FEATURING EMANUEL NIEVES – Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell recently reacted to news of the ballooning federal deficit that was created by tax giveaways to the rich and by higher military spending by saying that social safety net programs need to be cut. McConnell said, “It’s disappointing but it’s not a Republican problem,” even though it was Trump and the GOP that rammed through last year’s tax reform bill.

Critics of last year’s GOP tax cuts predicted that the reduced tax revenues would be offset by Republican-led cuts to social safety net programs. And indeed that is exactly what McConnell and his fellow Republicans are doing. McConnell said in an interview with Bloomberg, “The three big entitlement programs that are very popular, Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid, that’s 70 percent of what we spend every year.” The term “entitlement programs” is popular with conservatives to refer to earned benefits and social safety net program.

Meanwhile a new report has zeroed in on a little-acknowledged impact of the tax reform law – how tax cuts are disproportionately benefiting wealthy white Americans. In other words, the tax reform will only worsen the existing racial wealth gap in this country.

Read the report ‘Race, Wealth and Taxes: How the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Supercharges the Racial Wealth Divide’, HERE.

Emanuel Nieves, Senior Policy Manager at Prosperity Now. He also leads Prosperity Now’s work on predatory lending and coordinates the Assets Building Policy Network. He is the co-author of the new report, ‘Race, Wealth and Taxes: How the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Supercharges the Racial Wealth Divide’.

President Trump has asked Turkish officials to present all the evidence they have on the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, including audio and video recordings. On Wednesday Trump said, “We’ve asked for it, if it exists,” and then later added, “I’m not sure yet that it exists.” Turkish officials say they have audio evidence and a Turkish newspaper earlier this week published a gruesome account of Khashoggi’s murder based on the recording.

Meanwhile the Washington Post on Wednesday published a posthumous column by Khashoggi. The piece, entitled, “What the Arab world needs most is free expression,” was sent to the paper’s editors by Khashoggi’s assistant the day after he was missing. In a note published with the column, editor Karen Attiah wrote, “This column perfectly captures his commitment and passion for freedom in the Arab world. A freedom he apparently gave his life for. I will be forever grateful he chose The Post as his final journalistic home one year ago and gave us the chance to work together.” Khashoggi wrote in his column, “The Arab world is facing its own version of an Iron Curtain, imposed not by external actors but through domestic forces vying for power.”

In other news White House Counsel Don McGahn has left the White House – Wednesday was his last day. President Trump had announced McGahn would be leaving after the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh – which of course took a lot longer than Trump expected. During the confirmation battle, McGahn was one of the accused sexual predator’s strongest defenders. McGahn also helped the Trump administration vet the many conservative judges that have been appointed to lower courts. He will be replaced by a lawyer named Pat Cipollone who has already been advising Trump.

In election related news, Trump and the Republicans have been pouring money to the tune of $5 million into a key Senate race in Montana to unseat 2-term Democrat Jon Tester. According to Associated Press, “The contest is on pace to be the most expensive in Montana history, and it’s been driven by Trump’s apparent personal interest in Tester’s defeat and his efforts to ensure Republicans keep power in the Senate.” The reason for Trump’s interest is that Tester made allegations against Trump’s Veterans Affairs nominee Ronny Jackson that ended up ruining Jackson’s chances. Republican Matt Rosendale who is loyal to Trump, is challenging Tester but relied on outside help from his party.

Minnesota Democratic House candidate Ilhan Omar, who is slated to become one of two first Muslim women to serve in Congress is battling a right-wing smear campaign. The Somali American faces Republican candidate Jennifer Zielinski for the seat vacated by Representative Keith Ellison. Zielinski is a little known figure with no political experience. Omar is being accused of having married her brother and committing immigration fraud. According to AP, “Minnesota Republicans in the 5th District began a digital billboard campaign and launched a website that highlights the allegations, many of which were first raised by conservative media outlets in 2016 as Omar was running for her seat in the Minnesota Legislatu...

FEATURING MICHAEL ERIC DYSON – On May 25, 1963, the New York Times published a cover story entitled, “Robert Kennedy Consults Negroes Here About North.” The piece, written by one of the Times’ few black writers, chronicled a secret and explosive meeting that RFK had asked James Baldwin, the great writer and essayist to convene.

Attending the meeting were about a dozen prominent African American intellectuals and artists including Lena Horne and Lorraine Hansberry, all of whom gave RFK perhaps more than he bargained for.

While Kennedy walked out of the meeting angry and defensive, it came to be a defining moment for his evolution on the issue of race in America. Chronicling the story of that meeting and everything it represented 50 years after RFK’s assassination is Michael Eric Dyson in a new book.

