Join me on Nov. 6 on my YouTube channel for a live Q&A at 3pm PT / 6pm ET. I will pull questions from the comments of this post, my X, and live on YouTube. We will discuss the results of the election, and what’s to come. To post your questions here, you must be a paid subscriber to my Substack. Please attempt to keep your questions direct and relatively brief, as I cannot read entire paragraphs during the show.
Chris, does it strike you, as it does me, that Democrats claim a Trump victory will lead to dictatorial powers, but that a Harris victory will lead to an often feckless presidency where the Dems will claim they're constrained by Congress, or a new Manchin, the Senate Parliamentarian, and so on?
In short, why can Trump allegedly lead like Hitler but Kamala can't? Why can't Democrats dictate higher minimum wages, single-payer health care, etc. when Trump allegedly can and will do whatever he wants? Do the Democrats not realize they are revealing their own dishonesty and/or lack of ability to rule effectively and produce the results they claim they want?
How do you keep the dread & political hopelessness manageable? I voted dem for 45 years thinking I was supporting workers & middle class issues. After seeing the corruption 1st hand years ago & watching the haha leaders give everything away to war, to genocidal maniacs & to corps that are destroying so much, just so they can make personal wealth, I'm very depressed & feel hopeless. Elections only remind me how totally sold out the decision makers are. Your writing & videos keep what little sanity I have left intact. How do you do it? It seems overwhelmingly dark but you keep the lights on. Thanks, Chris.
3. Do you think that there is any possibility of translating 3rd party votes to "punish the Dems" for their support of Genocide and the Ukraine proxy war into a political movement to challenge US Empire and climate denial policy? What evidence is there of that?
If there is no chance of any rebellion or revolution from the "Left", and strong possibility of fascist Revolution (and the right has all the guns and the cops too), is that a serious factor we must consider?
How much does the illiteracy of the US population have to do with voters’ choices? (According to a 2020 report by Gallup based on data from the U.S. Department of Education, 54% of adults in the United States lack English literacy proficiency.)
1. In 1968, LBJ declined to seek the nomination, largely due to protest against his Vietnam war. Humphrey failed to distance himself from LBJ's pro Vietnam war policy, until weeks before the election. Nixon won, and expanded the war and millions more died as a result (and so did a LOT more, including the anti-war movement). Do you think that Harris and the Palestine anti-Genocide folks are repeating that disaster?
2. If the US "Left, anti-war, Pro-Palestinian, climate activists, and progressives sit this out or vote for West or Stein, and Trump is elected (unlike the 2000 Nader vote scenario) and if Trump is a Fascist and really does what he's openly threatened to do, will you feel any responsibility for your K. Sawant "punish the Dems" advocacy?
Your insight is shallow and uninformed. People like me who are anti-war and pro humanity would never ever vote for Harris or Biden or Trump. So if I vote for Stein, it takes votes away from nobody. The vast majority of those who vote third party do so because they are rightfully repulsed by the amorality, lies and obfuscation of both parties. And it's not only about "punishing the Democrats," it's about setting a precedent of sanctioning a party and a candidate who is actively engaged in an open genocide. If someone gets elected while they are participating in genocide, why stop? Nobody is protected once that line is crossed. And genocide is genocide, Trump can't do any "worse" as Gaza is almost completely destroyed and now it's Lebanon's turn. And just as a matter of principle I would not vote for any candidate who is "proud" to have Dick Cheney's endorsement.
Go back and listen to Hedges interview with K. Sawant. They explicitly agree on "punishing the Democrats". And that's a direct quote. And Hedges interviewed West and Sawant days before the election.
These are fair questions, but I would put the blame for both of the scenarios that you describe on the corporate Democratic Party for offering us candidates chosen through back room processes that people with a moral conscience could not possibly vote for.
Why blame voters for the failures of elites? We all know that meaningful progressive alternatives would have beaten Trump in 2016 and would hand him his behind on a plate this year—but Democrats are too concerned with protecting capital to pursue options that would most ensure victory. Dr. King‘s Letter from A Birmingham jail is an important text for anyone to revisit in this moment.
