Progressives have a win in Walz and a loss in Cori Bush, so what now? The Independent
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Progressives have a win in Walz and a loss in Cori Bush, so what now? - The Independent
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Protesters with March on the RNC gather for a demonstration during the first day of the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Monday. Grace Widyatmadja/NPR hide caption
For more updates from the 2024 RNC in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, head tothe NPR Network's live updates page.
MILWAUKEE While Republican delegates gathered on the floor of the Fiserv Forum on Monday for the first day of the RNC, progressive activists were assembling outside. With handmade signs decrying the racist and reactionary Republican agenda, demonstrators took to the streets to try and shout their message across the U.S. Secret Service blockades and fences surrounding the official RNC venues.
Its hot, but Im glad were here, says Lisa Taylor, who marched along with other members of the Progressive Labor Party.
Organizers predicted more than 5,000 people from around the U.S. would participate in the show of solidarity against Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee. The crowd that turned out for the march in hot and muggy downtown Milwaukee ended up much smaller than that, although a vast range of causes and issues were represented.
Nadine Seiler wears a "Stop Project 2025" shirt during the rally for March on RNC during the first day of the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Monday. Grace Widyatmadja/NPR hide caption
Trump is what we get for our lack of participation, worried Nadine Seiler, who traveled from Waldorf, Md., to stand under the hot sun with a colorful homemade banner and bright-blue eyeliner.
Seiler says her biggest concern is Project 2025, a 900-page plan by the Heritage Foundation to overhaul the federal government. The conservative organization says Trump will adopt its playbook on his first day back in the Oval Office if elected although the former president has tried to distance himself from the initiative.
I know they want to erase Black folks and our contributions, I know they want to eliminate the Department of Education, I know they want to defang the FBI and use the DOJ to prosecute his enemies, which means anyone who disagrees with his fascist policies, she rattles off. Oh yeah, I know enough about it.
Army veteran Renay Blanford worries more about a second term of Donald Trump as commander-in-chief. He swore an oath when he was a president to defend the Constitution of the United States, she says. And he did not during the insurrection of January 6th.
Organizers say that more than 120 different progressive causes were represented at the march, including abortion, immigrant, LGBTQ+ rights proponents and people against the ongoing Israeli war against Gaza. But the overall message was anti-Trump which vendor Stan Sinberg from New York was all to happy to provide in button form.
Protesters with March on the RNC gather for a demonstration during the first day of the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Monday. Grace Widyatmadja/NPR hide caption
Protesters with March on the RNC gather for a demonstration during the first day of the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 15, 2024. Keren Carrin/NPR hide caption
So I have Non-Felon for President, he explains, pointing to the rows of slogan-bearing accessories displayed on a hand wagon. I have Another Nasty Woman against Trump which is another throwback, Sinberg says, referring to Hillary Clintons 2016 presidential campaign, which is when he first started making the rounds as a button salesman.
If he died tomorrow, I would be a little conflicted, he laughed, as a couple of potential customers scanned his offerings. I would be very happy he is gone, but my business would be over right away.
The attempted assassination of Trump just a few days earlier hung over the gathering as protesters passed lines of multistate police on bikes and horseback a fresh reminder of the recent tragedy at the Pennsylvania rally. Attendees here were quick to disavow that act of political violence, even as some cracked jokes about wanting their chants to get within ear-shot of the former president.
Protesters with March on the RNC gather for a demonstration during the first day of the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 15, 2024. Grace Widyatmadja/NPR hide caption
A guide waits as a police officer clears the road for protesters with March on the RNC during the first day of the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Monday. Grace Widyatmadja/NPR hide caption
The Coalition to March on the RNC fought hard over the final route of the march, to ensure their chants would at least have a chance of being heard by RNC attendees, and sued the City of Milwaukee and the U.S. Secret Service over the security zone that would have pushed the protest too far away to be heard by RNC attendees.
Protest organizers lost that lawsuit, but reached a handshake agreement with the city to allow the march closer to the conventions Fiserv Forum. But after all that, demonstrators say Republican delegates arent really the audience they need to reach.
Were not really here for the Republican party, were really here to raise the demands of the people, says Mennelli Escarez, who attended along with other Filipino-American student activists from the University of Illinois-Chicago.
Protesters with March on the RNC gather for a demonstration during the first day of the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 15, 2024. Grace Widyatmadja/NPR hide caption
Were also here to expose both of the parties as well because they are two sides of the same coin, she said, hitting on a theme common in this crowd: discontent with President Biden as a candidate, too.
