radiofree.asia

Category: joe biden

  • Biden-Harris Killed the 2022 Ukraine-War Peace Deal

    Early after Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022, Turkey, which is a NATO member but not as subservient to the U.S. Government as almost all of its European members are, broke with the U.S. Government’s opposition to there being any negotiations to settle the Ukraine war; and peace talks, negotiations to end the conflict, were held in Istanbul. As Wikipedia notes regarding those negotiations:

    In a surprise visit to Ukraine on 9 April [2022], British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said “Putin is a war criminal, he should be pressured, not negotiated with,” and that the collective West was not willing to make a deal with Putin. Three days after Johnson left Kyiv, Putin stated publicly that talks with Ukraine “had turned into a dead end”. Naftali Bennett said in 2023 that both sides had wanted a ceasefire, the odds of the deal holding had been 50-50, and that the Western powers backing Ukraine had stopped the deal.[79]

    Mr. Johnson had received U.S. President Joe Biden’s authorization to do that — to go to  Ukraine’s President Volodmyr Zelensky to inform him that The West (the U.S. empire, including NATO) would cease supporting Ukraine’s Government if Ukraine would sign the till-then-agreed-upon but not-yet-signed peace treaty with Russia, which entailed Russia’s ceasing its invasion in return for Ukraine’s returning to its neutral status which had prevailed prior to the US. Government’s take-over of Ukraine on 20 February 2014, and Ukraine’s ceasing its efforts to restore to Ukraine the 22% of the former Ukraine’s territory that Russia then was occupying. Biden insisted upon the Ukrainian Government’s pursuing an all-or-nothing strategy to defeat Russia in the battlefields of Ukraine — or else Ukraine would lose Western support in its war against Russia. (The reason for this policy from Biden is that though such a peace treaty would have been far better for Ukraine, since the million-or-so deaths, that continuing the war entails, would have been prevented, such a treaty would have totally ended America’s ownership of Ukraine, which was won by the Obama-Biden Administration’s stunningly successful coup in February 2014, which grabbed control of Ukraine away from the people of Ukraine. The U.S. Government wants to continue controlling Ukraine’s Government.)

    Publicly, the U.S. Government continues to insist upon a total defeat of Russia in the battlefields of Ukraine. However, it also states that, “as we have been consistently saying, it’s going to be up to President Zelenskyy, if and when he wants to negotiate an end to this war. Certainly, a negotiated end is the most likely outcome here. But when that happens, and under what conditions and circumstances, that’s going to be up to President Zelenskyy.” In other words: if Ukraine’s Government will lose the war against Russia, and Russia will win the war against Ukraine, then (according to the Biden Administration) only Ukraine’s Government will have lost it; the U.S. Government and its NATO military alliance won’t also have lost it. This is the message from the White House, two-and-a-half years after it had ordered Ukraine’s Government to continue this war until Russia will have been defeated.

    All U.S. regime media are trying to either blame Ukraine’s Government, or else blame the Government (i.e., the U.S. Government) that has, in fact, been controlling Ukraine’s Government, for Ukraine’s losing this war. Domestically within the United States, the Biden Administration and its Vice President Kamala Harris would rather that Ukraine’s defeat be held off till after the November 5 elections, so that their Party will win on November 5. But, if the defeat comes after she has won the election, then there will be total pressure upon Zelensky to quit before she becomes inaugurated on January 20th, so that this loss won’t be blamed upon her — won’t occur during her Presidency.

    On September 30, The Atlantic magazine, which is owned by the Democratic Party billionaire Laurene Powell Jobs, the intensely neoconservative widow and heir of Steve Jobs, headlined “The Abandonment of Ukraine: The American strategy in Ukraine is slowly bleeding the nation, and its people, to death.” It argued against “the most unsettling thing we saw [in Ukraine] was the American strategy in Ukraine, one that gives the Ukrainian people just enough military aid not to lose their war but not enough to win it. This strategy is slowly bleeding Ukraine, and its people, to death.” And it closed:

    The war in Ukraine is at risk of being lost — not because the Russians are winning but because Ukraine’s allies have not allowed them to win. If we encourage the Ukrainians to fight while failing to give them the tools they need for victory, history will surely conclude that the Russians weren’t the only ones who committed crimes against Ukraine.

    How can this be “not because the Russians are winning”? How not only definitionally false, but outright stupid, is that statement? 925,872 people in the deceived U.S. empire are paying subscription fees for such neocon propaganda, basically pushing for WW3. What Ms. Jobs’s agents are arguing for there is to escalate this war to being a direct war between the U.S. Government (and all of its ‘allies’ or colonies) versus Russia’s Government and Russia’s people. How many Americans really even want that — WW3 — in order to continue the U.S. Government’s control over what still remains of Ukrainian territory? Is Ukraine necessary for protecting U.S. national security? Of course not. But if you are a rabidly neocon Democrat, then you want the Biden-Harris Administration to go at least to the brink of WW3, if necessary, in order to prevent the loss of Ukraine.

    What the Democratic Party half of America’s Deep State — and Ms. Jobs is part of that — are doing is to try to force the Democratic Party officials to go all the way up to WW3 if that’s what it takes in order to ‘win’ against Russia in Ukraine. This is what’s called a “proxy war.” It has, all along, been part of the U.S. regime’s long war to conquer Russia. Russian citizens have been well informed about this, but the subjects in the U.S. empire have not.

    On 2 October 2024, EurAsia Daily headlined the video of a former adviser to the head of the office of the President of Ukraine, Alexei Arestovich, who had advised President Zelensky at the Istanbul peace negotiations in 2022, “The Ukrainian front is collapsing, the loss of Coal is only the beginning of a catastrophe — Arestovich,” and presented him saying, “The training system has failed, there is no basic motivation in the troops, but there is an understanding that the stated goal of the war — reaching the borders of 1991 — is unrealistic in these specific circumstances. In addition, there is no motivation due to domestic politics, where every day those in power put forward new proposals on restrictions on citizens – from cultural and language bans to economic ones, new corruption scandals open almost every day and the mess in the management of the army and the state intensifies.”

    A “DavidZ” posted also on October 2nd lengthier quotations from Arestovich’s video:

    “In two to three months, well, three to four, the front, which is currently crumbling in two directions, and slowly retreating in three, will begin to crumble in six or seven. This flow will become uncontrollable. This means a collapse of the front,” he said.

    He stated that in this case, the Russian army will shift the war to maneuver warfare, leading to “the collapse of the front as such.”

    “When all these 700,000 with automatic weapons and artillery cannot hold the front line, the enemy will start to rapidly advance inward, cutting off Kharkov and reaching Poltava, Dnepr, and Zaporozhye. This will lead to the loss of key industrial centers of Ukraine,” the former presidential office advisor noted.

    Arestovych identified the main reason for what is happening as the lack of a reserve of motivated infantry.

    “No drones can help reach the borders of any year if infantry soldiers do not walk this path under enemy fire… The training system has failed, there is a lack of basic motivation in the troops, but there is an understanding that the declared goal of the war – reaching the borders of 1991 – is unrealistic under these specific circumstances,” he explained.

    “Moreover, motivation is lacking due to internal politics, where every day new proposals are put forward by the powerful to limit citizens’ rights: from cultural and language bans to economic restrictions. Almost every day, new corruption scandals emerge, and the chaos in the management of the army and the state intensifies,” added the former presidential office advisor.

    Arestovych believes that “now the only way out is to sober up, stop the war, and begin a complete reorganization of the state system.”

