what France contributed , 10 times what the United Kingdom exported , and 16 times China ’ s contribution .
In other words , we have met the prime weapons proliferator in the Middle East and North Africa and it is us .
The influence of US arms in this conflict-ridden region is further illustrated by a striking fact : Washington is the top supplier to 13 of the 19 countries there , including Morocco ( 91 percent of its arms imports ) , Israel ( 78 percent ) , Saudi Arabia @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 73 percent ) , Lebanon ( 73 percent ) , Kuwait ( 70 percent ) , the UAE ( 68 percent ) , and Qatar ( 50 percent ) .
If the Trump administration goes ahead with its controversial plan to sell F-35s and armed drones to the UAE and brokers that related $ 8 billion arms deal with Israel , its share of arms imports to those two countries will be even higher in the years to come .
None of the key players in today ’ s most devastating wars in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which means that imports from the US and other suppliers are the true fuel sustaining those conflicts .
Advocates of arms transfers to the MENA region often describe them as a force for “ stability , ” a way to cement alliances , counter Iran , or more generally a tool for creating a balance of power that makes armed engagement less likely .
In a number of key conflicts in the region , this is nothing more than a convenient fantasy for arms suppliers ( and the US government ) , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ weaponry has only exacerbated conflicts , aggravated human rights abuses , and caused countless civilian deaths and injuries , while provoking widespread destruction .
And keep in mind that , while not solely responsible , Washington is the chief culprit when it comes to the weaponry that ’ s fueling a number of the area ’ s most violent wars .
In Yemen , a Saudi/UAE-led intervention that began in March 2015 has , by now , resulted in the deaths of thousands of civilians through air strikes , put millions at risk @ @ @ @ @ @ @ desperate conditions for the worst cholera outbreak in living memory .
That war has already cost more than 100,000 lives and the US and the United Kingdom have been the primary suppliers of the combat aircraft , bombs , attack helicopters , missiles , and armored vehicles used there , transfers valued in the tens of billions of dollars .
There has been a sharp jump in overall arms deliveries to Saudi Arabia since that war was launched .
Dramatically enough , total arms sent to the Kingdom more than doubled between the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to 2019 .
Together , the United States ( 74 percent ) and the United Kingdom ( 13 percent ) accounted for 87 percent of all arms deliveries to Saudi Arabia in that five-year time frame .
In Egypt , US-supplied combat aircraft , tanks , and attack helicopters have been used in what is supposedly a counterterror operation in the Northern Sinai desert , which has , in reality , simply become a war largely against the civilian population of the region .
Between 2015 and 2019 , Washington ’ s arms @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , with billions more in deals made earlier but delivered in those years .
And in May 2020 , the Pentagon ’ s Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced that it was offering a package of Apache attack helicopters to Egypt worth up to $ 2.3 billion .
According to research conducted by Human Rights Watch , thousands of people have been arrested in the Sinai region over the past six years , hundreds have been disappeared , and tens of thousands have been forcibly evicted from their homes .
Armed to the teeth @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out “ systematic and widespread arbitrary arrests—including of children—enforced disappearances , torture , extrajudicial killings , collective punishment , and forced eviction.
” There is also evidence to suggest that Egyptian forces have engaged in illegal air and ground strikes that have killed substantial numbers of civilians .
In several conflicts—examples of how such weapons transfers can have dramatic and unintended impacts—US arms have ended up in the hands of both sides .
When Turkish troops invaded northeastern Syria in October 2019 , for instance , they faced Kurdish-led Syrian militias that had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in arms and training the United States had supplied to Syrian opposition forces over the previous five years .
Meanwhile , the entire Turkish inventory of combat aircraft consists of US-supplied F-16s and more than half of its armored vehicles are of American origin .
In Iraq , when the forces of the Islamic State , or ISIS , swept through a significant part of that country from the north in 2014 , they captured US light weaponry and armored vehicles worth billions of dollars from the Iraqi security forces this country had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more recent years , US arms have been transferred from the Iraqi military to Iranian-backed militias operating alongside them in the fight against ISIS .
