We rethink the week with Russ Muirhead, Chair of the Political Science Dept at Dartmouth College; Dean Spiliotis, Civic Scholar and Presidential Scholar at Southern New Hampshire University; and Ron Abramson, immigration attorney from Concord, NH.
It’s Iowa caucus day! Voters in Des Moines started the day with 12 replicas of “kids in cages,” a high-visibility reminder that our country is still separating families and locking kids up, still shutting our doors — and our eyes — to desperate families who are fleeing violence in Central America and seeking asylum in the U.S. A grassroots group called RAICES wants voters and politicians to open our eyes to the Trump Administration’s cruel and hateful imnmigration policies, especially the 1-year-old MPP (Remain in Mexico) policy. MPP is illegal under US and international law; and it forces young families to huddle in dangerous and unhygienic tent cities where drug cartels and other predators abuse them with impunity, raping, beating, kidnapping and murdering children and their families.
We discuss the Democratic caucus candidates, and the continuing anxiety among Dem voters that one or the other candidate is so flawed that he or she will lose to Trump in November. Will a Democrat be more likely to win by cautiously playing to *the center* (wooing moderate Dems, independents, and former Obama supporters who voted for Trump in 2016)? Or will victory come about by *broadening the electoral base,* exciting and bringing out young voters, African-Americans, Hispanics, and women?
Either way, we anticipate that Trump will trash-talk any Democrat, labeling them socialist or even communist, inventing non-facts about their characters, and tarring them with “politicizing” impeachment and all sorts of other nonselnse. Of course, Trump’s play book will also include fomenting fear and hatred, in order to incite white supremicists and also to scare ordinary white working people into believing that their jobs and their (American) culture will be stolen by people of color.
And how can we fail to talk about big money? Michael Bloomberg is gaining ground among voters and in the polls. He started with $5 billion and, some say, he bought 12 years as mayor of 8 million New Yorkers. He now has $55 billion. Will he succeed in buying the US presidency?
People have complained about ultra-rich and corporate donors “owning” our elected officials. Is Bloomberg offering us a solution to the problem of big money in politics (he refuses to accept any donations from anyone but himself)? Or is he undermining democracy by showing us that you have to be super-wealthy in order to win elections in America?