    On 26 October 2024, the widely respected military-affairs blogger “Simplicius,” headlined  “SITREP 10/5/24: Post-Ugledar Landscape Unfurls into Dark Ukrainian Future,” and reported, from numerous reliable sources on both sides of the conflict in Ukraine, the end closing-in on the existing Government of Ukraine. One in Ukraine headlined on October 2nd, (translated) “’We Simply Had No One and Nothing Left to Fight with’ — A Rpresentative of the 72nd Brigade Battalion Headquarters on Leaving Vuhledar.” It reported:

    After two years of defense of Vuhledar, the Ukrainian military withdrew from the city. Today, the Khortytsia operational and strategic grouping of troops officially announced this: ‘Having suffered numerous losses as a result of prolonged fighting, the enemy did not give up trying to capture Vuhledar. In an attempt to take control of the town at any cost, they managed to send reserves to conduct flanking attacks that exhausted the defenses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. As a result of the enemy’s actions, the city was threatened with encirclement. The Higher Command gave permission for a maneuver to withdraw units from Vuhledar in order to save personnel and military equipment, and to take up a position for further actions.’

    That was a long and strategically crucial battle.

    Also on October 6, Russia’s RT News headlined “Russian ambassador to US returns home: Anatoly Antonov has left Washington, during a period of fractured ties between the two countries,” and reported that, “‘The Russian ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, has ended his service in Washington and is on his way to Moscow,’ the Foreign Ministry said in a brief statement carried by Russian news agencies. The ministry did not provide any additional details and has so far not named his successor.” This is normally the sort of thing that happens shortly before a war breaks out between two countries, in order to protect their diplomats from dangers where they are, such as becoming hit by their own country’s weapons.

    Both of the two U.S. Presidential nominees have been saying nothing about whether, as the President, they would go all the way to WW3 in order to prevent Russia from winning in Ukraine. And none of the ‘news’ media have asked about that. The only possible exception is that on September 17, Donald Trump co-authored with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at The Hill, “Negotiate with Moscow to end the Ukraine war and prevent nuclear devastation,” which contradicts not only what Kamala Harris has said, but some of the things that Trump has said. It is entirely consistent, however, with what RFK Jr. has been saying. On the other hand, even Mr. Kennedy has not addressed specifically the question of whether, as the President, he would go all the way to WW3 in order to prevent Russia from winning in Ukraine. So: there has been no public discussion of such a question. Perhaps the American pubic don’t even care about it. Would most people be interested in a candidate’s position on it? If not, then is this a democracy? And if so, then is this a democracy? In fact, wouldn’t a democracy be focused upon this issue above any other? Americans aren’t focusing upon it at all. Nor are the publics in any of the U.S. Government’s colonies.

    The post Biden-Harris Killed the 2022 Ukraine-War Peace Deal first appeared on Dissident Voice.

    This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.

  • Biden Officials Say Ceasefire Talks Are Suspended as Harris Names Iran Top Enemy

    Biden officials have reportedly admitted that ceasefire negotiations amid Israel’s war on Lebanon and genocide in Gaza have been suspended, despite public insistence by high-powered figures within the administration that they are working around the clock for a ceasefire. The Biden administration has given up on ceasefire talks after first proposing a deal for a 21-day ceasefire between…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Is the “Lesser Evil” Really Less than the “Greater Evil?”

    2024 presidential candidates: Former President Donald Trump (left) and current Vice President Kamala Harris IMAGE/ABCNews

    When faced with two adverse unethical options, a person may try to avoid the more harmful immoral choice. This is ancient strategy people have talked and written about, and applied in various situations. In the US political parlance, the term “lesser of two evils,” is choosing the evil that will be less damaging.

    There is talk about voting for the “lesser of two evils.” The rationale behind this thinking is to prevent the greater “evil” from gaining power and thus causing more havoc. This is an intelligent thing to do especially in countries where million of peoples’ future is at stake — but when the United States is involved, the well being of the entire planet is at stake.

    In the US, it is understood by many that the greater evil is the Republican Party or the proverbial Charybdis. Noam Chomsky once said, “Republican Party is the most dangerous organisation in human history.” The lesser evil’s title goes to the Democratic Party or the proverbial Scylla.

    In dire situations, one could accept voting for the lesser evil – Democrats. But when the Democrats don’t want to address the root causes then voting for them election after election turns into a futile exercise, while the sick state keeps on deteriorating. This is a serious problem. It’s like a person who has a tumor that in initial stages is ignored due to carelessness. However, a timely realization as to the consequences rushes in emergency for treatment as if he/she had not headed for the doctor, the malignancy would have proved fatal.

    The above example is equally applicable to the United States — a Sick Empire — physically, that is, in economic decline and mentally, “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today,” to use Dr Martin Luther King Jr’s words spoken on April 4, 1967. The US has steadfastly held on to the title of “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today” as if it doesn’t want to prove Dr King wrong in his assessment.

    The Republican Party openly supports the capitalist class by lowering taxes for the rich, opposing unions, resisting pay raises, waging foreign wars or domestic ones, such as “war against drugs,” etc. In return, they get favors and election campaign contributions.

    But there is something to be said about the lesser evil of the two choices.

    Democratic Party is not that naked — it uses a fig leaf to cover up its hypocrisy, it pretends to be what it is not; it claims it is working for the common folks, complains about rich not paying taxes (but does not do anything), and so on. In reality, they do very little for the general public because they too get lots of money from the big donors to contest elections. LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman (worth $2.5 billion), in 2024 gave $10 million to Biden-Harris campaign donated another $7 million to Kamala Harris (after Biden quit the presidential bid and nominated Harris as the Democratic candidate, without any intra-party election). Hoffman wants Harris to fire Lina Khan, the FTC chair who is fighting big corporate mergers and monopolistic corporate practices. This is what Hoffman said:

    “I do think that Lina Khan is a person who is not helping America in her job in what she’s doing. And so, I would hope that Vice President Harris would replace her.”

    Expedia Chairman Barry Diller (worth $4.5 billion) called Khan a “dope,” but then he said he misspoke; he wants her fired. Who knows, may be Harris would listen to her paymasters, as has been the custom.

    It is sad that people like Lina Khan, who are honest, incorruptible, and are working for the welfare of the majority, and are rare to find in government, have to face so much opposition from the billionaire class. Lina Khan and people like her are hated by the rich, like Hoffman because they try to enforce laws which assist most people rather than fattening the already obese (financially) like Hoffman and his ilk.

    The Young Turks put it rightly: “… we don’t have a democracy. We have an open auction 100%.“

    Biden, when he was running for president, had told the wealthy donors:

    “I mean, we may not want to demonize anybody who has made money.” “The truth of the matter is … nobody has to be punished. No one’s standard of living will change, nothing would fundamentally change.”

    One cannot not sympathize with the Democratic presidential candidates who are (or aiming to be) multimillionaires, who hobnob with billionaires, are mostly interviewed by anchors making millions of dollars, who have to feign they are for ordinary people, in order to get their vote.

    But the problem with this line of strategy is that it is simply prolonging the onset of the overdue implosion rather than trying to eliminate the rot in the system. If you watch or read the news and various commentaries or watch late night shows in the liberal news media, many a times they are making fun of Donald Trump, his wife and children and portray him as an evil person and thus imply Biden/Harris are virtuous people. (In the mid 1980s, then President Ronald Reagan called the Soviet Union an “evil empire” hinting that the US is a sanctimonious entity.) These same people never accuse Biden or his cabinet, as bloodthirsty murderers.

    So why go for the lesser evil?

    The Democrats and the Republicans are almost twins,1 as far as warring against foreign countries or overthrowing their governments is concerned. It’s within the US, where the slight difference comes into play. Democrats would not want to go total fascist at home — they permit some freedom to maintain the facade of the US being “the greatest democracy.” On the other hand, the Republicans want to treat, actually mistreat, most people indiscriminately, within and without the US, in the same fascist manner. Many people in the US don’t mind foreign countries becoming victim of US imperialistic fascist policies, either due to their ignorance or indifference or are misled by Republicans’ and Democrats’ warmongering or news media’s and think tanks’ fear inducing presentation etc. On the other hand, many people are frightened now that, it seems if Trump wins, fascism is going to hit most people in the US. That’s why most people prefer the lesser evil.

