What we need is a public display of leadership

I read through and took notes from the transcript of another episode of the podcast Gaslit Nation by Sarah Kendzior and Andrea Chalupa. This episode is titled GOP to America: “You don’t live in a Democracy.” They begin “Welcome back to another newscast of the apocalypse.” It was recorded June 1. The big news is Israel may have a new Prime Minister. After twelve years they may be getting rid of Benjamin Netanyahu. He’s been a topic of the show for all of its three years because he’s a key node in the transnational crime alliance that is the focus of the show. But the potential replacement, Naftali Bennett, is just as far right. He criticized Netanyahu for not being violent enough. Bennett has said he wants control of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, where the Al-Aqsa mosque is. And that gets us into the Christian evangelical beliefs about the Rapture, which ushers in the End Times. I really don’t want to go into the details. But it is important because former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo structured foreign policy around making conditions (according to evangelical beliefs) ripe for it to happen. Israel having control over the Temple Mount means getting one step closer. The pandemic prince is back in the story. He and his pal Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia (the guy accused of making Jamal Kashoggi’s murder happen) planned to overthrow the government of Jordan. One reason for the plan is because Jordan is custodian of the Temple Mount. Kendzior reminded us several foreign powers wanted the nasty guy in the White House because then the prince would be there too. Back to Pompeo, who made a visit to Israel as part of what might be a farewell party for Netanyahu at a time the current Sec. State Antony Blinken was there. It sounds like Pompeo was there to make corrupt deals. Senators Ted Cruz and Lindsay Graham also visited Israel to support Netanyahu. Strange. But it also shows Netanyahu is desperate. When he’s desperate he’s dangerous. Such as stir up his followers into their own attack on the government, now that they have the US Capitol attack as a model. Chalupa put it into a global context. The far-right Animal Farm is global – they are in the US, Canada, Britain, the EU, New Zealand, Australia. It is fed by evangelical Christians, conservative Catholics, and Orthodox Jews. As the climate gets worse and climate refugees increase the Animal Farm is going to push their ideology. They’re going to justify horrific abuses to stay in power. Chalupa said:

These forces, they know the planet's fucked, or they want it to be fucked because of some religious, far out there belief. A lot of these guys, especially in the American Republicans like Pompeo, believe in an apocalyptic doomsday death cult.

For many it is “a White patriarchy at all costs” case. They don’t see mass death as a problem (as we saw over the last year). Even the end of the world isn’t a problem because they believe the Rapture will insulate them from it. This coalition to oust Netanyahu is a deal with the devil. Part of the deal is Bennett will turn over the Prime Minister post to his opponent. Will he? Netanyahu didn’t, which is one reason why he is hated by so many. Under Netanyahu democratic institutions in Israel were eroded as the nasty guy and the GOP did here. Netanyahu and his followers are similar to the nasty guy and his followers. They may be loyal to Netanyahu, not Israel. The focus shifted to American Democrats. The previous week’s show discussed how little they are doing to protect the country from the GOP onslaught (I didn’t read that one). Yes, there are Democrats wanting to do something but appear to be held back by the leadership – Pelosi, Schumer, and Biden. There is little public pressure being applied to Sens. Manchin and Sinema who insist bills must be bipartisan. Kendzior said:

We have warned you many times that when people look like they're not doing anything, they're probably not doing anything.

Kendzior gave a salute to the Texas House Democrats who walked out, depriving a quorum ahead of a voter suppression bill. That was a cry for the federal government to do something. Chalupa reviewed the voting rights bills before Congress.

If we lose our voting rights, if Biden and Democratic leadership allow us to become a voter-suppressed country, it's game over.

Chalupa then discussed an article Sen. Mike Lee wrote and posted on an influential conservative Catholic site. He said in America power isn’t just in majorities, but in a balance of power. The House may reflect current majority views, but it must also pass the Senate where each state has equal power and where a super majority is typically required. The Senate cools the House passions. Chalupa then went into what Lee left out. Many House seats are severely gerrymandered, where the more extreme voters win. As for the Senate it was designed to benefit slave owning states. And those states normalized the abuse of the filibuster to impede progress for black people. Because of the imbalance it is elites selling and purchasing power, to create a growing imbalance of power. These conservative Catholic websites (and, yes, liberal Catholics exist and are vocal) have articles about protecting humanity from the black and brown hordes. They believe they are justified in what they are doing. Of course, they are also enriching themselves, so the cycle perpetuates. I mentioned the letter from 100 scholars saying we had better get serious about voting rights or we’ll lose our democracy. That letter said both bills – the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act – are necessary to preserve democracy. Chalupa said:

Two damn bills need to pass in Congress. How are we going to get that passed if Manchin and Sinema refuse filibuster reform? How are we going to get those two important bills passed into law if Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer refuse to go public in making appeals and pressure on Manchin and Sinema? ... What we need right now is a well thought out public display of leadership, letting the American people know and going on an education tour, if need be, Joe Biden at the helm of it saying pass these two bills, the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the For the People Act—two, not one, two—to ensure our democracy has a fighting chance. Anything less than that drives us further down the road of Republican authoritarianism.

As for the criticism that pressure will prompt Manchin and Sinema to jump to the Republican Party, Kendzior said:

So yes, all this timidity surrounding them, like, “Oh dear, we must not upset them, or they might do things that are really reprehensible and actually fatal to our democracy.” It's like, yeah, they're already doing that, and it might as well just have it all out on the table.

Pelosi, Schumer, and Biden don’t seem to care that the GOP is driving towards minority rule. If Kendzior was in any of those jobs she would do everything possible to retain democracy and for people to retain their rights. Last November in a pandemic, with the dismantling of the Postal System, and general voter suppression we voted anyway and voted an aspiring autocrat out of office. Then we worked to get two more senators from Georgia. Amazing achievements! And we should feel betrayed by how the Democratic leadership is behaving. For all those Democrats who understand what’s going on they need to band together and either oust the leadership or work around them. You owe the country that. Another Biden failure is Attorney General Merrick Garland. He has protected the nasty guy and his cronies and done very little about the corrupt institution of the DoJ. He’s protecting the institution that has been guarding elite criminals that took over the government. Kendzior said she thinks he doesn’t have the guts to stand up to powerful criminals and to examine the flaws within the DoJ. Which means he’s helping the nasty guy cover up brutal crimes. Alas, that is similar to Obama deciding to let go the people who created the global financial crisis in 2008. Which means inequality has gotten wider. Chalupa said:

What matters now is not to give away your power. It's scary using your power. It's scary sticking your neck out and demanding accountability and standing up to people. It's not ever comfortable. But look at the people who are putting their lives on the line. Look at an activist in Belarus who just slit his own throat in a court to protest Putin's little Lackey, Lukashenko, the dictator of Belarus, and all the human rights abuses he is carrying out there. If Biden and Merrick Garland and the rest of that White House do not stick their necks out now, they are sentencing future children on American soil of having to put their lives literally on the line to reclaim our democracy.