Category Archives: Politics

Patrick Cockburn WAR IN THE AGE OF TRUMP: The Fall of Isis, The Betrayal of the Kurds, The Conflict With Iran

Patrick Cockburn is the winner of the Martha Gelhorn Prize, the James Cameron Prize, The Orwell Prize, Foreign Commentator of the Year numerous times. He has been a Middle East correspondent for the Financial times and the Independent, and is a frequent contributor to the London Review of Books.

His many books include Out of the Ashes: The Resurrection of Saddam Hussein, written with his brother, Andrew, prior to the war in Iraq, and republished as Saddam Hussein: An American Obsession; The Occupation: War and Resistance in Iraq; Muqtada: Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shia Revival, and the Struggle for Iraq; The Rise of Islamic State: Isis and the New Sunni Revolution; The Age of Jihad: Islamic State; and The Great War for the Middle East.

His latest book is WAR IN THE AGE OF TRUMP: THE FALL OF ISIS, THE BETRAYAL OF THE KURDS, THE CONFLICT WITH IRAN to be released by OR Books on July 7, 2020.

In this interview, we began by discussing the impact on the region of the assassination of General Qasem Soleimani by the Trump Administration on January 3, 2020.

The plight of the Kurds in Iraq and Syria, and their role in fighting the Islamist State, was discussed.

Patrick Cockburn’s intrepid journalism keeps us informed of the ever changing situation on the ground in the Middle East.

Articles relevant to this interview:

Donald Trump’s withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan is an unavoidable recognition of failure https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/trump-afghanistan-taliban-troops-withdrawal-kabul-a9539241.html

Iraq will be hit harder by the oil price drop than by coronavirus or Isis https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/coronavirus-oil-price-fall-economy-iraq-protests-isis-a9505421.html

Russians squeeze U.S. troops in Syria amid uproar over Trump’s dealings with Moscow https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/30/russians-us-troops-syria-uproar-trump-345584

Data on Financial Transfers Bolstered Suspicions That Russia Offered Bounties https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/30/us/politics/russian-bounties-afghanistan-intelligence.html

Iran Issues Arrest Warrants for Trump and 35 Others in Suleimani Killing https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/29/world/middleeast/iran-trump-arrest-warrant-interpol.html?action=click&module=Latest&pgtype=Homepage

Iraq Raids Iranian-Backed Militia Accused of Attacking U.S. Forces https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/26/world/middleeast/iraq-militia-iran-hezbollah.html

Will the ‘War on Terror’ ever end? https://www.bbc.com/news/world-53156096

Pentagon plans for expected Trump order to pull thousands more troops from Afghanistan https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/pentagon-plans-for-expected-trump-order-to-pull-thousands-more-troops-from-afghanistan/2020/05/27/3068c5c2-a025-11ea-9d96-c3f7c755fd6e_story.html

U.S. Used Missile With Long Blades to Kill Qaeda Leader in Syria https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/24/world/middleeast/syria-qaeda-r9x-hellfire-missile.html?action=click&module=News&pgtype=Homepage

Jennifer Mercieca – DEMAGOGUE FOR PRESIDENT: The Rhetorical Genius of Donald Trump

Jennifer Mercieca is an author, researcher, historian of American political rhetoric and Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at Texas A&M University, Dr. Jennifer Mercieca. She writes about American political discourse, especially as it relates to citizenship, democracy and the presidency. Her previous books are FOUNDING FICTIONS and THE RHETORIC OF HEROIC EXPECTATIONS: ESTABLISHING THE OBAMA PRESIDENCY. Her latest book, DEMAGOGUE FOR PRESIDENT: THE RHETORICAL GENIUS OF DONALD TRUMP will be published July 9, 2020 by Texas A&M University Press.

“Historical levels of polarization, a disaffected and frustrated electorate, and widespread distrust of government, the news media, and traditional political leadership set the stage in 2016 for an unexpected, unlikely, and unprecedented presidential contest.

Donald Trump’s campaign speeches and other rhetoric seemed on the surface to be simplistic, repetitive and disorganized to many. As DEMAGOGUE FOR PRESIDENT shows, Trump’s campaign strategy was anything but simple.