    Mind you, fascism has never been absent in many people’s life in the US, such as incarcerating a huge segment of population, people who are victims of police violence (injured or killed), PTSD-(Post traumatic stress disorder) traumatized soldiers returning from fabricated bloody wars, homeless people, and so on. Most Democrats haven’t created meaningful improvement in the lives of these people.

    The Democrat and Republican led governments have overthrown many governments and are still trying to overthrow many more but Democrats don’t want Trump to do that in the US, such as the purported January 6, 2021 attempt.2 It was an unorganized, clumsily executed foolish attempt. Trump should have consulted the experienced hands from both parties and also the CIA before the January 6 attempt. He would have succeeded, for sure.

    Q: Why will there never be a coup d’état in Washington?

    A: Because there’s no American embassy there.

    Is there a difference between Trump and Harris etc.?

    Without a second thought, one has to admit that Trump’s virile oral member is long and ejects idiocies and hate on a non-stop basis. Trump is a very cruel person, indeed. But the question is: are Biden, Harris, Anthony Blinken, Lloyd Austin, Harris’ supporter greater evil Dick Cheney any less cruel?

    No.

    In fact, they are more cruel and have excessively more blood of innocents on their hands than Trump has, that is, until now. His next term will be full of vengeance and who knows, greater bloodshed. Isn’t Biden too full of hate for Palestinians, Lebanese, and Iranians or anyone fighting for their rights and want to go their separate ways? Biden, a grandfather, who still grieves for his son Beau Biden’s death in 2015 due to glioblastoma has neither shed a tear nor has grieved for the 42,511 Palestinians (including 16,660 children) plus 1974 [A Lancet article from 10 July 2024 reported a much higher estimate: “Applying a conservative estimate of four indirect deaths per one direct death to the 37 396 deaths reported, it is not implausible to estimate that up to 186 000 or even more deaths could be attributable to the current conflict in Gaza.” — DV ed.] (which includes 127 children) Lebanese killed by Israel with US encouragement, arms and ammunition, money, personnel, and intelligence –without which Israel could not have caused such incredible loss of lives. The opposition to war within the US is squashed by the Israel Lobby.

    At this juncture in human history, who deserves more loathing, Trump or Biden and Harris? Of course, today the answer is the Biden/Harris team.

    ENDNOTES:

    The post Is the “Lesser Evil” Really Less than the “Greater Evil?” first appeared on Dissident Voice.
    1    Just in this century, with the help of the Supreme Court, the greater evil George W. Bush got into White House and gave us Afghanistan and Iraq wars with the help of Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and neocons. The lesser evil Barack Obama delivered a speech in Cairo, Egypt, received a Nobel Peace Prize, forgave the wealthy criminals for creating the 2000’s economic turmoil, and then waged war against seven Muslim countries and destroyed Libya. He was followed by the greater evil Donald Trump whose mishandling of Corona Virus killed hundreds of thousand people, enhanced Islamophobia, and created havoc in immigrant families by separating children from parents. Then we got Joe Biden who provoked Russia to fight Ukraine and let the world’s most dangerous man, Israel’s Netanyahu, run amok in Gaza, Palestine, and now in Lebanon. Seems like, very soon, he’ll open another front against Iran.
    2    By the beginning of 2024, 1,240 people had been arrested for the January 6, 2021, incident. Recently, Colorado county clerk Tina Peters was sentenced to nine years. None of the US planners involved, covertly or overtly, has ever been charged, let alone sentenced to prison for a coup and killing of Chile’s Dr. Salvador Allende, ousting Iran’s Mohammad Mosaddegh, and so many others.

    This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.

  • US Health Workers Back From Gaza Estimate Death Toll Is at Least 119,000

    As the anniversary of the beginning of Israel’s genocide in Gaza approaches, a group of nearly 100 American health care workers back from Gaza have estimated that the true death toll in Gaza is at least four times higher than the official reported count, if not far higher. In a devastating letter sent to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris this week, 99 health workers who…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Report: State Dept. Ignored Objection to Israel Arms Sale Early in Gaza Genocide

    Last year, just days into Israel’s genocide in Gaza, a bureau within the State Department raised objections to over a dozen arms shipments to Israel, citing “gross violations” of human rights by the unit slated to receive them. But these objections were ignored, a new report finds, and that unit would later be involved in the single deadliest massacre of the genocide so far.

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Israel Kills US Citizen Kamel Jawad in Bombing of Lebanon

    The Israeli military killed American citizen Hajj Kamel Ahmad Jawad in a bombing on Lebanon on Tuesday, in the latest instance of Israel killing an American amid its U.S.-sponsored massacres. Jawad hailed from Dearborn, Michigan, and was visiting his hometown of Nabatieh in southern Lebanon when he was killed by an Israeli airstrike, according to his family. Jawad was there taking care of his…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • CAIR Calls for Ousting of “Notoriously Orientalist” Biden Middle East Adviser

    Advocates are calling for the ousting of a top Biden administration official who has acted as the “shadow president” on Middle East policy, directing much of the administration’s decisions in the region as the U.S. has enabled Israel to plunge it into chaos and destruction. On Tuesday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said that Middle East adviser Brett McGurk “must go” after…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Biden Praises Carpet-Bombing in Beirut, Tlaib Condemns US-Funded “Bloodbath”

    President Joe Biden and Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib on Saturday had notably different responses to Israel’s intense bombing campaign in Lebanon over the past 24 hours, which killed hundreds of people including key Hezbollah leaders. “Our country is funding this bloodbath,” Tlaib (D-Mich.) said on social media Saturday morning, sharing a post from Zeteo’s Prem Thakker with videos of the…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Longshoremen Threaten Strike as GOP Pushes Biden to Intervene in Contract Battle

    The president of the AFL-CIO sent a letter to House Republicans on Thursday asking them not to intervene in contract negotiations between the International Longshoremen’s Association and the U.S. Maritime Alliance, which could lead to the first East Coast port strike since 1977 if a deal is not struck by October 1. The letter came in response to another letter sent by Republican lawmakers to…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Tlaib Slams Biden for Deploying Troops to Middle East as Israel Bombs Lebanon

    Progressive lawmakers and advocacy groups are sharply criticizing the Biden administration for its decision this week to deploy additional troops to the Middle East as Israel is carrying out a major escalation of its attacks on Lebanon. Outspoken advocates for Palestinian rights, including Representatives Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan) and Cori Bush (D-Missouri), have said that bolstering the U.S.

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Israel Has Displaced Over 90,000 People in Lebanon in Just 3 Days, UN Reports

    Israel has forcibly displaced nearly 100,000 people in Lebanon over the course of just a few days, the UN has reported as Israeli forces appear to be gearing up for a ground invasion of Lebanon. Just since Monday, at least 90,530 people in Lebanon have been forced to flee their homes, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported Wednesday.

