Margaret Kimberley

MARGARET KIMBERLEY—In all likelihood, Netanyahu has little reason to be worried about U.S. resolve. The plans for aggression are completely bipartisan. Trump and the Republican Party are not alone in pushing this scheme. Democrats make noises about wanting congressional authority before any attack takes place but few of them have said clearly that they are opposed to war. The only straightforward Democratic Party message is from those who oppose even the tepid War Powers Act resolution and who openly state their support for the regime change effort. Democratic leaders Senator Chuck Schumer and Congressman Hakeem Jeffries are trying to delay a vote on the resolution. They don’t want their members to go on record as supporting what their voters oppose. They hope that Trump starts a fight that voters don’t want but, in the proc

MARGARET KIMBERLEY—The Donald Trump administration recently bypassed the congressional approval process to provide Israel with $6.5 billion in military aid. Joe Biden’s administration did likewise, empowering the Gaza genocide also by going around congress. The purpose of these winks and nudges is to give cover to members who would vote “yes” if asked, but who do not want to be taken to task for their support of war crimes. None of them really object to U.S. presidents making an end run around them to keep the zionist project afloat and their careers secure. 

BAR—The Trump administration’s threats against Venezuela are a reminder that U.S. aggression is thoroughly bipartisan. In 2019, Glen Ford provided this analysis of a Democratic Party presidential debate, in which even progressives were prepared to support Trump’s regime change plans.

BAR—Margaret Kimberley was recently a guest on James Fauntleroy’s YouTube program, Jaybefaunt. They discussed the upcoming mayoral election in New York City that pits the Democratic Party nominee, Zohran Mamdani, against a republican and former governor, Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent. In these excerpts of their conversation, they discussed why this local election is of national importance.

M. KIMBERLEY—The city of Los Angeles, California is now the focal point of resistance, and while there is Black solidarity within the coalition protesting ICE raids and Donald Trump bringing in the National Guard, there is also a strange resistance to acting in solidarity with those who are specifically targeted in this phase of state repression.

There is a great deal of confusion about what Black politics should be. The confusion continues because Black politics, the assertion of Black/African people’s human rights here and abroad, was killed off by repression, the influence of money in politics, years of right-wing indoctrination, and the presence of a neo-liberal, imperialist Black man in the office of the presidency. The result is that the people who once were most likely to be at the very least skeptical of the state’s motives are now in support of some of its worst acts.