Your insight is shallow and uninformed. People like me who are anti-war and pro humanity would never ever vote for Harris or Biden or Trump. So if I vote for Stein, it takes votes away from nobody. The vast majority of those who vote third party do so because they are rightfully repulsed by the amorality, lies and obfuscation of both parties. And it's not only about "punishing the Democrats," it's about setting a precedent of sanctioning a party and a candidate who is actively engaged in an open genocide. If someone gets elected while they are participating in genocide, why stop? Nobody is protected once that line is crossed. And genocide is genocide, Trump can't do any "worse" as Gaza is almost completely destroyed and now it's Lebanon's turn. And just as a matter of principle I would not vote for any candidate who is "proud" to have Dick Cheney's endorsement.
Studies show that 75 - 80% of third party votes (Nader, Stein, etc) are from people that WOULD NOT HAVE VOTED, thus I agree with some of what you suggest.
However, that's why I wrote "not like Nader 2000" - to avoid the trap that the Dems have already set to try to blame the left and progressives for a Harris loss (instead of their own disastrous policies).
This is true. But you likely know Democrats will blame progressives, Muslims, and Putin if Harris loses, which doesn't appear likely. They blamed Bernie Sanders for Clinton's loss in 2016 simply because he was trying to tell the truth.
To be fair, the narrative that Nader cost Gore the 2000 was conveniently fabricated by Democrats punching left. The margin of victory was also eclipsed by the number of Muslim voters in Florida, who largely voted as a block for Bush because Gore (ironically in retrospect) refused to rule out the use of secret evidence in immigration trials.
"will you feel any responsibility for your K. Sawant...advocacy"....that question ignores context - historical context. Doesn't it? Could it be that the democracy (which we don't have but instead a"managed democracy") we have today is so shredded, so corrupted, with institutions serving democracy so degraded over 50 plus years of highly strategic assaults by an ever growing corporate, Inc. domination - where the public commons is incessantly absorbed and privatized - that the recent voting ritual actually reflects the whole trail of successive corporate/super fat money swallowing up what once could be called democracy? Half the population belongs to a cult of the leader. America has become all about war and violence since WW2. World domination. Clinging to it by throwing its military cock around sanctioning the low life if they desire independence and autonomy. Low life = any country that disagrees with the USA. We've been earning the enmity of the nations of the world over many years by our arrogant bullishness and power lust. So without so within. Supplying the bullets for Israeli's to plug into baby heads and so very much more all over the world for half century has us engaged in earning a goodly dose of fascism at home. A vote for one devoted to peace is not responsible for fascism. To assert so is a form of emotional blackmail and a complete ignoring of gradual and mounting breakdown of "relationship" over 50 years in our society.
Do you believe this election process is legitimate, keeping in mind if “trump” were to lose the election, his claims about a 'stolen election' would be valid?
Hi Chris! I have been a fan on your writing ever since reading Empire of Illusion many years ago. My question is what do you think Trump’s second first 100 days in office will be like ?
Is it time for national strikes? Biden stopped the railroads from striking. A day's strike of Teamsters, railroad workers, and air traffic controllers would stop America - and show that workers have real power.
How can we be assured that third party candidates, such as Jill Stein, be included in presidential debates going forward? Wouldn’t their exclusion be rendered undemocratic?
6. There is no doubt that, if Harris loses, the Democrats and the corporate media will blame the "Left" and progressives. And the corporate media would capitulate to Trump, like the LA Times and WaPo editorial boards did. So would the universities and the Unions and the rest of the "left". The cops all support Trump and his brownshirts have all the guns
The Heritage Foundation, building on the Project 2025 Program Agenda, recently released the "Project Esther", an open plan to crush the Left far more aggressively than any McCarthyite or Wilsonian crackdown.
Given these stakes, how is it possible to not aggressively oppose Trump?.
To what extent do you perceive fascism as bipartisan, and what has been the role of corporate journalists both over the last generation and over this particular election cycle? Looking forward to your thoughts!
There are very sharp distinctions between the corporate National Security State Pro Surveillance Empire Democrats and the White Christian Nationalist Fascist Climate Denying anti-reality Trump Republicans. Too many to discuss in a comment thread, but so obvious as to defy your question.