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Advocates Demand Blinken Resign After Report Reveals “Egregiously Illegal” Acts

    Calls have grown for Secretary of State Antony Blinken to resign or be impeached, after a bombshell report revealed that he lied to Congress about internal Biden administration recommendations that the U.S. suspend weapons shipments to Israel over myriad human rights violations — a move that one advocacy group said is “egregiously illegal.” Muslim and Arab rights groups and commentators said…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • In Speech, Biden Boasts About Peace — Then Justifies Israel’s Attacks on Lebanon

    As the death toll continued to climb in Lebanon amid Israel’s attacks on the country this week, President Joe Biden suggested in an address to the UN that Israel’s bombing campaign is legitimate, even as other officials in the chamber have warned that Israel’s massacres amount to war crimes. In his final address to the UN General Assembly as the U.S. president on Tuesday…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • US Sending Troops to Middle East as Biden Insists He’s Working on De-Escalation

    The Pentagon has announced that it is sending additional U.S. troops to the Middle East “out of an abundance of caution” after Israel launched a series of attacks on Lebanon that have killed hundreds of people in a major escalation of its war. Pentagon Press Secretary Pat Ryder said in a press conference on Monday that the U.S. is sending some military members to the region to bolster the 40…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Tlaib Says US Must Stop Funding Israel’s “Genocidal Wars” Amid Lebanon Assault

    Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan) reiterated a call for the U.S. to stop sending weapons to Israel on Monday as Israeli forces have launched an all-out assault on Lebanon in the 12th month of their genocide in Gaza. In response to the American embassy in Beirut advising that U.S. citizens flee Lebanon amid Israel’s major escalation of attacks on the country, Tlaib quipped, “It’s easier to stop…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • What’s the Matter With the Democrats?

    Two new books reveal the shortcomings at the heart of the liberal critique of Trump voters.

    This post was originally published on Dissent MagazineDissent Magazine.

  • Industrial Policy Without Nationalism

    Can we expand the state’s role in the economy while diminishing its capacity for war?

    This post was originally published on Dissent MagazineDissent Magazine.

  • Biden Joined the UAW Picket Line Last Year. Will He Do the Same With Boeing?

    More than 33,000 Boeing factory workers in the Pacific Northwest voted to strike on September 13, in a monumental moment for labor that could determine the future of the already embattled aircraft company. After 95 percent of unionized workers rejected a tentative agreement with Boeing, 96 percent voted in favor of authorizing a strike — currently the largest in the country.

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • ‘Crooked’ Hillary and ‘Sleepy’ Joe: Let’s Not Fall For This Act a Third Time

    Dr Alex Vickery-Howe wonders aloud if we’re going to wake up before American democracy implodes.

    I’m calling it now: Democrats are idiots for turning on the incumbent and giving Donald Trump a clear path to the White House.

    The news that donors were willing to withhold millions of dollars was stomach turning. Of course, people have the right to withhold a donation – it’s their money – but publicly knifing a president and playing into a conman’s hands was hardly a good look.

    Now, the knife has sunk, and a good man has left the race. It’s almost like the Democrats and their key supporters have somehow forgotten what’s at stake in this upcoming election.

    Here’s a refresher…

    Trump’s resurgence is genuinely horrifying and may well see the end of contraception, the weaponisation of the justice department, the erosion of LGBTQI+ rights, the forced deportation of recent immigrants, an all-out assault against the American education system and the eventual installation of a Christian dictatorship. This isn’t fantasy… this is the stated intention of Project 2025. Despite his denials, Trump is a big fan of their work.

    Former US president Donald Trump. (IMAGE: Gage Skidmore | Flickr)

    I could describe all of this as ‘unconstitutional’, because it’s the exact opposite of what the Founding Fathers wanted… but I’m not sure America cares about its own constitution anymore. That went out the window when Republicans sided with Russia and decided they were fine with Hitler being quoted in campaign rallies.

    All of this, however, is what Margaret Atwood predicted when she wrote The Handmaid’s Tale. Should we be moving it off the ‘Fiction’ shelf and replacing it with something more far-fetched, such as Lance Armstrong’s biography, or The Art of the Deal?

    Trump is so busy conning others that he probably doesn’t even realise that he too is being conned, used, and played. I don’t think Donnie wants to live in a country where pornography is banned. He was, allegedly, pretty upset that he couldn’t watch his favourite movies while he was living in the White House. He’s going to be more upset when he clicks on Stormy Daniel’s profile and finds a frustrating ‘Error: file not found’ message. I’ve a sneaking suspicion he’ll be put out when his next illegitimate child is carried to term too.

    While we’re speaking about the benefits of the morning after pill… I don’t care about Hunter Biden any more than I care about Eric Trump. The desperation with which people are making this race about the children of the candidates is pitiful. Marjorie Taylor Greene whipping out Hunter’s penis has to be the low point. Parading poor Barron like mini-me is a close second. Haven’t we moved on from political dynasties?

    Before I deconstruct the unfolding disaster around the betrayal of Biden, let me pivot to something else I’ve raised before that I really think Republicans need to consider…

    You should be uniting around Tim Scott.

    Leading conservative figure Tim Scott, pictured at CPAC in 2014. (IMAGE: Gage Skidmore | Flickr)

    The collaboration between Trump and his previous Vice-Presidential stooge, Mike Pence, was bully and victim, or daddy and sub. It was an abusive relationship that plausibly could have ended in Pence’s death. Tim Scott has a stronger personality, and he’s well-liked in Washington, so it’s odd to me that he wasn’t the clear frontrunner to stand beside Trump on the GOP ticket this time.

    The answer to that conundrum is probably that Scott is unwilling to be a stooge at all, and would actually challenge Trump. I guess the party faithful couldn’t handle that. Better to install J.D. Vance, a man who once linked Trump to both ‘Hitler’ and ‘heroin’, but whose moral code seems as changeable as the climate he denies.

    When all the talk about replacing Biden in the top job – with little voter research beyond falling for the opposition’s argument – reached fever pitch among the Democrats, it was strange to me that no Republican strategist was watching Trump rave about wrestling with sharks and thinking that, maybe, Tim Scott could be the saner choice. Why didn’t that come up?

    It’s one of those peculiar quirks of partisan alchemy that the Democrats had a workable candidate they decided to shank for nobody in particular, while the Republicans have a terrible candidate they still refuse to substitute for the younger, smarter ideologue waiting in the wings.

    It just goes to show….

    The right knows how to unify. The left turns on its own if the lattés aren’t the perfect temperature.

    If the recent electoral process in France has taught us anything it’s that the French know how to get their act together and take on the far-right. The left and the centre-left saw the existential threat and joined forces in the name of reason. I wish the same could have happened to America in 2016, when Bernie and Hillary played tug-of-war with the leftist vote. Sarah Silverman’s cries to ‘unify’ were on the money. We’re seeing the same division play out in leftist circles now, and it may well lead to the same awful result.

    Twice failed US presidential hopeful, Bernie Sanders, pictured in 2019. (IMAGE: Gage Skidmore | Flickr)

    I admire Bernie Sanders and I admire Hillary Clinton. They could have shared the ticket.

    I admire Kevin Rudd and I admire Julia Gillard. They actually did share the ticket, and they still managed to knife each other until Australia was saddled with the idiocy of an Abbott government. The left needs to learn the value of loyalty. Sure, the right is disloyal too – Turnbull crept up behind Abbott and Scotty from Marketing crept up behind Turnbull – but they don’t tend to do it when they’re winning.

    The left does.

    Do you know who won more votes that any presidential candidate in US history? Joe Biden.

    Do you know who won 95% of the delegates in the August Democratic convention? Joe Biden.

    In the crucial Rust Belt states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, who do you think the people want to vote for? Steady Biden from… wait for it… Scranton, Pennsylvania… or a new candidate picked at the whim of Hollywood powerbrokers? Nothing feeds more into the ‘coastal elite’ narrative than that. It’s gonna be a gift for class warriors and catnip for Vance.

    I knew that Biden wasn’t going to make it through to Election Day when comedian Bill Maher said:

    “Above any matters of politics, or what’s right or wrong, the one thing I know for sure about America is this… it’s run by mean girls. Mean girls. In the press and in politics, and in life… and when they smell blood in the water, the lust to finish off a vulnerable person will never be denied.”

    Maher is catching up to George Carlin in terms of astute philosophical observations made in jest. Once the blood hit the water, the opposition, the media, and erstwhile friends and allies, swarmed to feast on Biden’s reputation.

    Where have I seen this before?