Meanwhile , in Yemen , while the United States has directly armed the Saudi/UAE coalition , its weaponry has , in fact , ended up being used by all sides in the conflict , including their Houthi opponents , extremist militias , and groups linked to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula .
This equal-opportunity spread of American weaponry has occurred thanks to arms transfers by former members @ @ @ @ @ @ @ UAE forces that have worked with an array of groups in the southern part of the country .
Just four companies—Raytheon , Lockheed Martin , Boeing , and General Dynamics—were involved in the overwhelming majority of US arms deals with Saudi Arabia between 2009 and 2019 .
In fact , at least one or more of those companies played key roles in 27 offers worth more than $ 125 billion ( out of a total of 51 offers worth $ 138 billion ) .
In other words , in financial terms , more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ offered to Saudi Arabia involved at least one of those top four weapons makers .
In its brutal bombing campaign in Yemen , the Saudis have killed thousand of civilians with US-supplied weaponry .
In the years since the Kingdom launched its war , indiscriminate air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition have hit marketplaces , hospitals , civilian neighborhoods , water treatment centers , even a school bus filled with children .
American-made bombs have repeatedly been used in such incidents , including an attack on a wedding , where 21 people , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a GBU-12 Paveway II guided bomb manufactured by Raytheon .
A General Dynamics 2,000-pound bomb with a Boeing JDAM guidance system was used in a March 2016 strike on a marketplace that killed 97 civilians , including 25 children .
A Lockheed Martin laser-guided bomb was utilized in an August 2018 attack on a school bus that slaughtered 51 people , including 40 children .
A September 2018 report by the Yemeni group Mwatana for Human Rights identified 19 air strikes on civilians in which US-supplied weapons were definitely used , pointing out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ not an isolated incident , but the latest in a series of gruesome [ Saudi-led ] Coalition attacks involving U.S. weapons.
” It should be noted that the sales of such weaponry have not occurred without resistance .
In 2019 , both houses of Congress voted down a bomb sale to Saudi Arabia because of its aggression in Yemen , only to have their efforts thwarted by a presidential veto .
In some instances , as befits the Trump administration ’ s modus operandi , those sales have involved questionable political maneuvers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ May 2019 declaration of an “ emergency ” that was used to push through an $ 8.1 billion deal with the Saudis , the UAE , and Jordan for precision-guided bombs and other equipment that simply bypassed normal Congressional oversight procedures completely .
At the behest of Congress , the State Department ’ s Office of Inspector General then opened an investigation into the circumstances surrounding that declaration , in part because it had been pushed by a former Raytheon lobbyist working in State ’ s Office of Legal Counsel .
However , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ probe , Stephen Linick , was soon fired by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for fear that his investigation would uncover administration wrongdoing and , after he was gone , the ultimate findings proved largely—surprise !
—a whitewash , exonerating the administration .
Still , the report did note that the Trump administration had failed to take adequate care to avoid civilian harm by US weaponry supplied to the Saudis .
Even some Trump administration officials have had qualms about the Saudi deals .
The New York Times has reported that a number @ @ @ @ @ @ @ whether they could someday be held liable for aiding and abetting war crimes in Yemen .
If Donald Trump is reelected , don ’ t expect US sales to the Middle East—or their murderous effects—to diminish any time soon .
To his credit , Joe Biden has pledged as president to end US arms and support for the Saudi war in Yemen .
For the region as a whole , however , don ’ t be shocked if , even in a Biden presidency , such weaponry continues to flow in and it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s giant arms merchants to the detriment of the peoples of the Middle East .
Unless you ’ re Raytheon or Lockheed Martin , selling arms is one area where no one should want to keep America “ great .
”

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To stay on top of important articles like these, sign up to receive the latest updates from TomDispatch.
