Part One:
White Supremacists Are Invading American Cities to Incite a Civil War.
We discuss white supremacists with David Atkins, whose article in The Washington Monthly paints a frightening picture. Trump did not start this problem — it has been 30-40 years in the making — although he has certainly poured kerosene onto the fire. Frighteningly, Trump’s authoritarian policies may be knitting a tight bond between the government’s military/police power and the non-governmental white supremacist vigilantes and militias.
We’ve seen that in Portland, with ICE Border Patrol special units bullying, beating and arresting civilian protesters without benefit of probable cause, a warrant or even identifying who they are or what legal authority enables them to take these actions against civilians. And we’ve seen this in Kenosha, WI when police offered support and thanks to paramilitary civilian vigilantes who — armed with automatic weapons and shooting protesters — are taking the law into their own hands. We also know that ICE has recruited similar civilian militiamen to join so-called “Citizens Academies” where federal agents would train them in firearms operations, and teach them how they can assist with ICE’s enforcement sweeps to round up immigrants, detain and deport them.
The question is: How do we stop this right wing propaganda network? In conjunction with evangelicals, the network builds a whole set of false facts and conspiracy theories. Long before QAnon, we saw confident, aggressive climate-deniers propounding a set of facts totally at odds with the conclusions from legitimate scientific research. In order to counter this network, we first have to understand how it has been so successful. The extremist movement has grown incredibly powerful – with its arsenal of weapons, its zealous armies, and its parade of right-wing propaganda (fromRush Limbaugh’s rants to Fox News’s false “news” to its dark sites on the internet).
Atkins explains how such propaganda systems “persuade” adherents, including repeating the lies so often that people can no longer discern what is true any more. It’s also important to keep viewers in a closed loop so they don’t hear any contradictory voices. And, as anyone who has observed Pres. Trump knows, they use classic cult leader techniques. Only he is capable of making life better for the masses. Over time, with repetition, this cultural revanchism becomes a part of how its followers view the world.
Central to the debates that have been taking place within the Democratic Party is this question of what we can do about the existential threat that authoritarianism poses for our democracy. On the one hand, Bidenism calls for Democrats just to be reasonable, to reach out to our fellow Americans, and hopefully we can bring the conservative movement back to one America. On the other hand, Bernie-ism recognizes that that simply won’t work. Instead, Bernie’s followers advocate for passage of a progressive policy agenda. They hope that the government can improve ordinary people’s lives significantly, which would enable them to build alliances and solidarity that could help Democrats to win elections in the future.
Atkins suggests we keep in mind what the “other side” is thinking. As long as the right-wing extremists hold power that is illegitimate, they feel arrogant and empowered. But they also feel constantly under threat – under threat of losing their power over the majority. This makes them feel the need to engage in ever-increasing reprisals.
Like Elizabeth Warren, Atkins takes a structuralist approach to this problem. We have to eliminate all the systems that enable a rich white minority to maintain power over the overwhelming majority of the population. He specified a number of tools which maintain an apartheid power structure – the filibuster, the Electoral College, big money in politics, etc.
Part Two:
BIG MONEY DONORS FOR BOTH DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS.
We speak with David Levinthal, senior reporter in the new Washington office of Business Insider. He has written two articles, one about each political party and their mega-donors. He demonstrates that, no matter what they say about secret donors dominating politics, in fact money is an essential goal of both parties.
We think of Hollywood as overwhelming supporting and financing Democratic campaigns. But Hollywood is also deeply connected to the Republican Party, and provides huge amounts of “dark money,” from super-PACs which never have to divulge the names of the people who filled up their coffers. Republicans verbally slam Hollywood every chance they get, but that doesn’t stop them from embracing Hollywood’s elite when asking for donations.
In fact, the #1 super-PAC in the US – a PAC which may donate unlimited amounts of campaign money – is America Action, headed by a Beverly Hills man named Jeffrey Palmer. Similarly, Brian Ballard, a lobbyist for the motion picture industry, is a strong Trump supporter and donor. As such, he has Trump’s ear, and uses his influence to lobby for bills which help him and his wealthy friends get even richer.
It should come as no surprise that Hollywood plays both ways in politics. It is, after all, big business. Its campaign donations are protecting the industry’s profits – hedging its bets – just as America’s large corporations and investors on Wall Street have done. They all donate to both political parties to eliminate their risk, so whoever is elected to office will serve the interests of these big businesses. After all, they are in business not because they care about Democratic or Republican philosophies. Their motivation is maximizing their profits, making money for their stockholders and their corporate officers. Their campaign donations are merely investments, so the elite will have seat at the government table, so their interests will be represented when the Administration makes policy decisions.
Levinthal’s second article showed the Democratic side of the coin, including Joe Biden’s dark side. In their public messaging, the Democrats decry the influence of big money in politics. The Democratic platform reads like big money in politics is terrible, undermining our democracy. Democrats embrace campaign finance reform and call for “reversal” of the Citizens United supreme court decision.
Nevertheless they describe this 2020 election as so crucial that Democrats need to pull out all stops to beat Trump. They say or imply that, if Democrats win the presidency and both houses of Congress, they will, after the election, make the necessary changes in the law and rid us of “dark money.” But the Democrats don’t explain why we should believe their promises in 2020, despite their failure to make such changes in 2008 or 2000 when Democrats had won the presidency and both houses of Congress.