    Remember, Clinton was the target of a smear campaign that boiled down to a bogus FBI search, a lot of cultish hype – ‘but her emails!’ – and a schoolyard nickname: Crooked Hillary. There was also a whiff of misogyny in her constantly being linked to her husband’s infidelity, which she, more than anyone, had the right to be pissed off about.

    Failed US Presidential Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, pictured in 2016. (IMAGE: US Embassy | Flickr)

    Even my own brilliant (I said brilliant… brilliant… please don’t fire me, sir) editor couldn’t resist making a crack about Bill in relation to Hillary when I pointed out that none of Trump’s political rivals could get away with sleeping with a porn star and bullying her into silence. Bill never stood against Trump, his tryst was 27 years ago, and Hillary is not her husband. It must irk her no end to have to keep asserting her individual worth.

    But that’s the essence of playground politics. Throw mud. Invent a nickname. Repeat until it all sticks. Mean girls. Mean little boys. Adolescents who lack nuance, perspective, stakes, or a shred of empathy.

    When Trump wheeled a group of women out for his debate with Hillary to make accusations against Bill, fresh on the back of Trump’s own ‘pussy grabbing’ scandal, I laughed out loud at the transparent desperation of the tactic. It shocked me then that his manipulative crap actually resonated with people. It shocks me today that the same dirty tricks are still resonating as he throws his toddler taunts at Biden.

    ‘Crooked’ Hillary was a lie. We now know Trump is the criminal with a list of convictions to his name, including being found liable for sexual assault.

    ‘Sleepy’ Joe is also a lie. Trump is exhibiting clear signs of dementia. Medical professionals have been highlighting this for years. Did you sit through his chat with Musk? I’ve literally had more coherent conversations with residents in nursing homes.

    It’s the same trick: deflect your failings back on your opponent.

    Both my grandmother and a close teacher died of dementia. It’s important to clock the difference between normal decline – slowness, reaching for words, lethargy – which Biden absolutely 100% exhibits vs the verbal glitches Trump slips into with scary regularity. Those glitches are a very, very different thing and a sign of actual dementia. You know, the clinical kind, as opposed to a pop cultural diagnosis.

    For the people in my life who suffered from this disease, it was those tell-tale glitches that were the clearest sign to doctors. The same tell-tale glitches Trump is showing now. Eighteen months later and they were severely declined, didn’t know where they were, couldn’t string a sentence together and couldn’t decipher a gas bill. It’s a distinction between a slow but normal 80-year-old and the glitching, rambling early signs of true cognitive impairment.

    Case in point: Biden quickly corrected himself when he accidentally introduced President Zelenskyy as ‘President Putin’ while Trump has repeatedly confused Nikki Haley for Nancy Pelosi without catching himself in the moment or showing the slightest hint that anything is amiss. And that’s before we mention the cats and the ducklings.

    US president Joe Biden. (IMAGE: Phil Roeder | Flickr)

    My expectation, had Biden stayed on, was that he would slow further and wouldn’t necessarily make a full term, but that the people around him would be stable and professional, and the President’s decision-making process would remain unhurried but sound until the day he left.

    Trump, on the other hand, may not make it through the next few years without degenerating significantly, losing speech, losing his sense of self-awareness (if he has any now), and requiring full-time care. He’ll be like Boris Yeltsin, literally propped up by his minders, and we all know how that chapter in history ended… with the rise of Vladimir Putin.

    Cognition can slip very quickly once those signs kick in and, for Trump, those signs kicked in a while back. My teacher was working until her 80th birthday but she was in care, thinking I was an actor on tour with her, by her 82nd. My grandmother, a habitual smoker, was offended when I suggested a box of cigarettes on her bedside table belonged to her. One day I walked into her room… and she had no idea who I was.

    It is also a fact, of which I’m acutely aware, that some forms of dementia do run in families. Trump’s own father succumbed to Alzheimer’s and this, curiously, hasn’t been widely analysed by the media.

    I’ve yet to see a medical professional declare that Biden is unwell in any way. Lots of unqualified journalists have suggested it. George Clooney has suggested it. A guy at my gym has suggested it. I’m not sure how that became headline news. I’m stunned that it shattered the candidacy of an outstanding President.

    Meanwhile, Trump is freewheeling about sharks, Hannibal Lecter, the ‘oranges’ of the Mueller investigation, the dangers of solar power after dark, and random thoughts that not only lack coherency in the moment but any sense of objective reality.

    If Biden had said half of these wacko things, he’d have been splashed all over the tabloids. Somehow, Trump sidesteps scrutiny because the press still treats him like the harmless character actor from The Apprentice. That’s not who he is. He’s the guy who wants to usher in martial law and take retribution against his enemies.

    I look back respectfully on honourable Republican leaders, like the late John McCain who refused to belittle his political opponents and defended American healthcare shortly after his own surgery and not long before his death. Like Biden, McCain was a man of integrity. Draft dodger Trump mocked McCain for being captured during the Vietnam War. That’s not just low… it’s slimy.

    Former US Senator and failed presidential candidate, John McCain. (IMAGE: Rona Proudfoot | Flickr)

    It would be challenging, I’m sure, for an old-school politician to be confronted by someone as fundamentally unscrupulous as Trump, and I do understand why Democrats became concerned by Biden’s subdued response, but fracturing into warring pieces was not the answer.

    It was time to rally. The Democrats chose to collapse.

    The truth has never mattered when it comes to Trump. Hillary isn’t a criminal but Trump himself is. Biden isn’t mentally unfit, but Trump himself is. Haven’t we caught on yet? It’s the same con, the same projection, and America is about to fall for it all over again. To quote one of Trump’s own catchphrases – something I hardly ever do – there’s really only one word for this: Sad.

    I wonder if the Romans were this smug when Rome fell. I’m seeing a lot of people revel in these attacks against Biden. Cenk, you’re great, but you’re never gonna be President. George, I’m a fan, but the guy who starred in Batman & Robin shouldn’t be giving anyone career advice.

    Attacking Biden four months out from a potentially catastrophic election wasn’t edgy or clever. It certainly wasn’t wise. It was very, very far from tactically sound. I’m not an American national, so I’ll leave it for others to decide if it was ‘patriotic’… but, from a global perspective, what we’re seeing is a country handing its honour back to a criminal. America might not make it through another Trump term.

    Tom Nichols summed it up:

    “The real tragedy is that, in a serious country, Biden might step down without incident, and a normal race would continue, because decent people would have banished Trump from the public square long ago.”

    I’ll risk being laughed at for saying it earnestly: Biden is a good guy. He is. Look into his history, look at what he has confronted and transcended in his life, and ask yourself how a weak coward like Trump would have fared under those same circumstances. Ask yourself who has integrity, who has character, and who is a fragile man-baby pretending to be tough while shadowy figures, like Miller and Bannon, and foreign rulers, like Putin and Kim Jong Un, merrily pull his strings.

    Trump is not a good guy, and he’s not even a particularly capable bad guy. He’s just an empty guy. So sad.

    It disgusted me to watch Biden being assaulted by his own party and by a wider network of media hacks and “activists” who may as well be on the GOP’s payroll. Some people are still enjoying this pile on. Well, enjoy four more years of the felon-in-chief. You won’t have anyone else to blame but your own mirrors. There are several reasons why this strategy is suicidal:

    1. Perspective

    Renowned US film-maker Michael Moore. (IMAGE: David Shankbone | Flickr)

    Michael Moore once put a Ficus forward for political office to demonstrate that a plant was a stronger candidate than the opposition. The same applies here. In a choice between Trump and literally anyone – or anything – you don’t vote Trump.