Escarez says the real opportunity for protest will occur next month in her college town, Chicago, where delegates might be more willing to listen at the Democratic National Convention.
This was just getting us ready and revved up, she says.
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Progressives try to send a message of resistance through the RNC security barrier - NPR
As the dust continues to settle on the Supreme Courts 2023-2024 term, the conservative majoritys existential threat to our democracy (and, in particular, our multiracial democracy) could not be clearer. But progressives have also enabled this threat by refusing to embrace the democratic reforms necessary to bring the Court to heel.
Beyond the widely panned decision granting Donald Trump unprecedented immunity from prosecution, the Courts decisions have followed a clear trend of expanding power for the rich and connected (who will have new tools to challenge environmental and consumer protections), and diminishing it for people of color (who will have fewer tools to challenge racist gerrymanders), and the poor (who can now be incarcerated for sleeping outside even when no shelter is available).
Even in supposed bright spots, such as Rahimi, in which the Court declined to overrule a federal law that bars anyone under a domestic violence restraining order from having a gun, its rulings have reified white supremacy. The Court did not refrain from imposing its history and tradition test for gun laws, which Sotomayor acknowledged privileges an era predating the inclusion of women and people of color as full members of the polity. The Court also conspicuously declined to address whether its vision of originalism includes the history of Reconstruction, which fundamentally transformed race relations and laid the foundation for multiracial democracy in the United States.
In the face of the Courts sustained attack on multiracial democracy, progressive responses have so far been ineffective. Progressives arguing before the Court have relied on precedent only to see those precedents tossed away in cases ending the right to abortion and outlawing affirmative action. They have grounded their arguments in history only to see the Court cherry pick research to achieve its desired results in cases diminishing the power of federal agencies. And, outside the courtroom, progressives have shone spotlights on Justices Alitos and Thomas numerous conflicts of interest, only to have calls for the pairs recusal fall on deaf ears in cases related to the January 6 insurrection.
Yet in the wake of another devastating term, President Biden has announced no plan for Supreme Court reform. Instead, he seems content to patiently await a vacancy that may never arise to make his next appointment.
Lets be honest with ourselvesefforts to influence or reshape the Court short of structural reform are doomed to fail. Because justices currently have lifetime tenure, and experience has demonstrated that they will time their departures to coincide with ideologically sympathetic presidential administrations, there is no guarantee that another progressive presidency will result in any shift in the Courts ideology.
Meanwhile, as the Court places its thumb on the scale in elections, whether directly, as in Bush v. Gore, or more indirectly by diluting the Voting Rights Act, and unleashing unlimited corporate spending in elections, democracy may continue to erode.
When they have the political power to do so, progressives must immediately expand the Court to reflect the diverse backgrounds, experiences and viewpoints of the nation, and impose term limits on justices (in line with other Western democracies).
Opposition to these straightforward ways to restore democratic accountability have laid bare progressive ambivalences about democracy itself. Some progressive elites, and particularly legal elites who are wary of reigning in the Court point to (supposedly) counter-majoritarian decisions like Brown, Roe and Obergefell, which expanded rights for people of color, women and LGBT people, as reasons to preserve the Courts power.
But an overly romantic view of the Court risks breezing past the Supreme Courts efforts to disempower vulnerable groups throughout its history in cases like Dred Scott, which held that Black people were not and could not be citizens, Plessy, which enshrined separate but equal for more than half a century, and Korematsu, which denied the constitutional rights of Japanese Americans interned during World War II, and throughout the anti-regulatory Lochner era. And it risks empowering a handful of unaccountable decisionmakers above the true levers of social changethe people.
While the Supreme Court was a sometime ally to the movements of the 1950s, 60s and 70s, the true heroes of change were civil rights organizers and feminist activists who dared to imagine a brighter future. They pushed the nation (kicking and screaming) closer toward equity as reflected in the enactment of landmark legislation like the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
As the demise of Roe and its aftermath has made clear, victories that rely on the Supreme Court alone are fragile. Lasting protections for the most vulnerable must be won and defended through power building at all levels of societynot in the courts alone. Continued progress is possible, but only if we restrain a Court that is all too happy to defang or dismantle popularly enacted legislation.
We must continue to call out the Courts insidious efforts to undermine democracy. We must also hold progressive leaders, and especially the progressive bar, accountable for their role in enabling this erosion. And we must demand that the President and Congress take action to expand the Court and impose term limits. If they do not, it's difficult to see how the Courts future terms wont be darker mirrors of this one.
