We must all strive to retain one vital fact to sustain us throughout these dark times of Israel's genocide being so open that even ordinary humans normally too absorbed in the day to day struggle for existence notice its reality. That is as disgusting and amoral as this genocide is, ultimately it will not succeed. I myself have long accepted that it is unlikely that I will live long enough to see the end of the zionist entity but I'm certain that it will end in ignominy and failure.
The only regret is I won't get to experience the joy that I felt on the day Mandela walked out of prison. When that event occurred which like the freedom of Palestinians, I had been agitating and pushing for since adolescence some 60 years ago, the immediate aftermath of issues such as the temporary obstruction of the ANC by the Zulu hierarchy of Inkatha passed in a blur; it was obvious apartheid was over, there could be no turning back and from here on out it would be up to indigenous South Africans to decide their future. Of course there have been disappointments along the way, such as the denigration of, and lawfare waged against Winnie Mandela, the framing of Jacob Zuma, and most recently the decision by rightist ANC leader Ramaphosa to enter into coalition with the Boer dominated DA (see https://www.africanews.com/2024/06/21/newly-appointed-south-african-mp-suspended-for-racist-language-video/) Incidentally whilst South Africa's prosecution of the zionist entity at ICJ has been brilliant, people should be aware that SA government support of this has been because of Ramphosa's need to mollify his electorate angry at domestic failures with a dash of "See what we're doing internationally". A standard piece of careerist political BS practiced worldwide by corrupt pols.
That victory over apartheid cannot be judged in terms of what came next because when a population has been denied input into their leadership for generations we should always expect there will be missteps along the way. That must never deter us, as soon as we imagine we have some sort of right to determine what a people do with their political freedom, we become no different than its original oppressors.
Nevertheless if we maintain our stance of opposing zionist genocide, altering our means of opposition to suit each situation, and we retain that one fact "ultimately this is gonna be successful" most of the humans fighting for an end to the zionist entity will live to see that end come about & those of us who don't can rest easy knowing the outcome is inevitable.
The one abiding lesson I picked up during my travels is that most humans on this planet are innately tolerant of others and given the opportunity they will place themselves into the others' shoes when considering their actions. Of course regimes will always attempt to counter this with indoctrination and they can be impermanently successful if the indoctrination is buttressed with cradle to grave propaganda as it is in the zionist entity.
Then who knows; one day humanity may even see the folly of the leadership model of government and develop better more honest methods of what could be called 'self-administration'.
The EID holiday is this week and there is a group of Palestinians returning to the West Bank from the Hajj in Saudi. They are in 12 busses– about 1000 people of all ages including the elderly – and are being held up now at the Jordan crossing (Allenby/King Hussein bridge) in abnormally hot weather. They have had their passports stamped in Jordan so they can’t go back to Jordan. Israeli border patrol won’t let them through even though the Israeli government arranged for the transfer of these 12 busses in advance. For no reason the Israelis decided to not let the busses pass today and then they announced they won’t let them pass until Sunday. This means 1000 people are stuck in the heat for 48 plus hours without water or food. This is Israeli sadism in action. It’s not unusual either.
How are the people of Jordan taking this? It is ludicrous to expect the transplanted by england "Jordanian Royal Family" to take an interest but I know for a fact ordinary Jordanians will be angry and eager to assist these pilgrims any way they can.
I am so sorry to hear this! It shouldn't be a surprise because of what's gone before. But it still is surprising, and as you said, sadistic. I don't know why I keep expecting humankind to "advance." We are the same as we were thousands of years ago, bloodying each other in these meaningless fights over who owns the most earth. The ants own it, for heavens sake, because they're the only ones who will be left after we're done killing each other off!
Yes, and they would be extremely lucky if the Israelis don't kill them while entering, and then the usual clown shouts " that was an involuntary terrible mistake that we are investigating"
if there's no state or coalition to stand up against Israel's openly, vicious, live stream genocide mass murder, ethnic cleansing, and mass starvation of the Palestinians if everyone in the world is scared to attack them and stop them because of their viciousness and nuclear weapons then that means that Israel rules the world
The Jewish supremacists /Jews/Israelis/zionists/christian facist zionists whatever you choose to call them
whatever you wanna call them ungah bungah... yes, whatever you wanna call them ... have proven themselves a global threat to humanity.