     

    2. Record

    US president Joe Biden in August 2022, announcing the cancellation of billions of dollars in student loan debt for middle and low income earners. (IMAGE: Prachatai | Flickr)

    If anyone is still interested in being objective rather than kneejerk and emotional, the fact is, Biden has been a very successful president. In everything from birth control to gun safety (admittedly two things Republicans hate) Biden has been effective.

    He has responded to the climate emergency with positive green initiatives that benefit rather than alienate farmers; he has given food producers a direct boost; he has relieved student debt; he has cracked down on cybercrime; he has repaired crumbling infrastructure; he has actually been tough with America’s foreign adversaries instead of just telling people he’s tough; he has strengthened the NATO alliance; he has lowered drug prices for families; and he has presided over skyrocketing employment figures. What do people want?

     

    3. Comparison

    Joe Biden and Donald Trump, pictured in the ill-fated (for Biden) debate in July 2024.

    Joe Biden’s opponent is not in the same league.

    Besides being an outlaw and a rapist, Donald Trump was a rat-shit president who bailed out the rich while stifling minimum wage growth (i.e. directly betraying his supporters); refused to believe Covid-19 was a problem, even as record numbers of Americans lay dying (i.e. directly betraying his supporters); and cosied up to dictators eager to exploit the US (i.e. directly betraying his supporters).

    History has judged him and there is little to redeem the Don from the ash heap of persistent failure. For his supporters, bringing him back is like cutting off your own hand to resurrect Voldemort. He’s never gonna be grateful.

    I don’t understand how there was even a contest.

    In the blue corner: A man who overcame personal tragedy to become a strong and empathetic leader when history needed him. Biden proved himself to be intelligent, measured, hardworking and kind. He remains a stable choice, surrounded by excellent people. His weakness – if it can be called that – was being undervalued by a nation that equates belligerence with heroism.

    In the red corner: A man who was given everything by his rich daddy to become a petulant, vindictive, dishonest, sleazy, stupid criminal. Trump is a textbook illustration of what happens when narcissism goes unchecked. He’s a pathetic candidate, surrounded by nationalist extremists, proud Nazis and Christofascist thugs. Small of mind if not in stature, he only wants to get back into power to settle his grievances. He doesn’t give a damn about his flock. If this monster returns to the Oval Office, he will decimate and humiliate his country a second time.

    And the Democrats who fight internally and let him waltz back in while they bitch about each other will have no right to complain on election night. They’ll have opened the door.

    Both of the original candidates are probably too old for the gig. Both are older, in fact, than Bill Clinton is now. Both of the original candidates have some decline. Biden is slow and prone to gaffes. Trump is a raving half-wit who is obsessed with faucets and afraid of windmills.

    One presided over a calm and prosperous America. The other turned his nation into a global punchline, betrayed his own base by favouring the wealthy, saluted North Korea, worshipped Russia, and pretended Covid wasn’t killing his own citizens.

    Former US president Donald Trump, pictured in 2020 during his botched handling of the Covid-19 crisis.

    One planned for the future and put initiatives into place that will continue to bear fruit and have a positive impact for decades to come. The other sticks his fingers in his ears whenever anyone mentions climate science, boasts about tax evasion, preys on the vulnerable, enjoys casual sexual assault, mocks American veterans, and gets a little coy if Jeffrey Epstein’s name comes up in an interview. Go figure.

    One cared about voters. The other harasses poor people for donations to his personal legal fund.

    One respected democracy. The other is a hypocrite and a sore loser who calls his opponents ‘snowflakes’ and then launches a coup when an election doesn’t go his way.

    One wanted to be president. The other wants to be dictator for life.

    For reasons that history will regard as insane, America chose to axe the former… and now the latter is laughing.

    There is now, of course, a new candidate in the blue corner…. Fresh from her strong debate performance, Vice-President Kamala Harris is riding a wave of popularity, which, hopefully, extends into those crucial states I’ve mentioned above. That is where this contest will be decided. It doesn’t really matter if Los Angeles loves her.

    While I’m unnerved by her repeated advocacy for the fracking industry, her militarism and her love of guns, I’m hooked on the poetry of Kamala, a seasoned prosecutor, stepping up to humble Trump, a seasoned gangster.

    Nevertheless, the wisdom, or otherwise, of replacing a proven winner in President Biden remains to be seen. Further internal division will be terminal, so the Democrats better unite now and unite clearly.

    Regardless of who steps into his shoes and into the Rose Garden, I’m happy to go on record and say that Biden deserved better. Clooney and I can agree to disagree. The Ides of March is an underrated Clooney film – most of his films are great, really – but the title feels somehow apt in the wake of this betrayal of the President by those who should have been defending him.

    One thing we should all see now is the pattern.

    ‘Crooked’ Hillary.

    ‘Sleepy’ Joe.

    It looks like they’re struggling to find something that sticks with Kamala, but they will….

    Next time a stupid nickname comes up in the playground, let’s not fall for it again. Ten to one it will just be another example of Donald Trump deflecting from his own inadequacy.

    The post ‘Crooked’ Hillary and ‘Sleepy’ Joe: Let’s Not Fall For This Act a Third Time appeared first on New Matilda.

    This post was originally published on New Matilda.

  • Vance Admits to “Creating” Stories About Haitian Immigrants, Stoking Hate

    Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) admitted on Sunday that he and Donald Trump have been “creat[ing] stories” about Haitian immigrants in Ohio in order to incite anti-immigrant hatred and bring media attention to racist lies circulated by the right in recent weeks. In an interview on CNN, Vance referred to the lies, which some have labeled as blood libel against Haitians, as “memes…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Vance Admits to “Creating” Stories About Haitian Immigrants, Stoking Hate

    Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) admitted on Sunday that he and Donald Trump have been “creat[ing] stories” about Haitian immigrants in Ohio in order to incite anti-immigrant hatred and bring media attention to racist lies circulated by the right in recent weeks. In an interview on CNN, Vance referred to the lies, which some have labeled as blood libel against Haitians, as “memes…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Defense Contractor Musk “Jokes” Biden, Harris Should Be Assassination Targets

    Major defense contractor Elon Musk suggested in a now-deleted post on social media that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris should be targeted for assassinations after the Secret Service foiled what the FBI said was an apparent plot on Donald Trump’s life on Sunday. In a post on X, Musk quoted a post from a user who asked, “Why they want to kill Donald Trump?” Musk…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Second Time Lucky? Bullets Bring No Bump For Trump In The Polls

    Once upon a time, an attempt on the life of a sitting president (or a former president) would have all but guaranteed re-election. We don’t live in that world anymore. Things got weird. And that’s potentially a good thing, depending on your politics. Chris Graham weighs in on some polling data that in another universe, would be almost inconceivable.

    Another day, another assassination attempt on former US president Donald J. Trump.

    Overnight, a 58-year-old man, Ryan Wesley Routh, was captured by police after he was allegedly spotted lying in wait for Trump while the ex-president was playing golf in West Palm Beach, Florida. A Secret Service agent reportedly began firing on Routh after spotting a rifle poking through a fence. Routh, who was about 500 metres from Trump when he was discovered, fled the scene but was apprehended by police a short time later.

    It’s the second time in as many months someone has tried to kill Trump, although on this occasion, the gunman wasn’t able to fire off any rounds. That’s obviously in stark contrast to the incident on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania, when Trump’s ear was grazed by a bullet.

    That shooting sparked widespread speculation across the political spectrum that having been wounded in an assassination attempt, Trump was now a shoe-in for the American presidency.

    The facts, and the polling, tell a radically different story.

     

    No bump for Trump

    For most of 2024, Donald Trump led US president Joe Biden in the polls. It was never by more than few points and by July 13 – the day Trump was scheduled to speak in Butler – the polling numbers remained tight, at 42.3% for Trump, and 40.3% for Biden.

