This week on Work in Progress, Clint & I (and sometimes Tom) continue our interrogation of corruption in politics. This week, we first look at the political cowardice of the Right. What does it mean that Republicans keep skipping out on town hall meetings throughout the country, dodging their constituents questions about Islamaphobia & healthcare?
We move on to discuss how this relates to the rise of anti-protest legislation that have extended to upwards of 18 states and counting. The majority of these proposed laws are variations on traffic interference up to and including justifying vehicular homicide. Arizona has a doozy, proposed legislation would equate peaceful protests and demonstrations to racketeering, essentially crimes equivalent to organized crime. This is a radical infringement of our right to free speech.
In the second hour, we examine Steve Bannon's 'Not Yo' Derrida's Deconstruction' of the administrative state , as he explains in no uncertain terms that his goals have always been to eliminate all federal agencies and the regulations they oversee, while appointing the administrative officials to do the job right. They do all this while distorting the narrative, feeding the monster with an imagined "economic nationalism" through an imagined populism that drives Trump's so-called mandate. They make sure all of this sticks by continuing to undermine that validity of the media, going so far as to label it an "opposition party," enabling the misinformation loop to continue without interruption.
We finish up with the results of the election for DNC Chair. Ellison lost. 230-235. Why was the Party establishment so moved to push through a quasi-corporate progressive candidate with roughly similar policy positions against the Bernie endorsed candidate? Why didn't the DNC vote to shut off the valve with big money contributors forcing us to swallow the 'big tent' euphemism? We know that 'big-tent' means everybody including the super rich and their bought influence. With already justified skepticism, what does this mean for the future of a Dem-Enter strategy?