I want cease-fire and peace through continuous negotiations between all sides... I mean, continuous negotiations and diplomacy 24 seven with teams of scholars paid to deal with what I call this global cult of murderous genocidal psychopaths. I include the US/NATO war against against Russia in Ukraine.
Cease-fire peace, diplomatic, negotiations And reparations.
Yes, the "ungah bungah" zealots of any religion or political group have always been disruptive and destructive particularly if they hold messianic believes and want to accelerate the end of times. But it is the opposite with enlighten normal people that have helped the advancement of mankind and among them are Jewish, Cristians and Moslems.
if there's no state or coalition to stand up to Israel's genocide, that means that Israel rules the world with their vicious behavior and nuclear weapons
Chris, after Amy's "Free Speech" episode of June 21st absolutely no Democratic Senator nor Congressional Representative should meet with Nutanyahu, in July, or ever.
My next double-sided, ad-hoc, focus-group tested, and highly favorable, demonstration/protest signs will simply say:
Agreed, but Mr. Hedges explained here why to avoid that meeting is impossible: most of our congress, senate and president have been purchased by Israel. The only solution to finish our vasal status is to vote out those politicians from both parties. Anybody can check on Opensecrets.org how much bribes they have accepted.
Yes/But, Julio, as I will be writing in the NEAR future [re. Amy Goodman's fabulous "FREE SPEECH" 6/21/2024 episode on Global death by genocide, I will be trying to explain and educate, to as many folks as I can, that the real 'bottom line' is that the U.S. AIPAC merger and 'take-over' of the former AMERICAN EMPIRE has been already consolidated!
Yes/But2, Julio, the real determinant factor will not be MONEY, nor POWER, but 'Bump-Stock GUNS' --- simply because Faux-EMPEROR TRUMP's followers are as dumb as shit, but they have children.
If the certified megalomaniac TRUMP himself, engenders any mass gun violence he will go down like HITLER, NUTANYAHU, and himself.
Take that to the thieving 'right-wing' MEGA Corporate Capitalist and Cancerous; BANKs, CEO's, and all others named in my double-sided, ad-hoc, focus-group tested, and highly approved signs which simple say:
DUMB-FUCK, TRUMP, will shoot himself up the ass with his own Violent BUMP-STOCK MACHINE-GUN --- which, while it is different, but even better than, HITLER burning himself in his own coffin!
We do have many problems to fix: guns, deficient education, ecological disaster, wars in Gaza and Ukraine etc. but there is a fairly fast solution for all those problems by following the advice from our sage RALPH NADER
in his recent interview by David Barsamian "Corporate Autocracy, Fascism, Trump & the Election" which following I transcribe a little part (downloaded from Alternativeradio.org):
"So, the challenge for the American people is not just to diagnose the problem, but to say, "What institution can turn this around?" Answer, the Congress has the constitutional authority on budgets, taxes, war declaration, waging peace, nominating officials, investigating the executive branch, and influencing state and local government. And they are only 535 people. They put their shoes on every morning the way we do. They want our votes more than they want corporate money. And IF WE TARGET OUR VOTES, if we summon them to town meetings made up of citizen agendas
controlled by the citizen back in public auditoriums for the senators and representatives to be instructed and to answer questions without flacks and intermediaries, if we do all that, we can start getting things turned around pretty quickly. Remember, the Vietnam War dragged on year after year after year, but the protest reached such a critical point that Congress cut off the Nixon continuation of the Vietnam War by cutting off the money. They just said, "No more appropriations." So, Congress has the power, has the authority in the Constitution."
Dear Chris, after Amy's "Free Speech" episode of June 21st absolutely no Democratic Senator nor Congressional Representative should meet with Nutanyahu, in July, or ever.
My next double-sided, ad-hoc, focus-group tested, and highly favorable, demonstration/protest signs will simply say:
There must be an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Pope Francis has said what is needed, now he must do what is needed by going to Gaza and standing for peace, justice and freedom.
Chris, thank you for answering my question. I appreciate you very much. Your answer that you "don't see any force standing up to stop or attack genocidal israel" is disturbing.
it meansJew Zionists ... all Zionists have backed down and through evil illegal infiltration (cultural, especially media ...Government and military) have neutered The most powerful countries/ states /nations/including America the great Republic of military might.
this is the huge disappointment of my lifetime.