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The United States has the dubious distinction of being the world’s leading arms dealer. It dominates the global trade in a historic fashion and nowhere is that domination more complete than in the endlessly war-torn Middle East. There, believe it or not, the United States controls nearly half the arms market. From Yemen to Libya to Egypt, sales by this country and its allies are playing a significant role in fueling some of the world’s most devastating conflicts. But Donald Trump, even before he was felled by Covid-19 and sent to Walter Reed Medical Center, could not have cared less, as long as he thought such trafficking in the tools of death and destruction would help his political prospects.
Look, for example, at the recent “normalization” of relations between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel he helped to broker, which has set the stage for yet another surge in American arms exports. To hear Trump and his supporters tell it, he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for the deal, dubbed “the Abraham Accords.” In fact, using it, he was eager to brand himself as “Donald Trump, peacemaker” in advance of the November election. This, believe me, was absurd on the face of it. Until the pandemic swept everything in the White House away, it was just another day in Trump World and another example of the president’s penchant for exploiting foreign and military policy for his own domestic political gain.
If the narcissist-in-chief had been honest for a change, he would have dubbed those Abraham Accords the “Arms Sales Accords.” The UAE was, in part, induced to participate in hopes of receiving Lockheed Martin’s F-35 combat aircraft and advanced armed drones as a reward. For his part, after some grumbling, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to one-up the UAE and seek a new $8 billion arms package from the Trump administration, including an additional squadron of Lockheed Martin’s F-35s (beyond those already on order), a fleet of Boeing attack helicopters, and so much more. Were that deal to go through, it would undoubtedly involve an increase in Israel’s more than ample military aid commitment from the United States, already slated to total $3.8 billion annually for the next decade.
Jobs, Jobs, Jobs
This wasn’t the first time President Trump tried to capitalize on arms sales to the Middle East to consolidate his political position at home and his posture as this country’s dealmaker par excellence. Such gestures began in May 2017, during his very first official overseas trip to Saudi Arabia. The Saudis greeted him then with ego-boosting fanfare, putting banners featuring his face along roadways leading into their capital, Riyadh; projecting a giant image of that same face on the hotel where he was staying; and presenting him with a medal in a surreal ceremony at one of the kingdom’s many palaces. For his part, Trump came bearing arms in the form of a supposed $110 billion weapons package. Never mind that the size of the deal was vastly exaggerated. It allowed the president to gloat that his sales deal there would mean “jobs, jobs, jobs” in the United States. If he had to work with one of the most repressive regimes in the world to bring those jobs home, who cared? Not he and certainly not his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who would develop a special relationship with the cruel Saudi Crown Prince and heir apparent to the throne, Mohammed bin Salman. 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
Trump doubled down on his jobs argument in a March 2018 White House meeting with bin Salman. The president came armed with a prop for the cameras: a map of the United States showing the states that (he swore) would benefit most from Saudi arms sales, including—you won’t be surprised to learn—the crucial election swing states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Wisconsin.
Nor will it surprise you that Trump’s jobs claims from those Saudi arms sales are almost entirely fraudulent. In fits of fancy, he’s even insisted that he’s creating as many as half a million jobs linked to weapons exports to that repressive regime. The real number is less than one-tenth that amount—and far less than one-tenth of one percent of US employment. But why let the facts get in the way of a good story?
American Arms Dominance
Donald Trump is far from the first president to push tens of billions of dollars of arms into the Middle East. The Obama administration, for example, made a record $115 billion in arms offers to Saudi Arabia during its eight years in office, including combat aircraft, attack helicopters, armored vehicles, military ships, missile defense systems, bombs, guns, and ammunition. Current Issue View our current issue
Those sales solidified Washington’s position as the Saudis’ primary arms supplier. Two-thirds of its air force consists of Boeing F-15 aircraft, the vast bulk of its tanks are General Dynamics M-1s, and most of its air-to-ground missiles come from Raytheon and Lockheed Martin. And mind you, those weapons aren’t just sitting in warehouses or being displayed in military parades. They’ve been among the principal killers in a brutal Saudi intervention in Yemen that has sparked the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophe.