    And then, Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old with an automatic rifle – shot Trump. The footage from the rally of a former president turned presidential candidate bleeding from the head and pumping his fists defiantly in the air as he emerged from a Secret Service pile-on, are amongst the most extraordinary images of the modern political era.

    Surely Trump should have seen his support surge?

    One week later, when Joe Biden finally announced he was dropping out of the presidential race, Trump was sitting on 43.5% – a bump of just 1.2%, which is well within the margin of error – and Biden was virtually unchanged at 40.2%.

    If you know anything about American political history, this kind of outcome following an ‘almost assassination’ is inconceivable. Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981, and went on to win by the largest landslide in American political history (more on that below). But if you look closely, the lack of any boost for Trump is  consistent with all the other available data .

    The fact is, of those Americans who do vote, very few of them haven’t already made up their mind about Donald Trump. They either love him or hate him, and as the data has consistently shown, the majority of the population sit in the latter camp.

     

    The elephant in the room

    There’s a perception inside and outside the US that political polls are no longer reliable, chiefly because they failed to predict Donald Trump’s victory in the 2016 presidential elections.

    While it’s true that relatively few polls predicted Trump would win office, most polls correctly predicted the national result: that is, that Hilary Clinton would win the popular vote. And she did, by more than three million.

    Failed US presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton. (IMAGE: Brett Weinstein | Flickr)

    Where US pollsters fell down in 2016, and to a lesser extent again in 2020, is in the more marginal states where the battle for the White House is most hotly contested. Places like Georgia, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona, and to a lesser extent the bigger states like Florida and Ohio.

    In particular, polling has been unreliable in rural areas and where folks without a university degree reside. It’s no coincidence that these are the very folk, on average, most likely to vote for Trump. They’re also less likely to be reached by pollsters.

    It’s an ongoing problem, but that doesn’t mean the polls are useless – the good ones are still very good at predicting national trends.

    By some margin, the best pollster to follow is FiveThirtyEight.com, which uses a complex system of aggregating polls from all over the US. Indeed, that’s the polling I’ve used to research this article.

     

    Is Trump really bigger than God’s underpants?

    Trump has long claimed that the polls are being manipulated to make him look bad, and that in fact he’s easily the most popular president in US history.

    Of course, as with so many things ‘Trump’, the opposite of what is being claimed is often the truth. And so rather than being the most popular US president ever, Trump actually has the lowest average approval rating on record, since polling began in 1937.

    Those figures are bad enough, but they’re even worse for Trump if you look not at averages, but at the highest single result each president has ever managed to achieve – that is, what was the pinnacle of his polling?

    On that front, the numbers are actually quite shocking.

    Trump’s best ever ‘approval rating’ is not only the lowest on record, but during the course of his presidency, Trump never actually even cracked the 50% mark. That means that during his entire time in office, more people always disapproved of Trump’s performance than ever approved of it.

    That is unprecedented. Since polls began almost 100 years ago, no president has failed to crack the 50% mark at least once.

    Biden has the next ‘lowest high’, but it’s still a full eight points better than Trump (57%), and Biden managed to stay above 50% for the first seven months of his presidency.

    By any reasonable measure, the figures around Trump’s actual popularity are a political train wreck.

    What these figures confirm is that amongst US voters, there’s very little ‘indifference’ to Trump.

    The voter turnout figures also back this up – voting is not compulsory in the US, and it’s not unusual for voter turnout to be in the 50% range. But the 2020 election contested between Trump and Biden saw the largest voter turnout in more than a century, at 66.8%.

     

    Donald breaks the mould

    The last time a sitting US president was shot in an assassination attempt was in 1981.

    Then, Ronald Reagan was shot by John Hinckley Jnr as he left a hotel in Washington, the bullet ricocheting off Reagan’s limousine and striking him in the chest, penetrating his lung and causing significant internal bleeding.

    Reagan was just two months into his first term as president, so he was still relatively popular when he was shot. Polling on the day before the assassination attempt gave Reagan an approval rating of around 60%. One day after the shooting, a Washington Post poll saw that number jump to 73%.

    US president Ronald Reagan, seconds before he was shot in the chest outside the Washington Hilton Hotel in early 1981, just a few months into his first term in office.

    While Reagan never climbed above 70% again, he consistently polled relatively well through his first term, and at his second and final election he won the most electoral college votes in history, at 525. That translated to a staggering 58.8% of the popular vote, compared to 40.6% for his opponent, Walter Mondale (the former Vice President under Carter). Indeed, Mondale managed just 13 electoral college votes, winning his home state of Minnesota, plus Washington D.C.

    The moral being… generally speaking, if a US president gets shot, his re-election chances are pretty good.

    Unless he’s Donald Trump. Then, it appears not to make much difference. Which seems an extraordinary thing to say in a country mired in violence. But the numbers here don’t lie.

    As Americans come to terms with the second attempt on Trump’s life, the polls over the next few days and weeks are worth watching. But based on the reaction of American voters to Trump actually being wounded in July, it seems highly unlikely Trump will see any significant bounce in the polls.

    Since July 24, when she formally announced her candidacy, the Democrats' new nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, has led Trump in the polls. On current trends, he's going to have to do more than just get shot if he wants to beat her.

    Watch this space.

    The post Second Time Lucky? Bullets Bring No Bump For Trump In The Polls appeared first on New Matilda.

    This post was originally published on New Matilda.

  • Turkey Probing Israel’s Killing of Aysenur Eygi, Seeking Arrest Warrants

    Turkey announced on Thursday that it has opened an investigation into Israel’s killing of Turkish American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi and will be seeking arrest warrants in relation to her death. Eygi “was deliberately targeted and killed by Israeli soldiers during a peaceful demonstration in solidarity with Palestinians,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said. “We will make every effort to…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Democrats Call for Independent US Probe Into Israel’s Killing of Aysenur Eygi

    Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Washington) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Washington) are calling on the Biden administration to conduct an independent probe into Israel’s killing of American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, as officials have been relying on Israel’s own flawed investigation into her death. In a letter addressed to President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Police Want to Repress Palestine Solidarity — We Must Not Do Their Work for Them

    This past spring, in response to escalated campus protests in solidarity with Palestine, President Joe Biden proclaimed: “Dissent is essential to democracy, but dissent must never lead to disorder.” Peace is framed as order, or a lack of conflict. Yet, as we surpass 40,000 Palestinians killed in an ongoing Israeli genocide, it raises the question: Peace for whom? Democracy for whom?

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • “Outrageous”: Biden Slammed for Saying Israel Killed Aysenur Eygi by Accident

    President Joe Biden sparked outrage on Tuesday after he claimed, without evidence, that Israel’s killing of American Aysenur Ezgi Eygi last week was accidental, despite the circumstances of Eygi’s death and Israel’s history of intentionally killing civilians. In a statement, Biden acknowledged Israel’s responsibility for the killing and called for “full accountability,” though he did not…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Trump Has Always Been a Ruthless Bully. The Debate Exposed His Weakness.

    For years, Donald Trump has bullied and blustered and beaten up on his generally hapless debate opponents. He has mocked their appearance and their energy levels, made up offensive nicknames for them — Sleepy Joe, Low-Energy Jeb, Lyin’ Ted Cruz, and on and on and on; he has lied about their records and he has hyped his own performances. And time and again, he has somehow gotten away with it.

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • DNC 2024 and Gaza


    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) with US Vice President Kamala Harris IMAGE/Independent/MSN/Duck Duck Go

    A quote, wrongly attributed to Abraham Lincoln, reads:

    You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.

    Well, that may be true but what is also true is that you can fool most of the people (followers of politicians, political parties, religions, celebrities, stars, social media influencers, businesspersons, and so on) most of the time because followers place blind trust in their heroes, heroines, religious leaders, influencers, etc.

    This was visible during the quadrennial spectacles called Republican National Convention (July 15 to July 18, 2024, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) and Democratic National Convention (August 19 to August 22, 2024, in Chicago, Illinois).