Articles referred to or pertinent to the interview:

‘Trump thought I was a secretary’: Fiona Hill on the president, Putin and populism https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/12/fiona-hill-trump-putin-populism-interview

Trump stokes division with racism and rage – and the American oligarchy purrs https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/14/donald-trump-racism-american-oligarchy

The Psychopath in Chief https://gen.medium.com/the-psychopath-in-chief-aa10ab2165d9

Analysis: Why QAnon supporters are winning congressional primaries https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Analysis-Why-QAnon-supporters-are-winning-15337881.php

‘We’re thinking landslide’: Beyond D.C., GOP officials see Trump on glide path to reelection https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/15/trump-glide-reelection-republican-officials-316457

Why Does Trump Lie? https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/11/opinion/trump-lies.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

Trump Has Made Alternative Facts a Way of Life https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/13/opinion/trump-has-made-alternative-facts-a-way-of-life.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

The Debate Over the Word Fascism Takes a New Turn https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/10/books/fascism-debate-donald-trump.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&section=Books

It’s Trump’s Revolution https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/13/opinion/sunday/trump-presidency.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

Trump takes note as the far right lobbies for violent crackdown on peaceful protests https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/07/trump-protests-notes-far-right-crackdown-peaceful-protesters

‘How did we get here?’: Trump has normalised mayhem and the US is paying the price https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/02/donald-trump-coronavirus-george-floyd-normalized

David Daley – UNRIGGED: How Americans Are Battling Back to Save Democracy

What happens to a representative democracy when one party is no longer committed to the foundational notion everyone must be represented, equally? This is one of the questions David Daley addresses in his latest book, UNRIGGED: HOW AMERICANS ARE BATTLING BACK TO SAVE DEMOCRACY.

David Daley is a senior fellow for FairVote and the author of Ratf**ked: The True Story Behind the Secret Plan to Steal America’s Democracy, which helped spark the recent drive to reform gerrymandering. Dave’s second book, Unrigged: How Americans Are Battling Back to Save Democracy, chronicles the victories and defeats in state efforts to reform elections and uphold voting rights.

He is the former editor-in-chief of Salon.com, and the former CEO and publisher of the Connecticut News Project. He is a digital media fellow at the Wilson Center for the Humanities and the Grady School of Journalism at the University of Georgia. His work has appeared in the New Yorker, The Washington Post, The Guardian, New York magazine, the Atlantic, the Boston Globe, Rolling Stone. When writing for the Hartford Courant, he helped identify Mark Felt as the “Deep Throat” source for Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.

Some articles by David Daley or pertinent to this interview:

How Ohio Republicans dodged court rulings to keep gerrymandered maps https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jul/21/ohio-republicans-gerrymandered-maps

Minority rules, children die: Our broken political system has lethal consequences https://www.salon.com/2022/06/02/minority-rule-our-political-system-is-broken-and-children/

Our Fourth of July nightmare: A republic in the tightening grip of minority rule https://www.salon.com/2022/07/01/our-fourth-of-july-nightmare-a-republic-in-the-tightening-grip-of-minority-rule/

Crowded primaries are here to stay. Changing how we vote could protect majority rule https://www.salon.com/2020/08/16/crowded-primaries-are-here-to-stay-changing-how-we-vote-could-protect-majority-rule/

Georgia’s Voting Fiasco Is a Warning. The November Election Could Be Chaos https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/11/georgia-election-chaos-november

Wisconsin Proves It: Republicans Will Sacrifice Voters’ Health to Keep Power https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/10/wisconsin-primary-coronavirus-republican-voting-by-mail

How Trump’s Election Has Fueled a Diverse New Generation of Politicians https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/15/millennial-politicians-unrigged-excerpt-david-daley

America Needs Ranked Choice Voiting – Here’s Why https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/sep/22/america-needs-ranked-choice-voting-why

‘This is a war’: Republicans ramp up bid to control election maps for next decade https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/22/republican-dark-money-groups-2020-election

What I Learned Talking to Fourth-Graders About How to Design Elections https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/07/31/kids-ran-elections-race-schools-voting-rights-501774

Daniel Q. Gillion THE LOUD MINORITY; Why Protests Matter in American Democray

Daniel Q. Gillian is Julie Beren Platt and Marc E. Platt Presidential Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania. His research interests focus on racial and ethnic politics, political behavior, political institutions, public policy and the American Presidency.

Professor Gillion’s first book, The Political Power of Protest: Minority Activism and Shifts in Public Policy, demonstrates the influential role of protest to garner a response from each branch of the federal government, highlighting protest actions as another form of constituent sentiment that should be considered alongside public opinion and voting behavior.

