POLITICO NIGHTLY: Why it took so long for Merrick Garland to go public

 

View in browser   BY MYAH WARD With help from Calder McHugh ‘PUT UP OR SHUT UP’ — Merrick Garland has broken his silence. In a five-minute afternoon presser, the attorney general revealed that he personally approved of the decision to execute the search warrant at Mar-a-Lago on Monday, and announced the Department of Justice’s decision to unseal portions of the warrant. The move comes after three days of wall-to-wall media coverage and a massive outcry from Republicans who have demanded more information about the search and why it was necessary. Garland’s comments marked the first public acknowledgment that the DOJ is investigating former President Donald Trump’s handling of classified records, and they came on the heels of a New York Times report that Trump received a subpoena this spring in search of documents. What’s been missing during this week of noise and speculation is an explanation as to why Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray have been so tight-lipped about what led the FBI to scour Trump’s West Palm Beach resort. Nightly called an expert who is familiar with what can and cannot be said under these circumstances. Andrew Weissmann, a former federal prosecutor and general counsel for the FBI who’s probably best known for being one of the senior prosecutors on Robert Mueller’s Trump-Russia investigation, pointed to two legal rules and one departmental policy. According to Weissmann, the first legal rule is that the FBI can’t disclose anything that’s covered under grand jury secrecy, as established by rule 6(e) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. Based on his experience, he noted, this likely applies to only a “small subset” of the information related to the Trump investigation. The other legal barrier is the sealing order Garland addressed today. When a search warrant is obtained, the approving judge is often asked to seal the warrant so the investigative process is not impeded. While we could soon see portions of the search warrant, we will not yet have access to the underlying affidavit. “For instance, if the underlying affidavit discloses that there was an informant or many informants, and it gave information about reliability of information that could suggest who that informant is, you can imagine why the Department of Justice wouldn’t want to disclose it,” Weissmann said. But the main thing at play here is likely DOJ policy, he explained. The department has a huge book called the Justice Manual, which outlines the general practice that officials don’t speak about ongoing investigations. This policy was established for two reasons: to protect the investigation process and to safeguard civil liberties. “It is so-called put up or shut up, which is you are either charging someone, or it’s not your place to talk about who is under investigation. They’re innocent until charged and proven guilty,” Weissmann said, noting that this is why people were outraged by then-FBI Director James Comey’s handling of the Clinton emails investigation. Trump, who had the right to do so, publicly announced on Monday night that he is under investigation — no longer making civil liberties a concern. During his presser today, Garland said he moved forward with the rare step of addressing an ongoing investigation for this reason and because doing so would serve the “public interest.” Trump and his allies, without evidence, have suggested the search warrant was politically motivated, and some conservative commentators have floated conspiracy theories suggesting FBI agents planted the evidence. Garland addressed these attacks head-on today and defended the men and women of the FBI. “I will not stand by silently when their integrity is unfairly attacked,” he said. With his announcement, Garland succeeded in putting the ball back in Trump’s court. The former president and his legal team have the option to block the public release of the warrant, a step that would be in opposition to Republicans’ calls for answers. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, who signed off on the Mar-a-Lago search warrant, ordered today that the DOJ must relay Trump’s decision to him by 3 p.m on Friday. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com . Or contact tonight’s author at mward@politico.com or on Twitter at @MyahWard .   STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today .     