FALSE DEMOCRACY

Is Trump a neofascist? Analysts on the left, such as Cornel West, Noam Chomsky, and Judith Butler think he is. But mainstream liberal commentators refuse to associate the Trump phenomena with fascism, calling him a “rightwing populist.” Does it really matter what Trump is called? The poet, playwright, and political thinker, Bertolt Brecht, asked in 1935: “How can anyone tell the truth about fascism, unless he’s willing to speak out against capitalism, which brings it forth?”

PHILIP WEISS—Our media have been forthright in explaining that the demagogic president is appealing to his white nationalist base with the attacks on four women of color. What they don’t say is that Trump is also using the attack in a tactical manner to attempt to divide the Democratic Party over Israel and carry off pro-Israel Jewish donors and voters from their traditional home and into the Republican Party. Democrats and the media can’t talk about that angle because they are involved in that racket.

JOHN SPRITZLER—You are a billionaire. You possess more wealth than ordinary people can even dream of. You enjoy luxury and privilege unlike all others. Most importantly of all, you have enormous power–the power to make others do your bidding, to shape the world according to your fancy, to tell “the people”–the little ones–how it’s going to be whether they like it or not. All of this you now possess. But can you hold on to it? That is the supreme question! You own the world today, but what must you do to ensure you still own it tomorrow? You need the Owner’s Manual. Fortunately for you it is now in your hands.

JOHN SPRITZLER—But if fundamental conflicts are never resolved peaceably by democracy, then what is democracy all about? The answer to this question is that democracy, meaning a way for people to settle differences peaceably with every citizen having equal status in the process, can only apply to people among whom there is no fundamental conflict. Non-fundamental conflicts, in contrast to fundamental ones, can indeed be resolved peaceably by compromises worked out with some kind of majority-rule or consensus rule system.

Greenwald said the threats he received, mostly via email, “were very graphic, detailed, and thought-out.” The threats mentioned the couple’s children and dogs, Greenwald told CPJ. “We are always careful with our security but have had to substantially increase the level of security that we and our family has in light of the journalism I’ve been doing and the seriousness of the threats we are receiving,” Greenwald said.