His book, Governing with Words: The Political Dialogue on Race, Public Policy, and Inequality in America, demonstrates that historically, the political dialogue on race offered by presidents and congressional members alters the public policy process and shapes societal and cultural norms to improve the lives of racial and ethnic minorities, illustrating that mere words are a powerful tool for combating racial inequality in America.

Professor Gillian’s most recent book is THE LOUD MINORITY: WHY PROTESTS MATTER IN AMERICAN DEMOCRACY, just published by Princeton University Press. It comes at a time when many of us have been confined to our homes for many weeks during this global pandemic and others protest, disregarding social distancing precautions and carrying rapid fire weapons to state capitals, protesting government stay at home orders. We asked him about this and more.

Here are links to some of the articles referenced in this interview:

How the Kent State massacre marked the start of America’s polarization https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/04/kent-state-massacre-marked-start-of-americas-polarization

Armed protesters demonstrate against Covid-19 lockdown at Michigan capitol https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/apr/30/michigan-protests-coronavirus-lockdown-armed-capitol

Protests sweep California as governor promises changes to lockdown https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/01/california-coronavirus-protests-huntington-beach-sacramento

‘Are you a spoiler?’: why critics fear Amash’s Libertarian bid may ensure a Trump win https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/03/justin-amash-libertarian-2020-election-trump-win-critics

The Anti-Mask League: lockdown protests draw parallels to 1918 pandemic https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/29/coronavirus-pandemic-1918-protests-california

How a tea party-linked group plans to turbocharge lockdown protests https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/24/tea-party-lockdown-coronavirus-206083

Trump allies jump in to help organize lockdown protests https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/21/trump-allies-help-organize-lockdown-protests-198426

What the anti-stay-at-home protests are really about https://www.vox.com/2020/4/19/21225195/stay-at-home-protests-trump-tea-party-reelection

America doesn’t want another Tea Party https://www.vox.com/2020/4/20/21225016/protests-stay-at-home-orders-trump-conservative-group-michigan

The ‘anti-lockdown’ protests are about more than just quarantines https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/commentisfree/2020/apr/21/anti-lockdown-protests-trump-right-wing

Alan Hirsch A SHORT HISTORY OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CRISES: (and how to prevent the next one)

Alan Hirsch’s latest book, A SHORT HISTORY OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CRISES: (AND HOW TO PREVENT THE NEXT ONE), has just been published by City Lights Books.

Alan Hirsch is an Instructor in the Humanities and Chair of the Justice and Law Studies program at Williams College. He is the author of a number of other books including Impeaching the President: Past, Present, and Future and For the People: What the Constitution Really Says About Your Rights (coauthored with Akhil Amar). He received his law degree from Yale Law School. His work has appeared in the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Washington Times, Newsday, and the Village Voice. He also serves as a trial consultant and expert witness on interrogations and criminal confessions, testifying around the nation.

He focuses on four presidential election crises that left the nation with no clear winner: those in the years 1800, 1824 & 1876, 2000, and he notes that in twelve elections, fully 20% of all presidential elections, were too close for comfort.

Articles pertinent to this interview:

Virginia Makes Election Day A Holiday In Wave Of New Voting Rights Laws https://www.huffpost.com/entry/virginia-election-day-holiday-voting-rights-laws_n_5e93a7bec5b6765e95633e2f

Kentucky just made it harder to vote during a pandemic https://www.vox.com/2020/4/15/21222084/kentucky-voter-id-coronavirus-pandemic

The US presidential election is frozen in time – can it survive? https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/apr/04/us-2020-presidential-election-coronavirus-future

Voting during a pandemic? Here’s what happened in 1918 https://patriots4health.com/2020/04/voting-during-a-pandemic-heres-what-happened-in-1918/

What Happens If A Presidential Nominee Can No Longer Run For Office? https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-happens-if-a-presidential-nominee-can-no-longer-run-for-office/

What Happens If A Nominee Dies Before The General Election? https://fivethirtyeight.com/videos/what-happens-if-a-nominee-dies-before-the-general-election/

‘The Nightmare Scenario’: How Coronavirus Could Make the 2020 Vote a Disaster https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/04/28/2020-election-coronavirus-disaster-impact-215559

Katherine Stewart The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism

Katherine Stewart is a journalist whose work has appeared in The Guardian, The New York Times, Reuters, The Atlantic, Bloomberg View, Newsweek International, Rolling Stone, The Nation and more.