WHAT'D I MISS? — New CDC guidance for schools aims for normalcy: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention loosened its Covid-19 guidelines for isolation and testing in schools today as the country emerges from another bruising wave of cases and Americans’ pandemic fatigue continues to deepen. In a much-anticipated decision, the CDC lifted previous recommendations that students quarantine if exposed to someone positive for the virus. The new guidance also drops recommendations that schools limit students’ contacts by cohorting them in groups during the day. And it said that schools should no longer conduct Covid-19 routine testing for asymptomatic or unexposed students. — Suspect killed after attempted attack on FBI building: An armed man suspected of attempting an attack on an FBI building in Cincinnati today was later shot and killed by police , according to the Ohio Highway State Patrol. The unidentified man, wearing body armor, was shot by police after raising a gun toward law enforcement officials around 3:45 p.m. Eastern. He died of fatal injuries on the scene, according to a State Patrol statement, which unveiled more details about what happened between the subject’s leaving the scene and his death. — Federal watchdog approves Google program to let campaigns skip spam filters: The Federal Election Commission, the nation’s campaign finance watchdog agency, gave its blessing to a program proposed by Google today that will effectively allow federal campaigns and other political committees to bypass spam filters and land in the inbox of Gmail users . The commission, in a 4-1 vote, said that Google’s program would not amount to an impermissible contribution to the committees, clearing the way for the search giant to implement the program should it so choose. — Florida bans Medicaid from covering gender-affirming treatments: Florida’s Medicaid regulator has finalized new rules banning health care providers from billing the taxpayer-funded program for gender-affirming medical treatments , a move that comes as the state has sought to block such therapies for young people. The new rules declare that the program does not cover services for treatments such as puberty blockers, hormone therapies or surgical procedures as a treatment for gender dysphoria. The updated rule will take effect on Aug. 21. DISPATCH FROM UKRAINE Defense Department handout THE FOG OF WAR — As we approach the six-month mark of Russia’s invasion, the war is entering a new phase. There’s widespread confusion about the state of the fight, and competing information continues to pour in from all directions. This week alone, while satellite images showed several Russian military planes destroyed and three large blast craters — suggesting a serious blow to the country’s military — Moscow downplayed the strikes and said the blasts were caused by ammunition accidentally detonating. There’s also great uncertainty about casualty numbers, clouding assessments about how long Russia can keep this up. The Pentagon estimated this week that 80,000 Russian troops have died so far; Moscow hasn’t updated its March total of 1,351 dead. The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces put the number at 42,200 on social media over the weekend. In the interest of shedding light on the current situation, Nightly’s Myah Ward checked in with POLITICO’s national security correspondent Christopher Miller , who’s on the ground in Ukraine. How would you describe this phase of the war? We’re entering what I’d call the third phase of Russia’s latest invasion. First, in late February through March, Russia tried and failed a blitzkrieg approach to capture Kyiv and Kharkiv and decapitate Ukraine’s government. Ukrainian forces repelled the assault and forced Russian forces to retreat. In April, we saw the second phase, when Russia redeployed forces to the eastern Donbas region and Vladimir Putin reverted to his originally stated goal of capturing all of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. There, Russian forces haven’t been entirely successful; they haven’t made much progress in the eastern Donbas region since the battles for Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, from which Ukraine made tactical retreats in June and July, respectively. But they have destroyed a lot of cities and towns there. This third phase sees Ukraine going on its own offensive — to recapture territory in the southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions that were occupied by Russian forces in the first days and weeks of the invasion. Can you talk about what’s happening in Crimea this week, and why it’s significant? A Russian military airfield in western Crimea was hit with a series of explosions. Moscow claims it was an accident; Ukraine is being coy about what it thinks happened. I was told by two Ukrainian officials — who were careful not to explicitly confirm that Ukraine was behind the blasts — that we should consider it the start of Ukraine’s counteroffensive in the south. Kyiv said Russia was keeping attack aircraft at the base that it deployed to attack targets inside Ukraine. Whatever happened, it’s a big deal. It’s likely to damage the morale of Russian forces who have until recently felt like they were out of reach of Ukrainian weapons, and will certainly infuriate Putin, who is likely to view it as an escalation. There’s been a round of fresh aid this week from the U.S. to Ukraine, but what more do Ukrainian officials want from the U.S. and allies right now? I met with several of President Zelensky’s advisers this week and last week. They were very clear: They want a lot more ammunition so they can keep fighting. They want long-range ammunition for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System