Racial injustice, Guantanamo, gun violence, free trade deals, deportations, threats on countries in its backyard, wars in the Middle East — the next president of the United States will have a lot on ther plate.
Super Tuesday saw a dozen states, American Samoa and Democratic voters who live outside the U.S. voting on who should be the presidential nominees of the Republican and Democratic parties. More delegates were up for grabs on March 1 than on any other day in the campaign, with most going to Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, although neither got the decisive victory they hoped would assure them their respective parties' nomination.
Now the race turns to states more friendly to Bernie Sanders, including those like Michigan hit hard by the "free trade" policies Clinton promoted as secretary of state.
The frontrunner for the Democratic Party, backed by its establishment and the arms industry, is still Clinton, who has won 672 delegates compared to 477 for Sanders (her lead becomes formiddable when counting so-called "superdelegates," 458 of whom support her, compared to 22 for Sanders).
Clinton's history ranges from dubious — flip-flopping on issues such as gay marriage — to outrageous: backing a coup in Honduras. It's that history Sanders is hoping to exploit.
According to the latest polls, a Sanders win would be good for the Democratic Party: he's doing better against Donald Trump in a general election than Clinton herself. The self-styled democratic socialist has won over the youth and intellectuals such as Noam Chomsky and Coronel West with his calls for free college and healthcare, giving the Hillary campaign a run for its Wall Street money. Bill Clinton has compared the Sanders insurgency to the right-wing Tea Party, but while Sanders may not be the left-wing hero some are hoping for — run-ins with the Black Lives Matter movement and his stance in favor of airstrikes in Syria and the Afghanistan war have raised eyebrows — such desperate comparisons reflect the desperation of the Democratic Party establishment.
Meanwhile, for the Republican Party, it increasingly looks like The Donald might actually win this thing. Trump’s transition from capitalist scumbag to would-be capitalist statesman has been fuelled by racism and xenophobia and fascistic rhetoric that has even been debated in the United Kingom Parliament. But Republicans don’t seem to mind that his policies are built on an attack on logic and based on an irksome personality that has somehow formed a cult.
If You Only Read One Thing...
Do Feminists Support Coups? Honduran Women on Hillary Clinton
By Heather Gies
Feminists in Honduras, where the U.S. State Department backed a military coup in 2009, are not big fans of Hillary Clinton’s so-called feminism.READ MORE
The US Military Will Commit Donald Trump's War Crimes
Former CIA Director Michael Hayden said the military might defy Trump's "illegal" orders to kill and torture, but history shows that those who resist pressure to carry out war crimes end up behind bars. READ MORE
'Black Folks Are an Afterthought’ for Bernie Sanders
By Cyril Mychalejko
Activist Kevin Alexander Gray speaks to teleSUR on why Bernie Sanders' progressive policies have not won over most Black voters.READ MORE
Superdelegates and Democracy, Democrat-Style
Quizzes: Who Said What on the Issues?
Challenge yourself to a foreign policy conundrum: Who said what on Cuba, Venezuela and Guantanamo Bay? The answers might surprise you...
The candidates weigh in on borders, walls and immigrants, but can you guess who said what?
How Latinos Could Shape the Vote
...And how the vote could shape Latin America...
Vox Populi
Bernie Sanders Now Needs to Focus on Black and Latino Voters
By Luis Arroyo
After great showings in the predominantly white states of New Hampshire and Iowa, Sanders must demonstrate he can appeal to minority voters moving forward. READ MORE
Latino Vote: Lingering Grievances Toward Democratic Party
By Nate Singham
The Latino electorate is growing rapidly and completely transforming the U.S. political landscape. During the 2012 elections, the Latino vote was a deciding factor in several key battleground states, according to research carried out by the Seattle-based polling agency Latino Decisions. READ MORE
Can Latino Voters End Hardline Foreign Policy toward Latin America?
The Latino population inside the United States is a constituency that is generally seen as one belonging to the Democratic Party. In many ways, that party has taken Latinos for granted, with U.S. foreign policy toward Latin America under Obama varying little from his Republican predecessor. However, the attitude and questionable foreign policy of the Democratic Party toward Latin America and Latinos pales in comparison to that of the Republican Party, which is stuck in an imperialist mindset, viewing the region as the backyard of the United States. Here are three Republican Latinos who have made their party an anathema for anyone who supports the progressive governments of Latin America. READ MORE
Interview: U.S. Elections and the Mexican Drug War
"The worst case scenario in terms of electoral results in the United States and their impact on the drug war and Latin America in general would be a victory for Hillary Clinton," says author and professor John Ackerman of the Institute of Legal Research at Mexico’s National Autonomous University. Find out why.
Hillary Clinton's Dubious Views on Latin America
By Gustavo Fuchs
As the U.S primary season kicks into gear, we take a look at what Clinton’s past could mean for the U.S’ neighbors in Latin America given her notorious record in the continent. Below are some of the low points of the self-proclaimed “La Abuela” from her time as secretary of state regarding Latin America. READ MORE
Best of teleSUR Podcasts
Days of Revolt with Chris Hedges
The Death of the American City
In this episode of Days of Revolt, host Chris Hedges speaks with two esteemed labor activists from Detroit: Darryl “Waistline” Mitchell and Roshaun Harris. They speak of the desperation caused by industrial decline and deregulation in Detroit, especially among Black people. The three also attest to the necessity and inevitability of revolt under such conditions.
Militarizing Education
In this episode of Days of Revolt, host Chris Hedges discusses the militarization of higher education institutions with journalist Alexa O’Brien. They uncover the trail of money and influence from the national security state to college programs. Hedges and O’Brien identify the ways in which this apparatus has longbeen in effect, and what it could mean for the future. teleSUR
The New Black Militants
In this episode of Days of Revolt, Chris Hedges sits down with two activists from Ferguson’s Hands Up United, Rika Tyler and T-Dubb-O. Together, they discuss the institutional oppression of Black people in and around Ferguson. They condemn the opportunism exhibited by the American Black elite in the face of new grassroots movements. T-Dubb-O and Tyler also highlight the importance of international solidarity in the fight for racial justice.
America's Death Squads
In this episode of Days of Revolt, Chris Hedges sits down with investigative journalist Allan Nairn to discuss his experience covering wars across the globe, and the U.S.’s role in fueling such conflicts. The two discuss the mechanics of Western intervention, and the consequences that are still unraveling today.
The Empire Files with Abby Martin
Noam Chomsky & Abby Martin: Electing the President of an Empire
Abby Martin interviews world-renowned philosopher and linguist Professor Noam Chomsky. Prof. Chomsky comments on the presidential primary "extravaganza," the movement for Bernie Sanders, the U.S.-Iran nuclear deal, the bombing of the Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, modern-day libertarianism and the reality of "democracy" under capitalism.
'This Ship is Sinking' Says Former Bush Official
Abby Martin interviews retired U.S. Army Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, former national security advisor to the Reagan administration, who spent years as an assistant to Secretary of State Colin Powell during both Bush administrations. Today, he is honest about the unfixable corruption inside the establishment and the corporate interests driving foreign policy. Hear a rare insider's view of what interests are behind U.S. wars, the manipulation of intelligence, the intertwining of the military and corporate world, and why the U.S. Empire is doomed.
