Shahid Buttar is a Democrat running in the general election against Nancy Pelosi in California’s 12th district. In this wide-ranging interview, Shahid opens up about the two related allegations that have rocked his Congressional campaign recently, noting the rush to judgment against him enabled by what he calls a “failure of press ethics” in amplifying a smear campaign based on a “fabricated narrative.“
Shahid then goes on to make a case for a Green New Deal, a radical restructuring of military spending and priorities, and Medicare for All— all issues that Nancy Pelosi opposes.
For more on Shahid’s campaign, visit shahidforchange.us
As a rebuttable to the RNC and the DNC, The Peoples Convention, on August 30th, seeks to galvanize what polls show as "the large majority of Americans who are progressive, and the almost two out of three Americans are who now calling for a major new party."
Featured speakers at The Peoples Convention include Nina Turner, Dr. Cornel West, Jimmy Dore, Marianne Williamson, Chris Hedges, and more—including Ryann Knight, who joins me for a wide-ranging interview.
In our conversation we
In his recent piece for Jacobin, entitled “This Year’s DNC Was 2016’s DNC on Steroids,” Luke Savage, wrote: “Open contempt for the progressive left, speeches from Republicans, and a liberal class hopelessly out of touch with the moment, this week was 2016’s DNC all over again — and the Democrats are at risk of the same result: failing to defeat Donald Trump.”
Luke joins Dennis for a discussion about the DNC.
Can Joe Biden’s center hold?
Okay, Joe, here we go—it’s mid-August, we are fastly approaching the Presidential debates and the election, Donald Trump’s disapproval numbers are rising in correlation to the rising case numbers and deaths of the Coronavirus. And to top it all off, you’ve just made a historic and meaningful choice and tapped Kamala Harris as your VP pick.
Like you Joe, Kamala Harris is a complicated figure who has a problematic past as one who has upheld systems that need tearing down. We will have plenty of time to discuss that in future episodes. For now, let’s celebrate the fact that she will be the first black woman and first South-Asain woman to serve as Vice President of the United States.
It’s going to be an eventful few months, but, really: in terms of the opinions of the American people who will vote, clearly, Biden-Harris is a shoo-in.
And that means we on the left can walk and chew gum at the same time. Walking, in this metaphor, is removing the cancerous foul lump of deformity that is Donald Trump. Chewing gum is meeting this moment with a boldness and a vision required of this once in a millennia confluence of Pandemic and this economic crisis looming on generational catastrophe. Chewing Gum at this moment means remembering that the Democrats have chosen, as someone to defeat Trump, the same politician that told a group of wealthy donors that nothing will fundamentally change, if they voted for him.
To be fair, that quote was pre-Pandemic. And while the Vote for Joe, nothing will change message never rose to campaign bumper sticker swag, we wow have tens of millions of Americans looking over a Depression cliff that can take a generation to climb out of.
We don’t just need something to change, we need everything to change.
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Here is what a true leader of the opposition party would do: state clearly and unequivocally that he would pardon any officer of Trump’s secret Police who lays down their guns and abandons their post under a President Biden. To do so would be to play a card that Trump loves to play. It would also clearly pick a side and help keep up the momentum for systemic change that the reason for the 55 nights and counting of protests in Portland and across America.
Joe Biden, of course, will do no such thing.
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***
What would you do with $2000 a month, no strings attached, until three months after the Pandemic was over?
Dear Joe:
Remember, the effects of the Trump virus will linger for a generation. The time to agitate for outside the box ideas is not after the election, but now—when people are engaged. The proposal to give every American who makes less than 120k a year $2000 a month until the Pandemic is over is one of those ideas whose time has come. 2000 a month until this is over.
Pass it on.
Try to imagine yourself 20 years in the future, explaining the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus to someone who did not live through it. Go ahead. Come up with a metaphor, leave it in the comments, and have a blast. The overlap between what would typically be called hyperbole and the truth of the matter offers a breathtakingly wide-open opportunity.
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***
Dear Joe,
As spring flips to summer, and we start our sprint to the conventions and the 2020 Presidential election, it sure seems like you can't possibly lose this election.
Right?
I mean, one: you're surging in the polls. Check.
Two: Trump launched his 2020 campaign with a surreal low energy shit show whose most enduring image will be the empty seats reserved by k-pop fans and tik tok tweens.
Three, Trump's empty vows to jail protesters for one year who burn the flag or ten years if they "disrespect our heritage" and topple the statues of Confederate leaders has many asking: is this fucken guy running for President of the United States, or is he running for the Duke of Hazzard county?
As Donald Trump continues to flounder and flail, it might be a tempting campaign strategy to play it safe, win the electoral college, push Humpy Dumpty Trump off of his wall, and waltz to victory without much of an effort. You must be thinking that you can run a Hillary Clinton style campaign with only a few minor tweaks to convince some white people in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin to relegate Trump to the ashbin of single term Presidential failures.
But Trump also knows he can't persuade a majority of Americans to vote for him. Instead, Trump's only path to a 2nd term is widespread voter suppression, the abuse of the executive branch to suppress dissent, and lies repeated enough to create an alternate reality.
If Trump's first campaign revealed him to be a reality TV candidate and President, he is now clearly pursuing an alternate reality TV campaign. The alternate reality of a Trump 2nd term will be the consolidation of power of some of the most disgusting interests and inclination of the far right.
And, make no mistake: Trump must be stopped.
But let us also recognize this moment as one that calls for something so much more significant than the old Joe Biden middle of the road mentality. What do you say, Joe? You've got the votes of the centrists, corporatists, and the Karen Democrats all locked up. They are not going anywhere. If you pursue a traditional campaign, with watered-down melba toast policy demands, you risk the same fate as Hillary Clinton.
video and more at sign up at www.DearJoeBiden.com
I lay out the case to support Defund the Police, do a quick review of the laws in the United States that prove that White Supremacy is not just a "few good people" in a park in Charlottesville. I'll also share a personal story from my childhood in which, as a 9-year old boy in a suburb of New York City, I found myself at a community event where we sang songs and cheered under the burning embers of a life-sized puppet of a black boy burned at stake. That's what youth sports was like for me. What was it like for you?
The premiere of DEAR JOE BIDEN —
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At the intersection of the continued violent racist policing and killing in our country's global Pandemic, and the Trump administration's criminal response to both, at least two things are clear.
First, we must remove Trump from the Oval office.
Second, there can be no return to a so-called "pre-Trump normal."
What is less clear is the answer to the question: are we so beaten down that we will not fight for #2, out of fear for losing #1?
The show launches on May 28, 2020.
more at DearJoeBiden.com