Those distinctions to which you allude are meaningless to people (both in the United States, and around the world) that both of those tribes treat as cannon fodder.
What makes you imagine that Democrats offer a different alternative when Harris spent the entire campaign competing for who would have the most inhumane border policy? I am an immigrant myself, so I would just ask you to look more at the policies (in particular, the fact that violations of human rights at the border continue unabated under both of the corporate political parties) and less at the theater constructed by propagandists.
The climate catastrophe is a real crisis, but we missed that boat a long time ago and Democrats have been thoroughly complicit for decades. It is fair to say that Harris is enough of an opportunist that she *might* respond to sufficient grassroots pressure, but I’d much rather engage in democracy than a strategic calculus and consequently cast my vote for a candidate who actually shares my vision.
5. For many years, you have strenuously opposed Fascism. So now, when the US is faced with the consolidation of power by real fascists, why do you not oppose Trump at all costs?
4. The Republicans and the Democrats, as parties, are in agreement on Genocide in Palestine. A Presidential vote does not impact those consensus party politics.
Biden promoted the Genocide policy, as well as provoked the proxy war in Ukraine. Biden has been forced to withdraw (largely due to dementia, not Genocide and pro-war) so, arguably, there is some political accountability. Again, a Presidential vote does not impact that because Biden is not on the ballot (and Harris was not a "decider" so has no record on Palestine).
Trump is arguably far worse on Palestine and a Fascist, both domestically and in foreign policy. His re-election would cause massive harm.
Given these facts, this is not as LOTE scenario - and how can a third party vote legitimately "punish the Democrats"? (when both Dems and Republicans are the same). Isn't the reality to reward the Republicans for the same Genoical policies of the Democrats?
Chris, does it strike you, as it does me, that Democrats claim a Trump victory will lead to dictatorial powers, but that a Harris victory will lead to an often feckless presidency where the Dems will claim they're constrained by Congress, or a new Manchin, the Senate Parliamentarian, and so on?
In short, why can Trump allegedly lead like Hitler but Kamala can't? Why can't Democrats dictate higher minimum wages, single-payer health care, etc. when Trump allegedly can and will do whatever he wants? Do the Democrats not realize they are revealing their own dishonesty and/or lack of ability to rule effectively and produce the results they claim they want?
How do you keep the dread & political hopelessness manageable? I voted dem for 45 years thinking I was supporting workers & middle class issues. After seeing the corruption 1st hand years ago & watching the haha leaders give everything away to war, to genocidal maniacs & to corps that are destroying so much, just so they can make personal wealth, I'm very depressed & feel hopeless. Elections only remind me how totally sold out the decision makers are. Your writing & videos keep what little sanity I have left intact. How do you do it? It seems overwhelmingly dark but you keep the lights on. Thanks, Chris.
3. Do you think that there is any possibility of translating 3rd party votes to "punish the Dems" for their support of Genocide and the Ukraine proxy war into a political movement to challenge US Empire and climate denial policy? What evidence is there of that?
If there is no chance of any rebellion or revolution from the "Left", and strong possibility of fascist Revolution (and the right has all the guns and the cops too), is that a serious factor we must consider?
How much does the illiteracy of the US population have to do with voters’ choices? (According to a 2020 report by Gallup based on data from the U.S. Department of Education, 54% of adults in the United States lack English literacy proficiency.)
1. In 1968, LBJ declined to seek the nomination, largely due to protest against his Vietnam war. Humphrey failed to distance himself from LBJ's pro Vietnam war policy, until weeks before the election. Nixon won, and expanded the war and millions more died as a result (and so did a LOT more, including the anti-war movement). Do you think that Harris and the Palestine anti-Genocide folks are repeating that disaster?
2. If the US "Left, anti-war, Pro-Palestinian, climate activists, and progressives sit this out or vote for West or Stein, and Trump is elected (unlike the 2000 Nader vote scenario) and if Trump is a Fascist and really does what he's openly threatened to do, will you feel any responsibility for your K. Sawant "punish the Dems" advocacy?