Superpowers Can't even stop a tiny little luciferian Jewish genocide. ....
Since there has not been many postings this time, I grab the opportunity to celebrate my hero. While other revolutionaries fought to free their countries from oppression, they didn't sacrifice their life for the cause and after the success of the revolution they enjoyed great new wealth or power. George Washington, Simon Bolivar, Vladimir Lenin, Mao Zedong, Fidel Castro and Ho Chi Minh are examples of courage and leadership and deserve the admiration from their people. But there is not a day to honor my hero and so I want to extoll today the life of the greatest and purest revolutionary of modern times: one Argentinian MD born on June 14th, 1928, to a fairly privileged family that could have chosen to live in the comfort that his social status and degree would have been given to him. Instead, he decided to spend his youth fighting in the jungles not to liberate his country but to liberate the world from injustice. Of course, I'm talking about Ernesto "Che" Guevara. As soon as he graduated from the University and while touring Latin America, Che visited Guatemala. There, he witnessed the aftermath of a CIA-Backed coup that toppled the democratically elected President Jacobo Arbenz. Arbenz's land reform, which aimed to distribute uncultivated land to poor peasants, clashed with the interests of the United Fruit Company. Che was so saddened by this injustice that he joined Fidel Castro who, by the time, was preparing the invasion of Cuba. Che soon became the second in command and a key member of the invasion and following success. After the new revolutionary government of the island was settled and running and he was enjoying the laurel of their incredible triumph, Che grew dissatisfied with Cuba's alignment with the Soviet Union that he saw it as another unjust empire, and instead of continue enjoying the fruits of his efforts and triumph he decided to leave Cuba with a small group of his loyal followers and sought to collaborate with the rebel Congolese leader Laurent-Desire Kabila and start a new revolution there. But Che was already under the radar of the CIA and the NSA stationed just off the coast of the Congo in a U.S. naval vessel, managed to intercept all transmissions from Che’s camp. and consequently, his efforts failed and when he got sick in the jungle had to leave Africa. Following, he tried another revolution in Bolivia where after some success finally the troops of President Rene Barrientos Ortuno with the help of the CIA captured him. He was bound and jailed in a rural school building where the government instructed to shoot Che from the neck down in order to make it appear as if he had died in battle, Che was struck multiple times in his upper body and left to bleed to death on the floor. He was 39 years old.
Following I copy the conclusion of the book "Che Guevara: A Life From Beginning to End (Revolutionaries)" by Hourly History:
"... They found that his idealism was a fire that burned so bright that they would get burned if they got too close to him. Many of his own associates found it much easier to deal with Che Guevara when he was thousands of miles away from them, allowing those who were somewhat less ideologically pure to deal with the corrupting monotony of everyday life and governance while Che fomented revolution on foreign soil. In a world of broken promises and political intrigue, until the very end, non-compromising Che Guevara would quite literally stick to his guns, presenting himself as the champion of the people."
We must all strive to retain one vital fact to sustain us throughout these dark times of Israel's genocide being so open that even ordinary humans normally too absorbed in the day to day struggle for existence notice its reality. That is as disgusting and amoral as this genocide is, ultimately it will not succeed. I myself have long accepted that it is unlikely that I will live long enough to see the end of the zionist entity but I'm certain that it will end in ignominy and failure.
The only regret is I won't get to experience the joy that I felt on the day Mandela walked out of prison. When that event occurred which like the freedom of Palestinians, I had been agitating and pushing for since adolescence some 60 years ago, the immediate aftermath of issues such as the temporary obstruction of the ANC by the Zulu hierarchy of Inkatha passed in a blur; it was obvious apartheid was over, there could be no turning back and from here on out it would be up to indigenous South Africans to decide their future. Of course there have been disappointments along the way, such as the denigration of, and lawfare waged against Winnie Mandela, the framing of Jacob Zuma, and most recently the decision by rightist ANC leader Ramaphosa to enter into coalition with the Boer dominated DA (see https://www.africanews.com/2024/06/21/newly-appointed-south-african-mp-suspended-for-racist-language-video/) Incidentally whilst South Africa's prosecution of the zionist entity at ICJ has been brilliant, people should be aware that SA government support of this has been because of Ramphosa's need to mollify his electorate angry at domestic failures with a dash of "See what we're doing internationally". A standard piece of careerist political BS practiced worldwide by corrupt pols.