A new report from the Arms and Security Program at the Center for International Policy (which I co-authored) underscores just how stunningly the United States dominates the Middle Eastern weapons market. According to data from the arms transfer database compiled by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, in the period from 2015 to 2019 the United States accounted for 48 percent of major weapons deliveries to the Middle East and North Africa, or (as that vast region is sometimes known acronymically) MENA. Those figures leave deliveries from the next largest suppliers in the dust. They represent nearly three times the arms Russia supplied to MENA, five times what France contributed, 10 times what the United Kingdom exported, and 16 times China’s contribution.
In other words, we have met the prime weapons proliferator in the Middle East and North Africa and it is us.
The influence of US arms in this conflict-ridden region is further illustrated by a striking fact: Washington is the top supplier to 13 of the 19 countries there, including Morocco (91 percent of its arms imports), Israel (78 percent), Saudi Arabia (74 percent), Jordan (73 percent), Lebanon (73 percent), Kuwait (70 percent), the UAE (68 percent), and Qatar (50 percent). If the Trump administration goes ahead with its controversial plan to sell F-35s and armed drones to the UAE and brokers that related $8 billion arms deal with Israel, its share of arms imports to those two countries will be even higher in the years to come.
Devastating Consequences
None of the key players in today’s most devastating wars in the Middle East produce their own weaponry, which means that imports from the US and other suppliers are the true fuel sustaining those conflicts. Advocates of arms transfers to the MENA region often describe them as a force for “stability,” a way to cement alliances, counter Iran, or more generally a tool for creating a balance of power that makes armed engagement less likely.
In a number of key conflicts in the region, this is nothing more than a convenient fantasy for arms suppliers (and the US government), as the flow of ever more advanced weaponry has only exacerbated conflicts, aggravated human rights abuses, and caused countless civilian deaths and injuries, while provoking widespread destruction. And keep in mind that, while not solely responsible, Washington is the chief culprit when it comes to the weaponry that’s fueling a number of the area’s most violent wars.
In Yemen, a Saudi/UAE-led intervention that began in March 2015 has, by now, resulted in the deaths of thousands of civilians through air strikes, put millions at risk of famine, and helped create the desperate conditions for the worst cholera outbreak in living memory. That war has already cost more than 100,000 lives and the US and the United Kingdom have been the primary suppliers of the combat aircraft, bombs, attack helicopters, missiles, and armored vehicles used there, transfers valued in the tens of billions of dollars.
There has been a sharp jump in overall arms deliveries to Saudi Arabia since that war was launched. Dramatically enough, total arms sent to the Kingdom more than doubled between the 2010–14 period and the years from 2015 to 2019. Together, the United States (74 percent) and the United Kingdom (13 percent) accounted for 87 percent of all arms deliveries to Saudi Arabia in that five-year time frame.
In Egypt, US-supplied combat aircraft, tanks, and attack helicopters have been used in what is supposedly a counterterror operation in the Northern Sinai desert, which has, in reality, simply become a war largely against the civilian population of the region. Between 2015 and 2019, Washington’s arms offers to Egypt totaled $2.3 billion, with billions more in deals made earlier but delivered in those years. And in May 2020, the Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced that it was offering a package of Apache attack helicopters to Egypt worth up to $2.3 billion.
According to research conducted by Human Rights Watch, thousands of people have been arrested in the Sinai region over the past six years, hundreds have been disappeared, and tens of thousands have been forcibly evicted from their homes. Armed to the teeth, the Egyptian military has also carried out “systematic and widespread arbitrary arrests—including of children—enforced disappearances, torture, extrajudicial killings, collective punishment, and forced eviction.” There is also evidence to suggest that Egyptian forces have engaged in illegal air and ground strikes that have killed substantial numbers of civilians.
In several conflicts—examples of how such weapons transfers can have dramatic and unintended impacts—US arms have ended up in the hands of both sides. When Turkish troops invaded northeastern Syria in October 2019, for instance, they faced Kurdish-led Syrian militias that had received some of the $2.5 billion in arms and training the United States had supplied to Syrian opposition forces over the previous five years. Meanwhile, the entire Turkish inventory of combat aircraft consists of US-supplied F-16s and more than half of its armored vehicles are of American origin.