Your insight is shallow and uninformed. People like me who are anti-war and pro humanity would never ever vote for Harris or Biden or Trump. So if I vote for Stein, it takes votes away from nobody. The vast majority of those who vote third party do so because they are rightfully repulsed by the amorality, lies and obfuscation of both parties. And it's not only about "punishing the Democrats," it's about setting a precedent of sanctioning a party and a candidate who is actively engaged in an open genocide. If someone gets elected while they are participating in genocide, why stop? Nobody is protected once that line is crossed. And genocide is genocide, Trump can't do any "worse" as Gaza is almost completely destroyed and now it's Lebanon's turn. And just as a matter of principle I would not vote for any candidate who is "proud" to have Dick Cheney's endorsement.
Go back and listen to Hedges interview with K. Sawant. They explicitly agree on "punishing the Democrats". And that's a direct quote. And Hedges interviewed West and Sawant days before the election.
I agree they need to be punished for their breach of democracy and amorality, but I'm saying it goes far beyond that.
why waste time punishing anyone when time is of the utmost essence and the needs of reform are so immense?
I've been called many things, but never "shallow and uniformed". So F*ck off!
These are fair questions, but I would put the blame for both of the scenarios that you describe on the corporate Democratic Party for offering us candidates chosen through back room processes that people with a moral conscience could not possibly vote for.
Why blame voters for the failures of elites? We all know that meaningful progressive alternatives would have beaten Trump in 2016 and would hand him his behind on a plate this year—but Democrats are too concerned with protecting capital to pursue options that would most ensure victory. Dr. King‘s Letter from A Birmingham jail is an important text for anyone to revisit in this moment.
I did NOT blame voters! I challenged Hedges' positions, while criticizing media, Democrats and liberal institutions.
Your insight is shallow and uninformed. People like me who are anti-war and pro humanity would never ever vote for Harris or Biden or Trump. So if I vote for Stein, it takes votes away from nobody. The vast majority of those who vote third party do so because they are rightfully repulsed by the amorality, lies and obfuscation of both parties. And it's not only about "punishing the Democrats," it's about setting a precedent of sanctioning a party and a candidate who is actively engaged in an open genocide. If someone gets elected while they are participating in genocide, why stop? Nobody is protected once that line is crossed. And genocide is genocide, Trump can't do any "worse" as Gaza is almost completely destroyed and now it's Lebanon's turn. And just as a matter of principle I would not vote for any candidate who is "proud" to have Dick Cheney's endorsement.
Studies show that 75 - 80% of third party votes (Nader, Stein, etc) are from people that WOULD NOT HAVE VOTED, thus I agree with some of what you suggest.
However, that's why I wrote "not like Nader 2000" - to avoid the trap that the Dems have already set to try to blame the left and progressives for a Harris loss (instead of their own disastrous policies).
This is true. But you likely know Democrats will blame progressives, Muslims, and Putin if Harris loses, which doesn't appear likely. They blamed Bernie Sanders for Clinton's loss in 2016 simply because he was trying to tell the truth.
To be fair, the narrative that Nader cost Gore the 2000 was conveniently fabricated by Democrats punching left. The margin of victory was also eclipsed by the number of Muslim voters in Florida, who largely voted as a block for Bush because Gore (ironically in retrospect) refused to rule out the use of secret evidence in immigration trials.
I said EXACTLY that! i.e. "fabricated by Democrats punching left"
Muslim voters had little to do with this as later analyses documented that Gore WON!
"will you feel any responsibility for your K. Sawant...advocacy"....that question ignores context - historical context. Doesn't it? Could it be that the democracy (which we don't have but instead a"managed democracy") we have today is so shredded, so corrupted, with institutions serving democracy so degraded over 50 plus years of highly strategic assaults by an ever growing corporate, Inc. domination - where the public commons is incessantly absorbed and privatized - that the recent voting ritual actually reflects the whole trail of successive corporate/super fat money swallowing up what once could be called democracy? Half the population belongs to a cult of the leader. America has become all about war and violence since WW2. World domination. Clinging to it by throwing its military cock around sanctioning the low life if they desire independence and autonomy. Low life = any country that disagrees with the USA. We've been earning the enmity of the nations of the world over many years by our arrogant bullishness and power lust. So without so within. Supplying the bullets for Israeli's to plug into baby heads and so very much more all over the world for half century has us engaged in earning a goodly dose of fascism at home. A vote for one devoted to peace is not responsible for fascism. To assert so is a form of emotional blackmail and a complete ignoring of gradual and mounting breakdown of "relationship" over 50 years in our society.