That victory over apartheid cannot be judged in terms of what came next because when a population has been denied input into their leadership for generations we should always expect there will be missteps along the way. That must never deter us, as soon as we imagine we have some sort of right to determine what a people do with their political freedom, we become no different than its original oppressors.
Nevertheless if we maintain our stance of opposing zionist genocide, altering our means of opposition to suit each situation, and we retain that one fact "ultimately this is gonna be successful" most of the humans fighting for an end to the zionist entity will live to see that end come about & those of us who don't can rest easy knowing the outcome is inevitable.
The one abiding lesson I picked up during my travels is that most humans on this planet are innately tolerant of others and given the opportunity they will place themselves into the others' shoes when considering their actions. Of course regimes will always attempt to counter this with indoctrination and they can be impermanently successful if the indoctrination is buttressed with cradle to grave propaganda as it is in the zionist entity.
Then who knows; one day humanity may even see the folly of the leadership model of government and develop better more honest methods of what could be called 'self-administration'.
The EID holiday is this week and there is a group of Palestinians returning to the West Bank from the Hajj in Saudi. They are in 12 busses– about 1000 people of all ages including the elderly – and are being held up now at the Jordan crossing (Allenby/King Hussein bridge) in abnormally hot weather. They have had their passports stamped in Jordan so they can’t go back to Jordan. Israeli border patrol won’t let them through even though the Israeli government arranged for the transfer of these 12 busses in advance. For no reason the Israelis decided to not let the busses pass today and then they announced they won’t let them pass until Sunday. This means 1000 people are stuck in the heat for 48 plus hours without water or food. This is Israeli sadism in action. It’s not unusual either.
How are the people of Jordan taking this? It is ludicrous to expect the transplanted by england "Jordanian Royal Family" to take an interest but I know for a fact ordinary Jordanians will be angry and eager to assist these pilgrims any way they can.
I am so sorry to hear this! It shouldn't be a surprise because of what's gone before. But it still is surprising, and as you said, sadistic. I don't know why I keep expecting humankind to "advance." We are the same as we were thousands of years ago, bloodying each other in these meaningless fights over who owns the most earth. The ants own it, for heavens sake, because they're the only ones who will be left after we're done killing each other off!
Yes, and they would be extremely lucky if the Israelis don't kill them while entering, and then the usual clown shouts " that was an involuntary terrible mistake that we are investigating"
if there's no state or coalition to stand up against Israel's openly, vicious, live stream genocide mass murder, ethnic cleansing, and mass starvation of the Palestinians if everyone in the world is scared to attack them and stop them because of their viciousness and nuclear weapons then that means that Israel rules the world
The world is not scared of Israel, it is scared of the USA.
Sure doesn't look that way to me
The Jewish supremacists /Jews/Israelis/zionists/christian facist zionists whatever you choose to call them
whatever you wanna call them ungah bungah... yes, whatever you wanna call them ... have proven themselves a global threat to humanity.
I want cease-fire and peace through continuous negotiations between all sides... I mean, continuous negotiations and diplomacy 24 seven with teams of scholars paid to deal with what I call this global cult of murderous genocidal psychopaths. I include the US/NATO war against against Russia in Ukraine.
Cease-fire peace, diplomatic, negotiations And reparations.
Yes, the "ungah bungah" zealots of any religion or political group have always been disruptive and destructive particularly if they hold messianic believes and want to accelerate the end of times. But it is the opposite with enlighten normal people that have helped the advancement of mankind and among them are Jewish, Cristians and Moslems.
if there's no state or coalition to stand up to Israel's genocide, that means that Israel rules the world with their vicious behavior and nuclear weapons
Chris, after Amy's "Free Speech" episode of June 21st absolutely no Democratic Senator nor Congressional Representative should meet with Nutanyahu, in July, or ever.
My next double-sided, ad-hoc, focus-group tested, and highly favorable, demonstration/protest signs will simply say:
LOVE
OVER
VIOLENT
EMPIRE
(and on the other side)
INEQUALITY
CAUSED BY
BILLIONAIRE
BASTARDS
Along with this newest draft sign.