that the U.S. has supplied so they can keep hitting Russian command and control center and ammunition depots far beyond Russian lines and further disrupt the enemy’s logistics. And they want security guarantees. They dream of something like a NATO-style Article 5 that would see the U.S. and NATO countries coming to its aid if Russia were to escalate in a more significant way. But there is some talk of those guarantees being something along the lines of the West explicitly laying out the costs for Russia if it escalates. Some examples might be severe sanctions, coupled with Western guarantees to supply Ukraine with X weaponry and financing for X number of years, and/or provide Ukraine with weaponry that the West has so far been more cautious about supplying, such as air defense systems and those long-range shells for HIMARS. The grain deal seemed like somewhat of a breakthrough, but did you see it that way, and is there room for any other progress on negotiations at this point? The grain deal is viewed by Ukraine as a good deal in the short term. But there is a lot of concern about how long it will last. Some officials here in Kyiv believe Putin will try to use it to strong arm the West into getting Ukraine to make concessions. As for further negotiations, the answer is no. The Ukrainians see no reason for talks at the moment. It feels like there’s been a drop off in public interest here in the U.S. How would you describe the attitudes of Ukrainians right now, particularly in parts of the country where there isn’t active fighting?  Ukrainians are determined, stoic. I’m constantly impressed by Ukrainians and their ability to rally and unite for a common cause. I saw it during the revolution in 2014, and in their response to Russia’s first invasion later that year. They are worried that the world will forget them; the waning interest really frustrates them. Ukrainians truly believe they are on the front line not of a war against Ukraine only — but a great war against the West and democratic values.   INTRODUCING POWER SWITCH: The energy landscape is profoundly transforming. Power Switch is a daily newsletter that unlocks the most important stories driving the energy sector and the political forces shaping critical decisions about your energy future, from production to storage, distribution to consumption. Don’t miss out on Power Switch, your guide to the politics of energy transformation in America and around the world. SUBSCRIBE TODAY .     NIGHTLY NUMBER 49 percent The share of respondents who said the search warrant on Trump’s Florida estate was primarily conducted because of evidence he committed a crime , according to a POLITICO/Morning Consult poll. Thirty-nine percent said the search was conducted mostly to damage Trump’s political career. PARTING WORDS Jon Meacham (center) and Doris Kearns Goodwin (right), two historians who have been invited to the White House. | Susan Walsh-Pool/Getty Images HISTORY LESSONS — The list of attendees at the White House this week — Michael Beschloss, Jon Meacham, Anne Applebaum and more — might sound like an MSNBC viewer’s dream cocktail party. But these public historians were invited by President Joe Biden this week not to hobnob but rather to warn him of threats to American democracy, writes Nightly’s Calder McHugh . The historians warned Biden about the rise of totalitarianism around the world, according to a Washington Post report , and described our current moment as among the most dangerous to American democracy. It’s not the first time that a president, or even Biden himself, has invited historians to the White House. Biden also did it in March 2021, when he had dreams of a larger domestic agenda that would reshape America. Last year, during more ambitious times, he wanted to talk about FDR and the possibility of his own New Deal. There are many reasons why a president might invite the counsel of a historian, but two stand out in a modern context — we are in the midst of a crisis with some historical precedent (like dangers to democracy) or a president wants to check in on how his own legacy might look (and perhaps shape it through some of these chroniclers). President Barack Obama did one such early check-in during his first year in office. A year later, though, Garry Wills — one of his guests — wrote a scathing piece in the New York Review of Books about how Obama had not internalized what they told him, in particular about getting American troops out of Afghanistan. That task was finally completed over a decade later by Biden. The first-year Obama and Biden dinners shared a common theme — early in their first terms, both presidents believed they could bring transformational change to the country and were interested in placing it in historical context. But it wasn’t long before contemporary political reality set in, and big dreams about legacy were supplanted by smaller goals. Did someone forward this email to you?  Sign up here .   Follow us on Twitter Charlie Mahtesian @PoliticoCharlie Calder McHugh @calder_mchugh Myah Ward @myahward Naomi Andu @naomiandu   FOLLOW US

