Jeremy Scahill's Blog, page 6

Empire Politician: A Half-Century of Joe Biden’s Stances on War, Militarism, and the CIA

Video: Empire Politician by Jeremy Scahill and Paul Abowd

“I’m not going to change,” Joe Biden said in his 2008 vice presidential debate with Sarah Palin. “I have 35 years in public office. People can judge who I am. I haven’t changed in that time.”

Biden has been in public office for all but four of the past 49 years. Never in U.S. history has the country had a president with the voluminous paper trail that followed Biden into the White House. He has cast thousands of votes, sponsored or co-spo...

Biden Should End Espionage Act Prosecutions of Whistleblowers and Journalists

Before Donald Trump began his run for president, there was a war against journalism in the United States. President George W. Bush used the Espionage Act and sought to jail reporters who refused to give up their sources, not to mention killing journalists in war zones. When President Barack Obama, a constitutional law scholar, came to power, he did so claiming that he and Joe Biden would represent the most transparent administration in history. But then reality set in. During his eight years in ...

The Trump Precedent: No President Should Be Above the Law Again

The halls of the U.S. Capitol are thundering with demands for President Donald Trump to be held directly responsible, alongside his foot soldiers, for the siege of Congress on January 6. There have already been a couple dozen arrests, and many more are certain to come. There is an active federal investigation of the murder of a police officer at the hands of the pro-Trump mob, and media and political figures have raised the prospect of Trump’s criminal exposure for the bloodshed. There will cert...

Trump May Face Prosecution — but Not for His War Crimes

Donald Trump’s instantly infamous Georgia phone call has rightly spurred calls for action against the soon-to-be former president. And with good reason: It was a clear attempt by the president of the United States to pressure and threaten state officials to “find” nonexistent votes that would cancel the will of the voters. But when asked on Monday about impeaching Trump for the call, a top House Democrat, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, demurred, using a familiar phrase: “We’re not looking backwards, we’r...

Biden Is the Perfect Figurehead for the Post-Trump National Security Establishment

There can be no doubt that in rejecting Donald Trump, voters in the United States removed one of the most cold-hearted, openly racist, and bigoted administrations to govern the U.S. in modern history. There are tangible Trump policies, including on immigration, that Joe Biden can, and almost certainly will, change that will have a direct, significant impact, particularly on some of the most vulnerable people in society. Biden has promised to swiftly roll back scores of Trumps dangerous...

Occupied Territory: Why Chicago’s History Matters for Today’s Demands to Defund Police

Protests, marches, and demonstrations against police violence and systemic racism are continuing across the United States, as calls to defund the police and abolish the prison system are intensifying. The crucial leadership of the Movement for Black Lives has brought these issues to an international stage. The resilience of these activists is a sight to behold, to emulate, and to be grateful for.

As activists and some lawmakers ramp up campaigns to defund police in cities across the United State...

Scholar Robin D.G. Kelley on How Today’s Abolitionist Movement Can Fundamentally Change the Country

We are living in a moment of change and upheaval, a time of immense pain and suffering, but also a time of hope and tremendous possibility. We are nearing four years of an incompetent but dangerous authoritarian — Donald Trump — occupying the most powerful office in the land. We are in the midst of the deadly coronavirus pandemic. And we are just four months away from presidential and congressional elections.

But we are also in a moment of great reckoning, because of the courage and determinati...

The Moral and Strategic Calculus of Voting for Joe Biden to Defeat Trump — or Not

Photo illustration: The Intercept, Getty Images

Donald Trump ran for president in 2016 on an often ad-libbed and reactionary campaign of hate, greed, xenophobia, misogyny, and racism. He clearly viewed the fact that a black man had ascended to the presidency as an abomination and rightly assessed that there were a lot of racists in this country who saw the eight years the Obamas spent living in the White House as a crime against the real, white America. Trump already had a brand, realized...

A Biden-Sanders Ticket: The Unthinkable May Be the Only Path Forward

Photo Illustration: Elise Swain/The Intercept; Photo: Getty Images

On Sunday, Joe Biden posted a message on Twitter encouraging people to get out and vote in the upcoming primaries next week. If you are feeling healthy, not showing symptoms, and not at risk of being exposed to COVID-19: please vote on Tuesday, he urged.

He was rightly eviscerated, as it was public health misinformation: Everyone is at risk, and people without symptoms may still be contagious. It was a deeply irresponsible...

Bernie Sanders and the Establishment Red Scare Meltdown

The post Bernie Sanders and the Establishment Red Scare Meltdown appeared first on The Intercept.