Her earlier book is THE GOOD NEWS CLUB: THE CHRISTIAN RIGHT’S STEALTH ASSAULT ON AMERICA’S CHILDREN. Research for that book led her to discover the insidious depth and breadth of Christian Nationalism and its determination to radically alter the democratic foundations of the United States of America. Indeed, she documents the global reach of the movement toward authoritarianism, intolerance, plutocracy and aggrandizement of money and power for the “elect”.

The result is her latest book, THE POWER WORSHIPPERS: INSIDE THE DANGEROUS RISE OF RELIGIOUS NATIONALISM, published by Bloomsbury Publishing.

Articles cited in this interview include:

Why Trump Reigns as King Cyrus https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/31/opinion/trump-evangelicals-cyrus-king.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article

Mike Johnson’s “biblical” economics: Using Christian nationalism to “enhance plutocratic wealth” https://www.salon.com/2023/11/13/mike-johnsons-biblical-economics-using-christian-nationalism-to-enhance-plutocratic-wealth/

Christian Nationalists Are Excited By What Comes Next https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/05/opinion/dobbs-christian-nationalism.html

How a data-backed Christian nationalist machine helped Trump to power https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/03/bill-dallas-christian-nationalist-right-donald-trump

Don’t Let Trump Pay Back Evangelicals Like This https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/06/opinion/sunday/trump-evangelicals.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

Russia’s Putin wants traditional marriage and God in constitution https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-51719764

The multimillion-dollar Christian group attacking LGBTQ+ rights https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/20/alliance-defending-freedom-multimillion-dollar-conservative-christian-group-attacking-lgbtq-rights

The Traveling Salesman Bringing Abortion Bans To A Texas Town Near You https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-traveling-salesman-bringing-abortion-bans-to-a-texas-town-near-you_n_5e4479aec5b671eafe1e3880

Ernesto Cardenal, Nicaraguan poet, priest and revolutionary, dies at 95 https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/ernesto-cardenal-nicaraguan-poet-priest-and-revolutionary-dies-at-95/2020/03/02/4baa213c-5c96-11ea-9055-5fa12981bbbf_story.html

Ernesto Cardenal, poet and Catholic priest, still causes controversy at age 86 https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/ernesto-cardenal-poet-and-catholic-priest-still-causes-controversy-at-age-86/2011/05/26/AGSok0EH_story.html?itid=lk_inline_manual_26

Poet and priest who mixed religion and politics in his commitment to social justice in Nicaragua https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/mar/06/ernesto-cardenal-obituary?

The Capitol Insurrection Was as Christian Nationalist as It Gets. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/28/opinion/christian-nationalists-capitol-attack.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

White Christian Radicalization Is A Violent Threat 01/15/2021 https://www.huffpost.com/entry/white-christian-nationalism-capitol-riot_n_5ff73916c5b612d958ea19db

Thom Hartmann: The War on Voting & Jane Kleeb: Harvest the Vote

In the first segment, we speak with Thom Hartmann, whose latest book in his Hidden History series is: The Hidden History of THE WAR ON VOTING: WHO STOLE YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO GET IT BACK, published by Barrett- Koehler.

In our second segment we speak with Jane Kleeb. Her book, HARVEST THE VOTE: HOW DEMOCRATS CAN WIN AGAIN IN RURAL AMERICA, was just published in January 2020 by Ecco.

The Lost 110 Words of Our Constitution: The 14th Amendment says states that infringe the vote must lose representation in Congress. It’s time to make this happen.

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/02/23/the-lost-constitutional-tool-to-protect-voting-rights-116612

Rural America Doesn’t Have to Starve to Death

https://www.thenation.com/article/economy/big-agribusiness-finance-farming/

TC Energy eyes further hurdles, not ready to commit to Keystone XL pipeline

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tc-energy-results/tc-energy-eyes-further-hurdles-not-ready-to-commit-to-keystone-xl-pipeline-idUSKBN2071ND

Democrats are reaching farmers with an exciting message: green agriculture

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/11/democrats-conservation-climate-rural-america

Farm Bankruptcies Soared 20% Amid Trump Trade War. It’s The Highest Rate In 8 Years.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/farm-bankruptcies-trump-trade-war_n_5e34a2d6c5b69a19a4af1ad0