Do you believe this election process is legitimate, keeping in mind if “trump” were to lose the election, his claims about a 'stolen election' would be valid?
Chris, What, in your opinion, is the most effective thing an individual can do to stop this genocide?
Hi Chris! I have been a fan on your writing ever since reading Empire of Illusion many years ago. My question is what do you think Trump’s second first 100 days in office will be like ?
Is it time for national strikes? Biden stopped the railroads from striking. A day's strike of Teamsters, railroad workers, and air traffic controllers would stop America - and show that workers have real power.
How can we be assured that third party candidates, such as Jill Stein, be included in presidential debates going forward? Wouldn’t their exclusion be rendered undemocratic?
6. There is no doubt that, if Harris loses, the Democrats and the corporate media will blame the "Left" and progressives. And the corporate media would capitulate to Trump, like the LA Times and WaPo editorial boards did. So would the universities and the Unions and the rest of the "left". The cops all support Trump and his brownshirts have all the guns
The Heritage Foundation, building on the Project 2025 Program Agenda, recently released the "Project Esther", an open plan to crush the Left far more aggressively than any McCarthyite or Wilsonian crackdown.
Given these stakes, how is it possible to not aggressively oppose Trump?.
To what extent do you perceive fascism as bipartisan, and what has been the role of corporate journalists both over the last generation and over this particular election cycle? Looking forward to your thoughts!
There are very sharp distinctions between the corporate National Security State Pro Surveillance Empire Democrats and the White Christian Nationalist Fascist Climate Denying anti-reality Trump Republicans. Too many to discuss in a comment thread, but so obvious as to defy your question.
Those distinctions to which you allude are meaningless to people (both in the United States, and around the world) that both of those tribes treat as cannon fodder.
You miss my point: billions of real people will be directly impacted by Trump and his Project 2025 and Project Esther policies. WAKE UP!
Maybe the guests in the Trump concentration camps and deportees might have a different view.
So too the billions of people impacted by climate catastrophe.
This is why I've criticized my friend Hedges as irresponsible.
What makes you imagine that Democrats offer a different alternative when Harris spent the entire campaign competing for who would have the most inhumane border policy? I am an immigrant myself, so I would just ask you to look more at the policies (in particular, the fact that violations of human rights at the border continue unabated under both of the corporate political parties) and less at the theater constructed by propagandists.
The climate catastrophe is a real crisis, but we missed that boat a long time ago and Democrats have been thoroughly complicit for decades. It is fair to say that Harris is enough of an opportunist that she *might* respond to sufficient grassroots pressure, but I’d much rather engage in democracy than a strategic calculus and consequently cast my vote for a candidate who actually shares my vision.
Dems are not calling for mass deportations and concentration camps. Wake up!
5. For many years, you have strenuously opposed Fascism. So now, when the US is faced with the consolidation of power by real fascists, why do you not oppose Trump at all costs?
I can’t speak for Hedges, but here are a few answers to your question. https://shahidbuttar.substack.com/p/worried-about-tuesday
4. The Republicans and the Democrats, as parties, are in agreement on Genocide in Palestine. A Presidential vote does not impact those consensus party politics.
Biden promoted the Genocide policy, as well as provoked the proxy war in Ukraine. Biden has been forced to withdraw (largely due to dementia, not Genocide and pro-war) so, arguably, there is some political accountability. Again, a Presidential vote does not impact that because Biden is not on the ballot (and Harris was not a "decider" so has no record on Palestine).
Trump is arguably far worse on Palestine and a Fascist, both domestically and in foreign policy. His re-election would cause massive harm.
Given these facts, this is not as LOTE scenario - and how can a third party vote legitimately "punish the Democrats"? (when both Dems and Republicans are the same). Isn't the reality to reward the Republicans for the same Genoical policies of the Democrats?
Do you think having Harris win will make it easier for people to stand up to the MIC and make gains for everyone.
Chris
When does Trump have to apply to the Court for Work Release on his sentencing?
and what do you think will happen to his other cases in the Docket