Importance of the Courts, Supreme Court, Supreme Court Reform
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To Defend Multiracial Democracy, Progressives Must Embrace Court Reform - American Constitution Society
BALTIMORE The most important press conference of Joe Bidens life was underway sixty critical and crucial minutes at the NATO summits close, where any mistake could stagger his presidential campaign.
Forty miles away, hundreds of Democratic activists at the annual Netroots Nation conference were relaxing at a roof deck happy hour. Catering and drinks were supplied by the Black Male Voter Project. A DJ played Kendrick Lamars Not Like Us. There were no TV screens.
This circular firing squad, its very Democratic, said Markos Moulitsas, whose Daily Kos blog birthed the 18-year-old conference. The blogs commenters were pissed off, he said: Project 2025 is finally going viral, people are finally paying attention to it, and Democrats would rather complain about Joe Biden, whos got the nomination sewn up.
Two weeks after the disastrous Atlanta debate, the president is still cleaning up the damage 18 members of Congress begging him to quit the ticket, celebrity donors fretting that hes too feeble to beat Donald Trump again, Nancy Pelosi nudging him to perhaps take the gold watch.
But there is no ideological edge to the panic, or to the fight-back. Among progressives, who were the least pro-Biden faction when he won the 2020 nomination, the mood is mixed. Some, like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have praised Bidens record, urging him and the party to refocus on it. Others, whod protested Bidens support for Israel in Gaza, see an opening but do not want progressives to be the face of a DNC putsch.
Polling by Our Revolution, a group founded by Sanders, found most Democrats wanted Biden to quit. But the debate over whether he should do so is taking place largely outside the movement. In Washington, the Congressional Progressive Caucus has mostly stayed in wait-and-see mode while other players look to influence Bidens decision. I am fully behind him as our nominee until hes not our nominee, chair Pramila Jayapal told reporters this week.
This is the first time that the progressives are not being blamed, California Rep. Ro Khanna said in a panel discussion. I spent, as co-chair of Bernie Sanders campaign, one year listening to James Carville on CNN say that Bernie Sanders was unelectable. Im glad now hes talking about Joe Biden being unelectable.
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Why progressives havent joined the dump Biden chorus - Semafor
US President Joe Bidens interview on Monday with pop culture journalist Speedy Morman, as well as the opening prayer at Mondays Republican National Convention and a Fox News interview with newly-minted Vice Presidential candidate J.D. Vance showed how differently the candidates will navigate the Israel issue until the November elections.
What became clear Monday is that Biden will express support for the Jewish state, though he will do so somewhat haltingly, carefully balancing it with empathy and support for the Palestinians.
The Republican ticket Donald Trump and Vance will express support for Israel without feeling the need to sound apologetic.
It all has to do with demographics.
Biden needs to play to the progressive wing of his party and needs to retain Arab American voters in Michigan, all the while not alienating Jews in the key battleground states of Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Arizona. That is a delicate balancing act.
On the other hand, Trump and Vance, without any expectations of securing either Arab or progressive voters, can voice full-throated support for Israel. This will not cost them any support with their base and who knows might draw a couple of percentage points of Jewish and pro-Israel supporters into the Republican tent that could make all the difference in a tight election.
All this came into focus on Monday when the Republican National Convention crowned Trump its partys nominee, and Trump tabbed Vance as his running mate.
The political minefield Biden will have to maneuver regarding Israel was on display in the interview taped with Morman on a platform of the youth-oriented Complex Networks that aired Monday.
Asked why he and the US are so supportive of Israel and why they provide billions of dollars of military aid, Biden started off the Mideast section of the interview by stressing he has only approved defensive weapons signaling that he understands supplying arms to Israel is a controversial issue among some Democrats, including many of those who watch Mormans interviews with celebrities, sports stars, and politicians.
I denied them offensive weapons they are using 2,000-pound bombs. I made it real clear that they cannot use weapons we provide them in civilian areas, the president stressed.
Pressed to explain why his and the USs support for Israel is so strong, Biden repeated what he has said numerous times in explaining his pro-Israel position: If there werent an Israel, every Jew in the world would be at risk. So theres a need for it to be strong and a need for Israel to be able to have, after World War II, the ability for Jews to have a place that was their own.
This response is one that dated the president, who is trying to fend off those claiming he is too old for his job. Biden is of an aging breed of Democratic Party leaders who lived in and remember a world without an Israel, and the horrific fate that befell the Jews in that world. His 27-year-old interviewer, and one assumes most of those watching, know not of this world, and it is unclear how much this argument resonates with them if at all.