POLITICO, LLC 1000 Wilson Blvd. Arlington, VA, 22209, USA

SF Standard: Interim DA Jenkins Pocketed Six Figures as Consultant for Nonprofit Linked to Boudin Recall Backers

 

Hi, it’s Chesa Boudin. I hope you’re having a safe and enjoyable summer. I’m writing to you about a troubling news story that broke this week. Take a look at this headline: Newly filed ethics records show that Interim DA Jenkins raked in more than $100,000 as a consultant for the ‘non-profit’ arm of the recall effort. This is shocking news as Jenkins repeatedly claimed she was a “volunteer,” not an employee of the recall effort. She used her status as a “volunteer” to convince voters to trust her, when the whole time she was being secretly paid. In addition to being dishonest, it’s unethical: federal tax law prohibits 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations from participating in such political activity. It’s also a blatant contradiction of Jenkins’s claim that she is a “progressive Democrat.” A progressive would not be paid by William Oberndorf, the right-wing GOP mega donor who bankrolled the recall effort. And that’s not all. If the so-called "non-profit' paid Jenkins more than $100,000 to provide services to the recall effort, the recall campaign was required to declare that as an in-kind contribution, something it did not do. All of this stinks of corruption, and highly unethical behavior. The people of San Francisco deserve better. My administration made sure that no one was above the law. We sought to combat corruption and hold the rich and powerful accountable. That is work I am committed to continuing. So today, I’m asking you to join me in calling on the SF Ethics Commission to investigate the ties between Jenkins, people in her administration, and the recall effort and demand full disclosure of the funds paid and received to them during the campaign. Brooke Jenkins failed to meet the standards the people of San Francisco deserve, and these activities are unbecoming of the office of District Attorney. It’s clear the people of San Francisco want accountability and transparency for their leaders. That includes appointed DA Jenkins. Thank you for reading, Chesa Boudin CONTRIBUTE »

20 Galli Drive Ste A Novato, CA 94949

I will not bow. I will not break. I will not be bullied.

 

I’m sure you’ve seen the headlines.  Once again, powerful men are trying to take me down. But here’s the thing: It doesn’t matter if they're Democrat or Republican – I will never bow, I will never break, and I will never be bullied. Contribute From the moment that I made history in 2018 and became attorney general, I’ve stayed true to my mission of holding the powerful and corrupt accountable after generations of elected officials turned a blind eye. I knew that standing up directly to the forces that have ruled our nation for so long would earn me enemies – but I also knew that New York’s working families deserved a champion. And, frankly, I’m nowhere near done fighting for the voiceless and vulnerable. These powerful men think that they can rattle me and scare me off my path, but the truth is, they have only reaffirmed my commitment to holding harmful actors like them accountable. But, I can only continue my fight for New York with YOUR support. I’m up for re-election in November, and I’m counting on this powerful grassroots team to help me defeat my conspiracy theorist-funded Republican opponent. So, I have to ask: With New York’s most powerful and corrupt attempting to bully me into submission, will you rush a donation now to help me stand tall against their attacks and win re-election? Thank you for being on this team. Letitia  James for NY P.O. Box 476 New York, NY 10034 United States Paid for by James for NY

RSN: FOCUS: Bernie Sanders | I Have Very Ambivalent Feelings About the Reconciliation Bill

 

11 August 22

Live on the homepage now!
Reader Supported News

WE WILL NOT CONTINUE WITHOUT SUPPORT — Make no mistake about it this project does not continue without 1% of the readers contributing on a monthly basis. We would love to be able to do more we can’t. So far during the course of this fundraiser 225,683 people have visited RSN 84 have donated. That is silly and wrong.
Marc Ash • Founder, Reader Supported News

Sure, I'll make a donation!

 

FOCUS: Bernie Sanders | I Have Very Ambivalent Feelings About the Reconciliation Bill
Bernie Sanders, Reader Supported News
Sanders writes: "This bill was a chance to do big things. It did very modest things. It was a chance to stand up boldly for the working families of our country and restore their faith in government. It didn't."