FDR
JFK
MLK
DEMOCRATIC
SOCIALISM
(and on the other side)
HITLER
NUTANYAHU
TRUMP
REPUBLICAN
ASS-HOLES
Agreed, but Mr. Hedges explained here why to avoid that meeting is impossible: most of our congress, senate and president have been purchased by Israel. The only solution to finish our vasal status is to vote out those politicians from both parties. Anybody can check on Opensecrets.org how much bribes they have accepted.
Yes/But, Julio, as I will be writing in the NEAR future [re. Amy Goodman's fabulous "FREE SPEECH" 6/21/2024 episode on Global death by genocide, I will be trying to explain and educate, to as many folks as I can, that the real 'bottom line' is that the U.S. AIPAC merger and 'take-over' of the former AMERICAN EMPIRE has been already consolidated!
I just checked in Opensecrets.org the funding (in US$ Millions) of both the AIPAC and the other Israeli superPAC United Democracy Project for 2024:
AIPAC UDP
39'.5 Money raised 53'3
37'.6 Money spent 37'2
Our bribed politicians must be having a party this seazon.
Yes/But Money will not be the determining factor --- that, will be bump-stocks
Yes/But2, Julio, the real determinant factor will not be MONEY, nor POWER, but 'Bump-Stock GUNS' --- simply because Faux-EMPEROR TRUMP's followers are as dumb as shit, but they have children.
If the certified megalomaniac TRUMP himself, engenders any mass gun violence he will go down like HITLER, NUTANYAHU, and himself.
Take that to the thieving 'right-wing' MEGA Corporate Capitalist and Cancerous; BANKs, CEO's, and all others named in my double-sided, ad-hoc, focus-group tested, and highly approved signs which simple say:
LOVE
OVER
VIOLENT
EMPIRE
(and on the other side)
INEQUALITY
CAUSED BY
BILLIONAIRE
BASTARDS
Along with my newest signs:
LOVE
YOUR
CHILDREN
(and on the other side)
FUCK
THE
GUNS
Most men, BUT, ALL MOTHERS LOVE their CHILDREN
You can take that to the BANK, but not to the GRAVE!
DUMB-FUCK, TRUMP, will shoot himself up the ass with his own Violent BUMP-STOCK MACHINE-GUN --- which, while it is different, but even better than, HITLER burning himself in his own coffin!
We do have many problems to fix: guns, deficient education, ecological disaster, wars in Gaza and Ukraine etc. but there is a fairly fast solution for all those problems by following the advice from our sage RALPH NADER
in his recent interview by David Barsamian "Corporate Autocracy, Fascism, Trump & the Election" which following I transcribe a little part (downloaded from Alternativeradio.org):
"So, the challenge for the American people is not just to diagnose the problem, but to say, "What institution can turn this around?" Answer, the Congress has the constitutional authority on budgets, taxes, war declaration, waging peace, nominating officials, investigating the executive branch, and influencing state and local government. And they are only 535 people. They put their shoes on every morning the way we do. They want our votes more than they want corporate money. And IF WE TARGET OUR VOTES, if we summon them to town meetings made up of citizen agendas
controlled by the citizen back in public auditoriums for the senators and representatives to be instructed and to answer questions without flacks and intermediaries, if we do all that, we can start getting things turned around pretty quickly. Remember, the Vietnam War dragged on year after year after year, but the protest reached such a critical point that Congress cut off the Nixon continuation of the Vietnam War by cutting off the money. They just said, "No more appropriations." So, Congress has the power, has the authority in the Constitution."
Thank you, Chris. These Q&As are wonderful. I hope you'll keep them going on a somewhat regular basis. God bless.
Dear Chris, after Amy's "Free Speech" episode of June 21st absolutely no Democratic Senator nor Congressional Representative should meet with Nutanyahu, in July, or ever.
My next double-sided, ad-hoc, focus-group tested, and highly favorable, demonstration/protest signs will simply say:
LOVE
OVER
VIOLENT
EMPIRE
(and on the other side)
INEQUALITY
CAUSED BY
BILLIONAIRE
BASTARDS
Along with this newest draft sign.
FDR
JFK
MLK
DEMOCRATIC
SOCIALISM
(and on the other side)
HITLER
NUTANYAHU
TRUMP
REPUBLICAN
ASS-HOLES
There must be an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Pope Francis has said what is needed, now he must do what is needed by going to Gaza and standing for peace, justice and freedom.