In Iraq, when the forces of the Islamic State, or ISIS, swept through a significant part of that country from the north in 2014, they captured US light weaponry and armored vehicles worth billions of dollars from the Iraqi security forces this country had armed and trained. Similarly, in more recent years, US arms have been transferred from the Iraqi military to Iranian-backed militias operating alongside them in the fight against ISIS.
Meanwhile, in Yemen, while the United States has directly armed the Saudi/UAE coalition, its weaponry has, in fact, ended up being used by all sides in the conflict, including their Houthi opponents, extremist militias, and groups linked to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. This equal-opportunity spread of American weaponry has occurred thanks to arms transfers by former members of the US-supplied Yemeni military and by UAE forces that have worked with an array of groups in the southern part of the country.
Who Benefits?
Just four companies—Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and General Dynamics—were involved in the overwhelming majority of US arms deals with Saudi Arabia between 2009 and 2019. In fact, at least one or more of those companies played key roles in 27 offers worth more than $125 billion (out of a total of 51 offers worth $138 billion). In other words, in financial terms, more than 90 percent of the US arms offered to Saudi Arabia involved at least one of those top four weapons makers.
In its brutal bombing campaign in Yemen, the Saudis have killed thousand of civilians with US-supplied weaponry. In the years since the Kingdom launched its war, indiscriminate air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition have hit marketplaces, hospitals, civilian neighborhoods, water treatment centers, even a school bus filled with children. American-made bombs have repeatedly been used in such incidents, including an attack on a wedding, where 21 people, children among them, were killed by a GBU-12 Paveway II guided bomb manufactured by Raytheon.
A General Dynamics 2,000-pound bomb with a Boeing JDAM guidance system was used in a March 2016 strike on a marketplace that killed 97 civilians, including 25 children. A Lockheed Martin laser-guided bomb was utilized in an August 2018 attack on a school bus that slaughtered 51 people, including 40 children. A September 2018 report by the Yemeni group Mwatana for Human Rights identified 19 air strikes on civilians in which US-supplied weapons were definitely used, pointing out that the destruction of that bus was “not an isolated incident, but the latest in a series of gruesome [Saudi-led] Coalition attacks involving U.S. weapons.”
It should be noted that the sales of such weaponry have not occurred without resistance. In 2019, both houses of Congress voted down a bomb sale to Saudi Arabia because of its aggression in Yemen, only to have their efforts thwarted by a presidential veto. In some instances, as befits the Trump administration’s modus operandi, those sales have involved questionable political maneuvers. Take, for instance, a May 2019 declaration of an “emergency” that was used to push through an $8.1 billion deal with the Saudis, the UAE, and Jordan for precision-guided bombs and other equipment that simply bypassed normal Congressional oversight procedures completely.
At the behest of Congress, the State Department’s Office of Inspector General then opened an investigation into the circumstances surrounding that declaration, in part because it had been pushed by a former Raytheon lobbyist working in State’s Office of Legal Counsel. However, the inspector general in charge of the probe, Stephen Linick, was soon fired by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for fear that his investigation would uncover administration wrongdoing and, after he was gone, the ultimate findings proved largely—surprise!—a whitewash, exonerating the administration. Still, the report did note that the Trump administration had failed to take adequate care to avoid civilian harm by US weaponry supplied to the Saudis.
Even some Trump administration officials have had qualms about the Saudi deals. The New York Times has reported that a number of State Department personnel were concerned about whether they could someday be held liable for aiding and abetting war crimes in Yemen.
Will America Remain the World’s Greatest Arms Dealer?
If Donald Trump is reelected, don’t expect US sales to the Middle East—or their murderous effects—to diminish any time soon. To his credit, Joe Biden has pledged as president to end US arms and support for the Saudi war in Yemen. For the region as a whole, however, don’t be shocked if, even in a Biden presidency, such weaponry continues to flow in and it remains business as usual for this country’s giant arms merchants to the detriment of the peoples of the Middle East. Unless you’re Raytheon or Lockheed Martin, selling arms is one area where no one should want to keep America “great.”