    Of course, there is a difference between the Republican Party and the Democratic Party: the Republicans are overtly hostile and will screw you unashamedly in broad day light without any kind of lubrication or apology.

    The Democrats are, in that respect, a bit less rough. They’ll beg your pardon; would plead with you to understand the criticality of the situation; but will screw you, nonetheless — of course, in a dim light with a bit of lubricant.

    Both the conventions took place during the ongoing Israeli slaughter, displacements, starvation of the Palestinians in Gaza since October 12, 2023. Both parties have supported the Israeli carnage. There is a division in the Democratic Party about supporting Israel, but the strong voices are few and many a times become victims of the Israel Lobby. One of the powerful group AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) has spent more than $100 million in the 2024 election campaign: $15 million was spent to defeat US House Representatives Jamal Bowman who was critical of Israeli genocide of Gazans and $9 million to oust Cori Bush, another critic of Israeli war.

    Danaka Katovich, National Co-Director CodePink, describes how a woman outside the convention center calling out the names of the children killed in Gaza was ignored and laughed at.

    “There was a young woman that sat outside the exit of the Democratic National Convention on its third night reading the names of the children Israel has killed in the last ten months. She did it for hours, until her speaker battery died. She did it alone, taking care to pronounce every child’s name correctly and to say their age at the time of their murder. Without her, many of the DNC guests wouldn’t necessarily be confronted with the carnage members of their party is carrying out.

    “Outside the gates of the DNC I saw a young woman making sure the children of Palestine weren’t just numbers, and I saw people laughing at her for doing so. They laughed loudly and mocked her voice. They mocked the names of the dead babies. They yelled at her to leave them alone. They left the coronation ceremony livid that they had to even hear about Gaza.”

    Things were not too different inside the convention center, either.

    The DNC allowed the parents of one of the hostages held by Hamas to speak and highlight their plight but no Palestinian was permitted to talk about the killing of over 41,000 [1] Palestinians (33% of them children and 18.4% women) and about ceasefire. Even a speech which included support for Kamala Harris was disallowed.

    The speakers who did talk about Gaza and Palestine knew very well that their speeches were not going to make any difference.

    AOC (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez):

    “She [Vice President Kamala Harris] is working tirelessly to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and bringing hostages home.”

    After five and a half years in the US Congress and as an active member of the Democratic Party, progressive AOC [2] knows damn well that no efforts on part of Kamala or Biden administration is needed to secure a ceasefire — the US just has to stop money and arms flow to Israel and that’s it.

    On August 21, AOC posted on X:

    “Just as we must honor the humanity of hostages, so too must we center the humanity of the 40,000 Palestinians killed under Israeli bombardment. To deny that story is to participate in the dehumanization of Palestinians. The @DNC must change course and affirm our shared humanity.

    Bernie Sanders:

    “We must end this horrific war in Gaza. Bring home the hostages and demand an immediate ceasefire.”

    Two progressive members devoted a total of 31 words to the more than 10 month old continuing tragedy without mentioning the over 41,000 Palestinians killed!

    Senator Raphael Warnock (Georgia) talked about children’s (including Gaza’s) safety.

    “I need all of my neighbors’ children to be okay — poor inner-city children in Atlanta and poor children in Appalachia.” “I need the poor children of Israel and the poor children of Gaza, I need Israelis and Palestinians, I need those in the Congo, those in Haiti, those in Ukraine. I need American children on both sides of the tracks to be OK. Because we are all God’s children.”

    The speakers, including (Barack Obama), touched on various topics, but as Lorraine Ali in Los Angeles Times observed,

    “But little was said about Gaza or Israel, and the silence spoke volumes. Let’s talk about everything but that war.”

    When hawkish Harris opened her mouth she roared about defending the security of the most powerful and technologically advanced country, Israel, against the broken Palestinians.

    “With respect to the war in Gaza, President Biden and I are working around the clock because now is the time to get a hostage deal and cease-fire done.

    “Let me be clear: I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself because the people of Israel must never again face the horror that the terrorist organization Hamas caused on Oct. 7.

    “Including unspeakable sexual violence and the massacre of young people at a music festival. At the same time, what has happened in Gaza over the past 10 months is devastating. So many innocent lives lost. Desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety, over and over again.

    “The scale of suffering is heartbreaking. President Biden and I are working to end this war such that – Israel is secure – the hostages are released – the suffering in Gaza ends – and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity.”

    Hamas of the Israeli occupied Gaza is a “terrorist organization” but there is no mention of who caused the loss of “so many innocent lives” or who is making “desperate, hungry people” flee for “safety, over and over again.”
    No mention of Israel. This, from one who is the would-be next President of the US.

    She said she and Biden are “working around the clock.” The clock must be out of order. The war will only stop when the US decides to halt its support.

    Back in July, Netanyahu addressed the US Congress. Many Democrats abstained, Harris included. But then the very next day, she met Netanyahu in private. Her facial expressions didn’t show she was angry in any manner. Now look at Obama’s picture with Netanyahu where Obama’s displeasure is visible. Netanyahu was trying to undermine Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran.

    The statement by Harris after her meeting with Netanyahu was the same diplomatic bullshit. [3]

    The conventions are basically a feel good exercise to create excitement and hope among supporters and to denigrate and make fun of the opposition. The Democrats did exactly that; made fun of former president and the current Republican Party presidential candidate, Donald Trump and frightened, rightly so, their followers/die hard supporters with fascism replacing “democracy” if Trump gets reelected.

    The Democrats, however, didn’t remind their supporters that they (the Democrats), when in power, do act in a fascist manner overseas with their wars, sanctions, embargoes, blockades, seizing money and gold belonging to countries they don’t like.

    On domestic issues the Democrats and Republicans differ on certain issues but both support capitalism and get plenty of money from the corporations. The hands of both parties are drenched with blood of foreigners, including children and women. Even within the US, the Democrats are cruel with many segments of the society. Republicans are openly cruel.

    Notes

    [1] After every Israeli deadly crime, the usual statement, actually a warning, from its major supporter, the United States, is,

    “We are engaged in intense diplomacy pretty much around the clock, with a very simple message: All parties must refrain from escalation.”

    That is, Israel’s murderous act should remain unpunished or else we’ll jump in to defend Israel. The above warning was for Iran to refrain from any retaliation against Israel which had assassinated Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on Iranian soil. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had also ordered killing of Lebanese militia group Hezbollah’s commander Fuad Shukr.

    [2] The Democratic leadership was using one of their presidents’ tactic by inviting AOC to speak and thus mainstreaming her but also blunting her voice. President Lyndon B. Johnson (1908 – 1973) said the following about FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.

    “It’s probably better to have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in.”

    [3] A couple of paragraphs from Harris’ statement;

    “I also expressed with the prime minister my serious concern about the scale of human suffering in Gaza, including the death of far too many innocent civilians.  And I made clear my serious concern about the dire humanitarian situation there, with over 2 million people facing high levels of food insecurity and half a million people facing catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity.

    “What has happened in Gaza over the past nine months is devastating — the images of dead children and desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety, sometimes displaced for the second, third, or fourth time.  We cannot look away in the face of these tragedies.  We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering.  And I will not be silent.”

    Lip service completed, let the one-sided hostilities continue …

    The post DNC 2024 and Gaza first appeared on Dissident Voice.

    This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.

  • Biden WH Considers Making Temporary Asylum Rule Changes More Permanent

    The Biden administration is reportedly considering making temporary changes to asylum rules issued earlier this summer harder to undo by increasing threshold numbers needed to end the rules to likely unattainable levels — effectively causing them to be permanent. President Joe Biden signed an executive order in June changing how migrants coming to the U.S. could apply for asylum. Previously…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.