Let me be honest with you in saying that I have very ambivalent feelings about the reconciliation bill that was passed in the Senate on Sunday, and which I voted for. This bill was a chance to do big things. It did very modest things. It was a chance to stand up boldly for the working families of our country and restore their faith in government. It didn't.

In my view, after weighing the pluses and the minuses of the bill, the pluses won out and I voted for it. But let's be clear. This is only the beginning. We still have a long way to go to create the kind of economic, social, racial, and environmental justice the people of our country deserve. And that's not going to happen unless we fight for it.

As you know, a reconciliation bill is one of the few opportunities we have in the Senate to pass major legislation with 50 votes, not the usual 60. In other words, if all 50 Democrats had stood together we could have taken a significant step forward in addressing the major economic, social, and environmental crises facing our country.

That's not what happened.

Two corporate Democrats, Senator Manchin and Senator Sinema, both of whom receive huge amounts of campaign contributions from powerful special interests, prevented that from happening.

The result is that this bill does nothing to reform our dysfunctional, wasteful, and cruel health care system. It does nothing to address the massive levels of income and wealth inequality and concentration of ownership that we are currently experiencing. It does nothing to raise the starvation minimum wage or make it easier for workers to join unions. It does nothing to build the millions of units of affordable housing we need. It does nothing to address the crisis of childhood poverty and a totally inadequate childcare system. It does nothing to address the home health care crisis facing our seniors and people with disabilities. It does nothing to expand Medicare to cover dental, hearing, and vision care. It does nothing to make it easier for young Americans to get a higher education, or pay off their student debt. It does nothing to move us forward toward immigration reform or voting rights reform.

So, sisters and brothers, what does this bill do? Why did I vote for it?

This legislation makes important investments in clean energy and energy efficiency. At a time when we face the existential crisis of climate change, the most significant part of this bill is an unprecedented $300 billion investment in clean energy, including a $7 billion solar roof top proposal that I introduced. This bill could help increase U.S. solar energy by 500 percent and more than double wind energy by 2035. That is no small thing.

And let me be clear. An investment in clean energy of this size did not happen by accident. It occurred because the progressive community has been pressuring the political system for years to act with urgency on this life-and-death issue, and we should be proud of what we accomplished. Is the funding in this bill for sustainable energy and energy efficiency large enough? No. Does it include a Civilian Climate Corps that calls a generation of young people into service to help build a better sustainable future? No. But, all and all, it is a major step forward in addressing the enormous climate crisis the planet faces.

But here is the very negative aspect of this bill. Unbelievably, at a time when we are trying to cut carbon emissions, this bill provides massive giveaways to the fossil fuel industry. Under this legislation, up to 60 million acres of public waters must be offered up for sale each and every year to the oil and gas industry before the federal government could approve any new offshore wind development. And that’s not all. The fossil fuel industry will benefit from a side deal that would approve the $6.6 billion Mountain Valley Pipeline — a fracked gas pipeline that would span 303 miles from West Virginia to Virginia, and potentially on to North Carolina. This is a pipeline that would generate emissions equivalent to that released by 37 coal plants or by over 27 million cars every year and is vigorously opposed by the environmental community. It is beyond comprehension that these anti-environmental provisions are in the bill.

In terms of prescription drugs this bill takes a small step forward in doing something that progressives have demanded for years. The good news is that it will allow Medicare to negotiate the outrageously high price of prescription drugs and lower drug costs. The bad news is that these negotiations won't go into effect until 2026 and they will begin with only 10 drugs. Under this bill we will continue paying, by far, the highest prices in the world for our medicines for the indefinite future.

In terms of tax policy, this bill begins the work of making the wealthy and large corporations pay their fair share in taxes by imposing a 15 percent minimum tax on corporations. It is a step forward when large profitable corporations will no longer be able to completely avoid paying their taxes. Further, this legislation gives the IRS the resources they need to pursue the estimated $1 trillion in taxes not paid by the wealthiest people in this country, and will help ordinary, working people get their returns faster.

