The January 2020 Iowa Debate.

The Iowa debate hosted by CNN signals the end of the nonaggression pact among Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. Some in the corporate media love this since many of them hate Bernie Sanders and hate Elizabeth Warren. Divide and conquer (among progressives) comes to mind. Yet, if Sanders said that a woman can't be President, then he should apologize as sexism has no place anywhere on Earth. The debate was about many issues from foreign policy to domestic policy. The first part of the debate dealt with the question asked to each candidate about how they would deal with the Iranian crisis. Even in 2020, it is taboo for some to say that assassination of Solemani was a violation of U.S. plus international law. All of the candidates agreed that Trump acted reckless in his actions involving Iran. They differed on how to proceed. Some wanted an international coalition to fight terrorism like Biden and Warren desired a total withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. Biden is wrong to say that he opposed the war in Iraq when he voted for the authorization of the usage of force in Iraq, and he voted for the funding of the Iraq War.

More troops are now the Middle East than at the end of President Obama's term. The drone strikes are up too. Trump is known for his pro-war mongering actions. Pompeo, Lindsey Graham, and Esper are in support of Trump. Elizabeth Warren said that only she and Amy Klobuchar won elections without losses unlike their other men candidates on stage. This was a criticism towards Bernie Sanders. We know that leaders, who are women, have always made great contributions throughout human history. Bernie Sanders said that the wars in Vietnam and in Iraq were based on lies, which is true.

The candidates talked about trade. Many candidates supported the recent trade deal, because they feel that a few concessions is better than nothing. Each shown a hostility towards China. There is a difference between the Chinese government and working class Chinese people (and the masses of Chinese people in general) who want nothing more than to live a better life. Media pundits love certain moderate candidates not only because they reinforce their views philosophically. They want America to not have revolutionary change. They want America to have token, piecemeal changes when over 500,000 people are homeless, millions of Americans don't have health care, about half of all Americans live paycheck to paycheck (some Americans can't survive an emergency costing $500), we have police brutality, there is racial discrimination, and we have record income inequality. These problems require structural, revolutionary change as Dr. King, Ella Baker, Malcolm X, and other heroes have advocated.

You certainly need a radical, redistribution of economic and political power. We ought to think big and act big. Defeating the Confederacy was thinking big, passing the federal civil rights and voting rights laws was thinking big, and going out to pass Social Security was thinking big. Elizabeth Warren was powerful in the debate. Sanders did good except for the question about the women being President issue. Steyer just repeated what others have said without much details. To his credit, Steyer helped to push the impeach Trump agenda forward. Buttegieg, Klochubar, and Biden are supported explicitly by the media. The neoliberal status quo (in oppression to progressive views) is embraced by many in the corporate media. We should build manufacturing, increase infrastructure, and increase the federal minimum wage.

Trump showed an image of trying to transported the image of Pelosi and Schumer with a Muslim hijab. He is implying that both human beings sympathize with terrorism with a lie. This shows Trump as a xenophobe, an Islamophobe, and a racist. Schumer and Pelsoi don't agree with the totalitarianism found in Iran. Trump is saying that Democrats are in favor of the terrorism in the world. They also are not trying to praise the Ayatollah. People want a detailed explanation of why Trump promoted the killing of an Iranian foreign leader. The person who died was Qassem Soleimani. Trump is the person who supports the Muslim ban. That means that people from certain Muslim majority countries can't go into America even for a temporary visit. McConnell said that the Senate will deal with witnesses at a later time. The impeachment trial ought to exist, and McConnell being biased is truly disappointing but not surprising. We need to reject distractions. The evidence is clear that Trump should have a trial and be out of office afterwards.



By Timothy