Please sign the petition and share widely.
https://chng.it/CRQ7qw4Gzn
Code pink
https://www.codepink.org/cnngaza?utm_campaign=12_15_pali_update_alert_3&utm_medium=email&utm_source=codepink
Let us also support UNRWA. If our governments won’t act in accordance with humanity, then we will. https://www.unrwausa.org/donate
Also we can all support the brave doctors who have gone to Gaza: https://palestinian-ama.networkforgood.com/projects/206145-gaza-medical-supplies-oct-2023
Let us make our donations to honor Aaron Bushnell, or in memory of Hind Rajab.
Here’s a petition to excommunicate Joe Biden: https://www.change.org/p/excommunicate-president-joe-biden-bf979783-ac08-4576-a53f-c786ea23dc9c
These are a few small things we can do. If we can do more, let us do more.
Thank you, Chris. Love you, Brother!
Great segment from Chris. You are so educated on these topics, I have learnt so much. Thank you
Chris, thank you for answering my question. I appreciate you very much. Your answer that you "don't see any force standing up to stop or attack genocidal israel" is disturbing.
it meansJew Zionists ... all Zionists have backed down and through evil illegal infiltration (cultural, especially media ...Government and military) have neutered The most powerful countries/ states /nations/including America the great Republic of military might.
this is the huge disappointment of my lifetime.
Superpowers Can't even stop a tiny little luciferian Jewish genocide. ....
THIS IS A MAJOR PROBLEM.
Since there has not been many postings this time, I grab the opportunity to celebrate my hero. While other revolutionaries fought to free their countries from oppression, they didn't sacrifice their life for the cause and after the success of the revolution they enjoyed great new wealth or power. George Washington, Simon Bolivar, Vladimir Lenin, Mao Zedong, Fidel Castro and Ho Chi Minh are examples of courage and leadership and deserve the admiration from their people. But there is not a day to honor my hero and so I want to extoll today the life of the greatest and purest revolutionary of modern times: one Argentinian MD born on June 14th, 1928, to a fairly privileged family that could have chosen to live in the comfort that his social status and degree would have been given to him. Instead, he decided to spend his youth fighting in the jungles not to liberate his country but to liberate the world from injustice. Of course, I'm talking about Ernesto "Che" Guevara. As soon as he graduated from the University and while touring Latin America, Che visited Guatemala. There, he witnessed the aftermath of a CIA-Backed coup that toppled the democratically elected President Jacobo Arbenz. Arbenz's land reform, which aimed to distribute uncultivated land to poor peasants, clashed with the interests of the United Fruit Company. Che was so saddened by this injustice that he joined Fidel Castro who, by the time, was preparing the invasion of Cuba. Che soon became the second in command and a key member of the invasion and following success. After the new revolutionary government of the island was settled and running and he was enjoying the laurel of their incredible triumph, Che grew dissatisfied with Cuba's alignment with the Soviet Union that he saw it as another unjust empire, and instead of continue enjoying the fruits of his efforts and triumph he decided to leave Cuba with a small group of his loyal followers and sought to collaborate with the rebel Congolese leader Laurent-Desire Kabila and start a new revolution there. But Che was already under the radar of the CIA and the NSA stationed just off the coast of the Congo in a U.S. naval vessel, managed to intercept all transmissions from Che’s camp. and consequently, his efforts failed and when he got sick in the jungle had to leave Africa. Following, he tried another revolution in Bolivia where after some success finally the troops of President Rene Barrientos Ortuno with the help of the CIA captured him. He was bound and jailed in a rural school building where the government instructed to shoot Che from the neck down in order to make it appear as if he had died in battle, Che was struck multiple times in his upper body and left to bleed to death on the floor. He was 39 years old.
Following I copy the conclusion of the book "Che Guevara: A Life From Beginning to End (Revolutionaries)" by Hourly History:
"... They found that his idealism was a fire that burned so bright that they would get burned if they got too close to him. Many of his own associates found it much easier to deal with Che Guevara when he was thousands of miles away from them, allowing those who were somewhat less ideologically pure to deal with the corrupting monotony of everyday life and governance while Che fomented revolution on foreign soil. In a world of broken promises and political intrigue, until the very end, non-compromising Che Guevara would quite literally stick to his guns, presenting himself as the champion of the people."