Brothers and sisters: we may get attacked by the corporate, political, and media establishments for having bold ambitions that challenge the power of the 1 percent and wealthy campaign contributors. We will be criticized for standing up for working families and demanding the establishment of programs that already exist in many other countries. But what we know and understand is that poll after poll shows that our agenda is enormously popular. It is what working class people all over this country want and need.

Working people don’t have powerful lobbyists in Washington D.C. advocating on their behalf. They don't have super PACs that spend hundreds of millions buying and selling politicians. All we have is ourselves — the power of the people united.

Today I hope you will sign my petition to show that we are in this together.

Please sign my petition — tell the U.S. Senate that you want bold legislation that adequately addresses the needs of the American people.

No real change ever comes about in this country from the top on down. It always happens from the bottom on up.

Thank you for adding your name today to show that our movement stands together on this.

In solidarity,

Bernie Sanders

READ MORE

 

Contribute to RSN

Follow us on facebook and twitter!

Update My Monthly Donation

                                                                    PO Box 2043 / Citrus Heights, CA 95611

 

RSN: FOCUS: Hamilton Nolan | If Democrats Want Votes, They Should Rain Fury on Union-Busting Corporations

 

 

11 August 22

Live on the homepage now!
Reader Supported News

AN EXPECTATION THAT IT SHOULD BE FREE — It is not free. Regardless of how we may believe it should be. It is not. A budget is required. When the budget is ignored the mission suffers. 0.1% of our Readers contributing on a monthly basis is a nightmare. We can absolutely do better.
Marc Ash • Founder, Reader Supported News

Sure, I'll make a donation!

 

FOCUS: Hamilton Nolan | If Democrats Want Votes, They Should Rain Fury on Union-Busting Corporations
Hamilton Nolan, Guardian UK
Nolan writes: "In June, workers at a Chipotle restaurant in Augusta, Maine, became the first in the company's history to file for a union election. Less than a month later, the company closed the store."

We supposedly have the most pro-union US president of our lifetimes. Let’s see him act like it

In June, workers at a Chipotle restaurant in Augusta, Maine, became the first in the company’s history to file for a union election. Less than a month later, the company closed the store. In shutting down a location that was set to unionize, Chipotle was keeping company with Starbucks, which has suddenly undertaken a campaign to shut down several unionizing locations from coast to coast due to “safety” issues, and the health food company Amy’s Kitchen, which last month closed an entire factory in California where workers were organizing. It is, of course, impossible to “prove” that these companies closed these locations to try to crush the union drives, in the same sense that it is impossible to prove that a schoolyard bully meant to punch you in the face: he claims that he was merely punching the air while you happened to walk in front of his fist. Who’s to say what’s true in such a murky situation?

Plausible deniability aside, this is an extremely serious problem. Not just for the underpaid, overworked employees at all of these low-wage jobs, desperately hanging on to financial survival by their fingernails, but for all of us. America is mired in a half-century-long crisis of rising inequality that has been fueled, above all, by the combined erosion of labor power and the growth of the power of capital. The American dream enjoyed by the lucky baby-boom generation – buying a home and sending your kids to college on one income – is dead and gone, replaced by a thin crust of the rich sitting atop a huge swamp of once-middle-class jobs that no longer offer enough to sustain a middle-class lifestyle.

The power of workers relative to the power of the investment class must be rebalanced. Rebuilding the power of unions is the only way out of this trap, unless you are credulous enough to believe that we will all be rescued by the sudden radicalization of the tax policymakers on the House ways and means committee. If you ever want to live in a country where the American dream is more than a cruel, tantalizing joke, you have a stake in the revival of organized labor.

