Politics
Was “Kamala Harris” a hologram?
How about “Al Gore”? “John Kerry”? “Hillary Clinton”?
And how about the “Democratic Party” that ran them…and that
now embraces irrelevance in a hollow, timid shell as Donald
Trump dismantles American democracy?
Despite the uncounted millions who organized, funded and voted
for them, those four Presidential candidates and their Party have
left American democracy in need dire of political leadership powerful
enough to regenerate an electoral system that actually answers to
its populace.
By a dubious official vote count, Donald Trump in 2024 carried
less than half the US electorate. More than 75,000,000 citizens
are known to have voted for Harris.
But then she disappeared…as if she’d never run…as if the tens of
millions who organized, raised money, sweated blood and voted
for her had no reason to expect her to continue the fight.
Harris has two downfalls in common with Gore, Kerry and
Clinton:
También en español haz click aquí
Readers no doubt remember Trump’s first term bluster that Mexico would build the border wall, and pay for it. President López brought that racist promise to fruition then, and his hand-picked successor Scheinbaum renewed it February 4th, sending no less than ten thousand additional troops to the U.S. border.
To stop the flow of migrants back in 2019, President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador sent 15,000 troops to Mexico’s northern border, plus another 6,000 to the southern border with Guatemala. He did that after president Trump threatened tariffs, a menace he took back after Mexico reinforced its borders with its new-fangled National Guard. Sheinbaum folded before the same tactic.
Which is to say, Mexico paid for a wall made of soldiers rather than bricks, and paid their wages.
During my sixteen years in Congress, I fought consistently for peace, accountability, and the protection of our nation’s core values. I understand the gravity of the position of Director of National Intelligence (DNI)—a role essential to the security of our nation, where the person in charge must evaluate and interpret military intelligence that informs decisions affecting the lives of millions. That is why I fully support Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination as Director of National Intelligence (DNI) in the Trump administration.
This critical position requires a person who understands the urgency of truth and the severe consequences of sending America’s sons and daughters into battle based on false or manipulated intelligence.
The Kucinich Report is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
On the one hand, there’s no sugarcoating how progressives feel as President Trump retakes office: rough.
Trump and his allies in Congress are already rolling out plans to cut taxes for billionaires, slash services for the rest of us, pollute the planet, and deport people who’ve lived here their whole lives.
But if you look closely, you’ll see signs people aren’t just going to accept all this. Here are five that caught my eye from this past election year.
1. Populist anger is boiling over.
Americans have had it with economic elites. Union activity has been on an upswing for a few years running now, with union petition filings in 2024 significantly up over 2023.
Uh oh, nukes coming in. Should we retaliate?
This strikes me as the stupidest question a human being could ask – and, just possibly, also the last. Our enemy of the moment is loosing hell on us (if warning signals are accurate), so let’s do the same back at them. If we kill more of them than they kill of us, we win! Yes, human life – all life – will likely be destroyed in a nuclear war, but that’s just the way things work. That’s not our concern.
Among the global superpowers, this scenario remains etched into the meaning of self-defense: the ability to retaliate, no matter the consequences of doing so. The marketing slogan, of course, is “deterrence.” As long as the bad guys understand that we have the capability to retaliate, they won’t start a nuclear war. Hence, staying safe as a nation means maintaining our ability to create Armageddon.
It's certainly the human paradox of the era. Are we stuck with it?
Dear President Joe Biden,
It’s been three months since I sent you my suggested list of Executive Actions that you could take in your last weeks in office. A “Bucket List” so-to-speak filled with legal declarations to make the lives of your fellow Americans just a little bit better.
I am happy you took some of my advice. Thank you.
The Presidential Election
Trump barely won the presidential election in November. Although he claims that his victory gave him a mandate to implement an extreme right-wing agenda, the numbers say otherwise. His margin of victory was the smallest of any presidential election since 1900. And we should bear in mind that Trump’s vote is unfairly buttressed by widespread right-wing gerrymanding in “red” states. James M. Lindsay cites the following “official” numbers in an article for the Council for Foreign Relations (https://cfr.org/article/2024-election-numbers).
I couldn’t stomach Jimmy Carter–until my view of him turned around 180 degrees just four years ago.
Like most Democrats who supported Ted Kennedy’s run against him, I tagged Carter as just some grinning anti-New Deal Bible-thumping goober. And his post-Presidential “peacemaking” was often dangerously naïve, as I saw in Liberia where Carter had boosted the presidential candidacy of war-criminal Charles Taylor for president because Taylor, a murderous monster, proclaimed he’d been born again in Jesus.
I nick-named Carter, “The Dangerous Christian.”
But then, while staking out the current Governor, the vote-suppressing racist Brian Kemp, I did a little re-con outside Kemp’s office. I had my face to the wall, pretending to study the official portraits of the State's governors. I was struck that only one, James Earl Carter, refused to have his photo taken with his own state flag fully visible because it included the Confederate flag's Stars and Bars. In Georgia, at that time, 1971, that took immeasurable courage. That took integrity.
Alav ha-Shalom, President Carter.
When Donald Trump again warms the throne in Washington on Martin Luther King Day, each of the three evils that King worked to abolish will get a major boost: racism, extreme materialism, and militarism.
Racism
While Trumplickers post-election propose recruiting abroad certain highly educated potential immigrants (and defunding and further destroying U.S. education — including by writing racism — not to mention critical thinking — out of history books while shaping them in a fundamentally racist vision), they’re also pushing for a military campaign to seize and deport the wrong kind of immigrants and refugees, and threatening any cities that dare to protect their residents. While Democratic emperors eagerly fuel genocide, they don’t campaign for office on racism. So, there will be attention paid to this one. But consider the next two interlocking evils as well.