You dont have to be a Jew to be a Zionist. A Zionist is about whether or not Israel is a safe haven for Jews because of their history of how theyve been persecuted, Biden added.
Then Morman asked him point-blank: Are you a Zionist?
That question has to be put into the context of how the word has been twisted over the last nine months into something ugly. Think of the masked hoodlums who a couple of months ago boarded a New York Subway and in an intimidating manner demanded that Zionists on the packed subway car identify themselves.
Yes, Biden to his great credit answered, then added something reflecting how he understands that the word has taken on a negative connotation among many, anticipating that this would be used against him in some of the progressive and Arab circles he was trying to woo. Now, youll be able to make a lot of that because different people dont know what a Zionist is, he said. Then he asked the interviewer: Do you know what a Zionist is?
To which, rather snarkily, Morman replied: I just ask questions, I dont answer them.
Tellingly, after declaring himself a Zionist, in his next breath Biden again revealing the need to play to a lot of different audiences said, By the way, Im the guy who has done more for the Palestinian community than anybody.
He mentioned that he ensured the Egyptians opened their border to Gaza to allow food and medicine through, and was the guy who has been able to bring together the Arab states to help the Palestinians with food and shelter. I mean, Ive been very supportive of the Palestinians, but Hamas, theyre a bunch of thugs.
Asked why, given these positions, Arab Americans or Muslims should vote for him, Biden said the same reason Arabs in the region support him: to keep peace, put things back together, to make sure there is a two-state solution in the region Ive been a strong supporter of that.
With this performance, Biden was clearly trying to be everything for everybody pro-Israel for Jews and Israeli supporters, sympathetic to the Palestinians, and a champion of a two-state solution to the progressives and Arabs.
The Republican Party, as it also became apparent on the first day of the convention in Milwaukee, is less encumbered by such considerations.
Consider a prayer on opening night delivered by Laura Levy, a Jewish Republican from Connecticut. Not only did she issue a prayer for victims killed and wounded in the attempted assassination of Trump, but also for the peace of Jerusalem and the hostages.
Lord our God, we pray for the peace of Jerusalem, your eternal city, and for all the children of Abraham. We remember and pray for freedom for the hostages kidnapped and held so cruelly against their will, Levy said. Lord, please keep them in your sight and hasten the day of their freedom.
It is difficult to imagine a similar prayer being delivered during prime time from the center stage at next months Democratic National Convention, where Israel will be a contentious issue sure to stir up angry debate between various wings of the party.
And then there is Vance.
In an interview with Fox Newss Sean Hannity, Vance who is among Republican isolationists but one who is robustly pro-Israel and thinks Israel is in a different category than other countries such as Ukraine voiced strong support for our ally Israel.
Biden, he said in an apparent reference to the delay of arms shipments and the presidents warnings to Israel not to go into Rafah several months ago, has made it harder and harder for Israel to win that war.
You want two things to happen: you want Israel to win that war, and as quickly as possible the longer it goes on the harder their situation becomes. And second, after the war, you want to reinvigorate that peace process between Israel, the Saudi Arabians, Jordanians, and so forth.
Note that Vance here, when talking about a peace process, said nothing about a Palestinian state, only about some kind of regional cooperation. He does not have a constituency to which he has to pledge allegiance to a two-state solution every time Mideast diplomacy is raised.
What Biden has done is the worst of all possible worlds, he contended. He has prolonged the war Israels war to actually take out Hamas but in the process has made it harder to move toward a sustainable peace.
Vance also added Iran into the mix. A lot of people recognize you need to do something with Iran, but not these weak little bombing runs. If you are going to punch the Iranians, you punch them hard.
He said that Trump did just that in 2020 when the US killed Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani.
The most important diplomatic breakthrough of the Trump administration was the Abraham Accords, because if you want to change Iran, the way to do it is to one, withhold their oil money, which Biden has been bad about, and also enable the Israelis and Sunni Arab states to work together and provide a counterbalance to Iran. Joe Biden has done nothing. You have the infrastructure there to weaken Iran to strengthen our ally Israel and Joe Biden has done nothing with it.
Whether, as Vance said, Trump could reinvigorate a regional counterbalance to Iran is not clear or even whether that is possible without a pathway to a two-state solution. Nevertheless, Vances interview clearly demonstrates that he, the Republican Party, and presumably Trump are not encumbered by the same constraints as the current administration when discussing Israel, the Palestinians, Hamas, and Gaza.
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Biden balances progressives on Israel; Vance doesnt and it shows - analysis - The Jerusalem Post