For Democrats, the Road to Victory in 2020 Runs Through Rural America. This Report Offers a Road Map http://inthesetimes.com/rural-america/entry/22279/2020-election-progressive-populism-peoples-action-win-rural-america-report?link_id=7&can_id=26389c9ba4e6ef1db60b08fdce8085f1&source=email-in-his-lies-biden-is-sounding-a-lot-like-trump-10-years-after-we-pledged-to-help-haiti-rebuild-heres-what-happened-2&email_referrer=email_713985&email_subject=medicare-for-all-could-save-transgender-lives-barbara-ehrenreich-on-her-endorsement-of-bernie-sanders

This graphic shows a county-by-county breakdown of the 2016 presidential election results. The counties that went for Donald Trump are colored red and the counties that went for Hillary Clinton are colored blue. Graphic courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Texas closes hundreds of polling sites, making it harder for minorities to vote https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/02/texas-polling-sites-closures-voting

Les AuCoin CATCH AND RELEASE: An Oregon Life in Politics

Les AuCoin represented Oregon’s 1st Congressional District from 1975 to 1992. At the age of 32, he was the first Democrat to do so since 1936. After serving 18 years, he gave up his seat to run for the US Senate against incumbent Republican Senator Bob Packwood, who although winning that race, resigned under threat of expulsion in 1995 after allegations of sexual harassment, abuse and assault of women emerged.

In this interview he shares his thoughts and experiences as one of the first cohort to be seated after Richard Nixon’s resignation under threat of impeachment in 1974, “The Watergate Babies.”
It was recorded on December 18,1019, as the US House of Representatives was impeaching Donald J. Trump .

Susan Neiman Learning from the Germans: Race and the Memory of Evil

Born in the Civil Rights era of the Southern U.S., Susan Neiman has spent most of the last four decades in Berlin. She is the Director of The Einstein Forum. Her latest book is Learning from the Germans: Race and the Memory of Evil, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Among the many things she reminds us of in her book is that the Nazi regime lasted only 12 years – from 1933 to 1945. Likewise, the period we call “Reconstruction” also lasted only 12 years from 1865 to 1877. She quotes her colleague, the late Tony Judt: the historian’s task (is) “to tell what is almost always an uncomfortable story and explain why the discomfort is part of the truth we need to live well and live properly. A well-organised society is one in which we know the truth about ourselves collectively, not one in which we tell pleasant lies about ourselves”.

What can Americans learn from the Germans about confronting and moving on from our racist past toward more social justice? Susan Neiman has much to share of what she has learned from the Germans.

What can we learn of what Southerners have done and are doing to heal the wounds of our past? Susan has much to share of what she has learned in Mississippi and Alabama.

Denouncing critics of Israel as ‘un-Jews’ or antisemites is a perversion of history https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/feb/11/denouncing-critics-of-israel-as-un-jews-or-antisemites-is-a-perversion-of-history

Learning from the Germans: how we might atone for America’s evils https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/10/learning-from-the-germans-review-us-slavery

Mississippi Judge Allows Governor’s Race to Take Place Under Jim Crow-Era Rules https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/article/Mississippi-governor-s-race-taking-place-under-14803204.php

The First Black Mayor Of Talladega, Alabama, Is Poised To Push His City Into The Future https://www.huffpost.com/entry/tim-ragland-talladega-alabama-first-black-mayor_n_5db9dcd7e4b066da552b4718

School principal fired for saying ‘I can’t say the Holocaust is a factual event’ https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/oct/31/florida-high-school-principal-holocaust-fired

The Massacre That Spawned the Alt-Right https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/11/03/greensboro-massacre-white-nationalism-klan-229873

Far-right AfD surges to second place in German state election https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/27/far-right-afd-surges-to-second-place-in-german-state-elections

What Holocaust Restitution Taught Me About Slavery Reparations https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/10/27/slavery-reparations-holocaust-restitution-negotiations-229881

Make yourselves at home: the meaning of hospitality in a divided world https://www.theguardian.com/food/2019/oct/29/make-yourselves-at-home-the-meaning-of-hospitality-in-a-divided-world

‘We were indifferent to the horror’: Nazi camp inmate to give testimony at trial https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/27/indifferent-horror-nazi-reistance-fighter-bruno-dey-stutthof