Michael Eric Dyson, prominent public intellectual, author of the New York Times bestseller Tears We Cannot Stop, University Professor of Sociology at Georgetown University, contributing opinion writer for the New York Times and contributing editor for The New Republic, and ESPN’s The Undefeated. His new book is called What Truth Sounds Like: RFK, James Baldwin, and our Unfinished Conversation About Race in America.

**This segment was originally broadcast on June 18, 2018.

FEATURING PIA GALLEGOS – With just a few weeks to go before the seminal midterm elections that could change the political landscape of the US, a new report has been released assessing the Democratic Party. The report is authored by the same progressive analysts who wrote the “Democratic Autopsy” of the 2016 election published last year. This new report comes exactly a year later, offering a critical evaluation of how the Democratic Party may or may not have learned from its disastrous mistakes that led to the loss of the White House in 2016 and the loss of Congressional control in earlier elections.

For information about the report visit www.democraticautopsy.org.

Pia Gallegos, longtime civil rights attorney and current Democratic Party ward chair and State Central Committee member in Albuquerque, New Mexico, co-author of the report, “Autopsy: The Democratic Party in Crisis,” and “Democratic Autopsy: One Year Later”.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is in Turkey meeting with that nation’s President and Foreign Minister over the murder of Washington Post columnist and Saudi Arabian dissident Jamal Khashoggi. The trip is likely to be an awkward one given the Trump administration’s insistence on believing Saudi innocence at the same time as Turkish authorities say they have evidence that Saudi operatives committed the murder in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. A Turkish newspaper printed a full account of the murder based on secret recordings. Secretary Pompeo did not comment on the report.

Here in the US the online media outlet, Middle East Eye on Tuesday published what it says are the first details of the murder based on a Turkish source who listened to the full recording of the slaying. The source relayed that, “Salah Muhammad al-Tubaigy, who has been identified as the head of forensic evidence in the Saudi general security department,” led the gruesome murder of Khashoggi who was injected with a substance that immobilized him. He was then killed in the span of 7 minutes with a bone saw while he was still alive. The murderers apparently listened to music on their headphones while committing the act. In an interview with Associated Press on Tuesday President Trump continued to dig in his heels about Saudi innocence saying, “Well, I think we have to find out what happened first. Here we go again with, you know, you’re guilty until proven innocent. I don’t like that. We just went through that with Justice Kavanaugh. And he was innocent all the way.”

Separately Associated Press reported that, “Saudi Arabia is paying influential lobbyists, lawyers and public relations experts nearly $6 million a year to engage U.S. officials and promote the Middle East nation, even after three Washington firms cut ties with the kingdom following the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.”

With just a few weeks before the November 6th midterm elections, two major debates on Tuesday highlighted close battles between Republicans and Democrats. In Texas, incumbent Republican Senator Ted Cruz debated Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke who has raised a tremendous amount of money but whose poll numbers have slipped in recent days. Cruz now holds a 7-point lead over O’Rourke. Here is a clip of O’Rourke from Tuesday’s debate, singling out how Cruz voted for last year’s GOP tax cuts. 

A second debate between two rivals for an Arizona senate seat also took place on Tuesday between Representatives Krysten Sinema and Martha McSally who are vying to fill the Senate seat being vacated by Jeff Flake. During one of the most intense moments of the debate, Republican McSally attacked her Democratic opponent with a charge of “treason,” for a statement made on the radio in 2003. Democratic Representative Kyrsten Sinema and rival Martha McSally made their case to voters ahead of a race for the Senate seat being vacated by Arizona Senator Jeff Flake. According to Reuters, “Sinema’s politics have changed since she was first elected in 2013. She joined a moderate Democratic coalition and has one of the more conservative voting records among Democrats in the U.S.

FEATURING ARUN GUPTA – The Republican Party in New York has embraced a white supremacist hate group called the Proud Boys. The Metropolitan Republican Club in Manhattan invited Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes to attend their event. After the event members of the hate group were implicated in a vicious mob-style assault on several people in public in an incident caught on tape.

The New York Police Department is under fire for not stopping the assault. Now, after McInnes boasted about having friends in the department, there are reports that arrests may be coming.

What does it mean for one of the two major political parties in the US to have a local chapter embrace an overt hate group?

Arun Gupta is a regular news correspondent for Rising Up With Sonali. He’s an investigative journalist who has written for dozens of publications including the Washington Post, the Guardian, The Nation, Salon, and Raw Story. He is also author of the forthcoming book, “Bacon as a Weapon of Mass Destruction”.