So when you see a big company closing down operations because workers there want to unionize, you should be pissed. Such coldhearted retaliation against people exercising a fundamental right on the job goes to the very heart of how we got all this inequality in the first place. It is meant not just to derail one union drive, but to strike fear in all the other workers who see it happen: if you ask for what you’re worth, this could happen to you. Shut up and eat your gruel, and be happy that the kindly billionaire CEO is allowing you to earn enough not to starve today. Even if you don’t work at a fast-food outlet or a factory, this should enrage you, as a human being. It is an assault on human dignity.

America’s convoluted and hostile labor laws actually do allow a business to shut down in response to unionization, unless (and this is important) the company is doing so in order to scare its remaining employees out of unionizing – in other words, exactly what big employers like Chipotle and Starbucks would be doing by closing stores where workers have organized, as workers at many other stores across the country looked on. (Government regulators have not yet ruled on the legality of the recent closures by those companies.) Unfortunately, the evil, high-priced union-busting attorneys these companies hire are well aware that the gears of justice in labor law grind so slowly that even on the off chance that they were found to have closed the stores illegally, it would be far too late for it to mean anything to the workers who were laid off and forced to go find other jobs. The scary, unsubtle message to the company’s workforce would have already been sent.

That’s why this stuff is not really a question of law, but of power. The working class, galvanized by the near-death experience of the pandemic, is busily organizing in new industries across the country; the labor movement today is as energized as it has been in two generations. Corporate America is determined to stop this. In the mid-1950s, one in three Americans was a union member; today, that figure is one in 10. Companies know that their ability to extract excess profits will go down as union density goes up. This is going to be a hard, nasty fight. As all of those recently laid-off Chipotle and Starbucks and Amy’s Kitchen workers know, it already is.

It is also a golden opportunity for a Democratic party that has spent the last six years wringing its hands about losing working-class voters to the pseudo-populist (and racist) appeal of Trumpism. Want to get working people enthusiastic about Democrats again? Then the Democrats should help working people. National Democratic politicians should be holding press conferences decrying the greedy chief executives closing these stores just because workers tried to stand up for themselves. Joe Biden should be screaming his head off about billionaire Starbucks chief Howard Schultz’s disgusting union-busting at the same volume that Ron DeSantis is blathering about “woke corporations”.

Republicans are insincere ghouls who want to harvest working-class votes while their policies stab working-class people in the back – but Democrats are ceding the terrain to these scumbags by failing to match their fervor. We don’t need our politicians making anodyne statements about how unions are nice. We need a rain of zeal and fury emanating from Washington, to terrify companies away from closing down their union stores with threats of merciless retributions from the state.

History shows that organized labor thrives when it has the government’s support, and suffers without it. We are supposedly living under the most pro-union president of our lifetimes. So? Let’s hear some damn fire, man. The only reason companies feel so free to abuse their workers is that they don’t believe anyone will make them pay for it.

READ MORE

Special Coverage: Ukraine, A Historic Resistance
READ MORE

 

Contribute to RSN

Follow us on facebook and twitter!

Update My Monthly Donation

PO Box 2043 / Citrus Heights, CA 95611

Marjorie Taylor Greene baselessly claims that FBI "planted evidence"

 

Hi, it's Marcus Flowers, Democratic Army Veteran running for Congress against Marjorie Taylor Greene. 

My opponent is spouting a brand new conspiracy theory -- here it is:

And, of course, she has precisely zero proof to back up this claim - but to Marjorie Taylor Greene, facts have NEVER mattered - which is why she is one of the most dangerous people in American politics.

I’m running against Marjorie Taylor Greene to end her lies and restore civility and honor to Congress. But I can’t win this election by myself, so I am asking for your help.

We’re at a crossroads in American politics - and I need your help to defeat Marjorie Taylor Greene. Will you help me accomplish my goal by donating today?

Marjorie Taylor Greene isn’t loyal to her constituents or American democracy - she’s only loyal to herself and Donald Trump. Enough is enough. Our district, our state, and our country deserve better. Let’s get to work, Marcus Flowers   Paid for by Marcus for Georgia PO Box 532 Rome, GA 30162 United States

Marcus Flowers for Georgia · GA 30162, United States