Presbyterian Minister Chris Hedges, speaking at a Free Assange Rally in London, February 20, 2024
A few hours after the Harris-Trump debate yesterday – for a wicked assessment of that, see Caitlin Johnstone’s post today – my favourite pastor, the withering Chris Hedges, interviewed alt-comedian Jimmy Dore. Here’s how he introduced Mr Dore:
Our political class does not govern. It entertains. It plays its assigned role in our fictitious democracy, howling with outrage to constituents and selling them out. The Squad and the Progressive Caucus have no more intention of fighting for universal health care, workers’ rights or defying the war machine than the Freedom Caucus fights for freedom …
… Governance exists. But it is not seen. It is certainly not democratic. It is done by the armies of lobbyists and corporate executives, from the fossil fuel industry, the arms industry, the pharmaceutical industry and Wall Street. Governance happens in secret. Corporations have seized the levers of power. Growing obscenely rich, the ruling oligarchs have deformed national institutions, including state and federal legislatures and the courts, to serve their insatiable greed. They know what they are doing. They understand the depths of their own corruption. They know they are hated. They are prepared for that too. They have militarized police forces and have built a vast archipelago of prisons to keep the unemployed and underemployed in bondage. All the while, they pay little to no income tax and exploit sweatshop labor overseas. They lavishly bankroll the political clowns who speak in the vulgar and crude idiom of an enraged public or in the dulcet tones used to mollify the liberal class. And when they see one of their political puppets faltering, as Joe Biden was, they step in to cut off the funds and stage a party coup.
The media plays its anointed role in this farce as courtiers to the powerful, amplifying their fictitious narratives and lies. There are only a handful who call them out. Joining me to discuss our political burlesque is Jimmy Dore, the political commentator, podcaster and host of The Jimmy Dore Show on YouTube.
In a fifty-two minute conversation, the two address the following:
0:00 Intro
2:59 Inside the 2024 DNC
7:15 The Obamas, the Dems and the Elites
16:02 The media and censorship
29:40 The reality of the two parties
39:09 Trump’s threat to the establishment
42:17 Gaza
47:08 The state of journalism and comedy
To read the transcript, select Watch on YouTube/more …/Show transcript
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