FEATURING TANIA GALLONI – President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump visited areas of the Florida panhandle affected by Hurricane Michael on Monday. Trump told reporters he was going to ask Congress for disaster funding. The powerful hurricane hit Florida on October 10th as a Category 4 storm with winds between 140 and 155 mph. In the span of a few hours it devastated whole towns and moved ahead to Georgia where there was also damage. As Trump surveyed the horrendous damage that killed 17 people, he marveled at the storm’s power. Neither he, nor Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who accompanied him, made any mention of climate change.

In 2015, Gov. Scott, banned the use of the terms “climate change” and “global warming” in state documents and websites. Then in 2017 Scott signed a bill into law allowing challenges to science teachings in school, including instruction about global warming. And of course, President Trump’s record of denying climate change is well known.

Tania Galloni, managing attorney of Earthjustice’s Florida office.

President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump visited areas of the Florida panhandle affected by Hurricane Michael on Monday. Trump told reporters he was going to ask Congress for disaster funding. According to AP, “Trump visited an aid distribution center, set up in a parking lot filled with boxes of diapers, piles of clothes and bottled water. He and the first lady handed out bottles of water to residents who came to see him and tell him their stories about the storm.” The powerful hurricane hit Florida on October 10th as a Category 4 storm with winds between 140 and 155 mph. In the span of a few hours it devastated whole towns and moved ahead to Georgia where there was also damage. Trump toured Lynn Haven, Florida with Gov. Rick Scott where he spoke to reporters. Neither Trump nor Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who was standing next to him, will admit that climate change is causing rare and powerful storms to become the new normal.

In news about the murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has arrived in the Gulf Arab kingdom on Tuesday. Mr. Pompeo met with the Saudi King Salman, as well as with his son, the nation’s de facto leader Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman. The meeting is taking place at the same time as reports are emerging that Saudi Arabia will admit to the journalist’s killing. According to CNN, “Saudi Arabia will contend that the Washington Post columnist died when an interrogation went awry.” Turkish officials inspected the Saudi consulate on Monday for 9 hours – the location where Khashoggi was last seen and where he is suspected to have been killed. One journalist observed that hours before the Turkish inspection, AP and Reuters camera staff saw a “cleaning crew” entering the consulate with a large supply of cleaning materials. Earlier on Monday President Trump, in an obvious effort to absolve the US’s largest weapons buyer, spoke to reporters saying that the Saudi king denied responsibility for the killing. Trump also speculated that “rogue killers” may have murdered the journalist. 

In other news, the US government reported its highest deficit in 6 years on Monday in a report released by the Treasury Department. The deficit of $779 billion includes the amount that the government went into debt, for the first full 12-month period that Trump was president. According to Reuters, “Economists generally view the corporate and individual tax cuts passed by the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress late last year and an increase in government spending agreed in early February as likely to balloon the nation’s deficit….Borrowing has increased over the past year, partially to make up for slower growth in tax revenues because of the tax cuts, while military spending has also risen.” Republicans, who have reacted with hysteria to deficits under Democratic administrations are silent on Trump’s enormous deficit.

Unlike the US government, Trump’s reelection campaign chest is bursting with cash. On Monday the Washington Post reported that the President has already raised a whopping $100 million for his reelection campaign for 2020. According to the Post, “Trump pulled in $18.

FEATURING SAYU BHOJWANI – With just weeks to go before the midterm elections, the nation is poised for a change in the political landscape. One group of people whose fate hangs strongly in the balance is immigrants – the favored target of Donald Trump, his party, and his base.

But Americans of immigrant origin are taking matters into their own hands and are running for local and statewide office. Now a new book surveys the inspiring stories of many immigrant Americans using the democratic tools at their disposal to make their voices heard.

For more information visit www.NewAmericanLeaders.org.

Sayu Bhojwani, founder and president of New American Leaders, the only national organization focused on preparing immigrant leaders to run for public office. She served as New York City’s first commissioner of immigrant affairs. Her new book is called People Like Us: The New Wave of Candidates Knocking at Democracy’s Door.

FEATURING MEDEA BENJAMIN – President Donald Trump on Monday said on Twitter that he was planning to send Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Saudi Arabia ‘immediately’ over the increasing controversy over the death of Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi. Khashoggi was a vocal critic of the Gulf Arab monarchy and was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. There is strong evidence that Saudi Arabia, and in particular Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was behind Khashoggi’s killing.

Trump was asked about the Khashoggi killing in an interview on PBS’s 60 Minutes over the weekend and said although there would be “severe punishment” if Saudi Arabia was found to be behind the killing, he would not stop arms sales. Saudi Arabia is the US’s top weapons importer and in recent years, used those weapons relentlessly against Yemen.

Medea Benjamin, Co-founder of human rights group Global Exchange and the peace organization CODEPINK. She is a long-time political activist who has also written a number of books including Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of the Unjust, Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control and Inside Iran: The Real History and Politics of the Islamic Republic of Iran.