Loading summary
Transcript77 lines
- [00:00]
KPFK Radio Host
In folk, roots and Americana music. Each week you'll hear an hour long interview and a performance with different artists and groups which includes a newly recorded session and also classic broadcasts from the show's vast archives. Plus, the program plays all of our latest releases, that is folks sing every Sunday from 6 to 8pm on KPFK 90.7 Los Angeles.
- [00:27]
Corbin Trent
It's like this class of people that you're talking about that can't understand that it's not my job as a voter to inspire myself to vote for you. It's your job as a candidate or as a party or as somebody to build a vision that inspires me to vote. This is Ben Cohen, the ice cream guy, and you're listening to my hero, Ralph Nader, the Ralph Nader Radio Hour.
- [00:50]
Ralph Nader
Stand up.
- [00:51]
Corbin Trent
Stand up. You've been sitting way too long.
- [00:59]
Steve Scrovan
Welcome to the Ralph Nader Radio Hour. My name is Steve Scrovan along with my co host David Feldman. Hello David.
- [01:04]
David Feldman
Hello Steve.
- [01:05]
Steve Scrovan
And of course, as always, our producer, Hannah Feldman. Hello Hannah.
- [01:09]
Corbin Trent
Hello Steve.
- [01:10]
Steve Scrovan
And it's not a Ralph Nader Radio Hour without the man of the hour, Ralph Nader. Hello, Ralph.
- [01:15]
Ralph Nader
Hello everybody. With Trump planning to scuttle the elections, he's actually said in January there shouldn't be any elections in November. We're going to have a refreshing progressive Democratic voice on this show. Corbin Trent, Stay tuned.
- [01:31]
Steve Scrovan
That's right, Ralph. Our first guest is progressive organizer Corbin Trent, the co founder of Brand New Congress and former co director of Justice Democrats. He has also worked as national campaign coordinator for the Bernie Sanders Presidential Campaign and recently served as the communications director for Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez. He and Ralph are going to do a deep dive into what has become a common theme on this program, what is wrong with the Democratic Party? We plan to cover a lot of ground, including the war with Iran and the failed war powers resolution vote, how the Democratic Party has abandoned its base and failed to inspire voters, and how to fill the progressive political void. As always, we'll take some time to check in with our tireless corporate crime reporter Russell Mokiver. But first, why the Democrats Won't save Us.
- [02:24]
David Feldman
DAVID Corbin Trent is a co founder of Brand New Congress and a co director of Justice Democrats, two grassroots organizations working to elect progressive Democrats to Congress. He was the national campaign coordinator for the Bernie Sanders campaign and recently served as the communications director for Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez. He writes about rebuilding america@amer Americas undoing.com Welcome to the Ralph Nader Radio Hour.
- [02:56]
Corbin Trent
Corbin Trent yeah, thanks so much for having me.
- [02:59]
Ralph Nader
Welcome. Corbin and David neglected to say you're a graduate of the Culinary Institute in New York State. You are a general contractor. You've been in business experience before you went into progressive politics.
- [03:14]
Corbin Trent
I was in furniture manufacturing, furniture component manufacturing for years ahead of my entry into politics.
- [03:21]
Ralph Nader
I see. Good. Let's get going. Here you have a withering critique of the Democratic Party, which we'll get into. Our listeners have been treated to a lot of criticisms of the Democratic Party. How John Kenneth Galbraith warned them in a Harper's article over about 50 years ago that they'd become too much under the influence of corporate power and that undermines the whole raison d' etre of the Democratic Party, he said. In the year 2000, Robert Reich, who's the former labor secretary under Clinton, wrote an op ed in the Washington Post starting out saying the Democratic Party is dead, dead, dead. So there have been critiques, including ours, and it doesn't seem to change anything. This is a party that is led by sinecurists and apparatchiks who never look at themselves in the mirror after they lose to the most vicious, cruel, ignorant, anti worker, anti woman, anti environment, anti small taxpayer, pro war Republican Party. They never look into it. It's always they blame the Greens or they blame some third party or independent candidate. And they never asked themselves why, as a national party did they abandon half the country, which are now called red states. I had a discussion with Ben Barnes, a very knowledgeable politician in Texas once, and he said, ralph, when the Democrats abandoned being competitive in the presidential race in Texas, that reverberated all the way down to dog catcher. It destroyed the whole party. And of course, it led to the election of extremely right wing state legislators in places like Florida, Alabama, Texas, etc. So with that background, I want to ask you, and we name names on this program. Hakeem Jeffries is the leader in the House for the Democrats. Chuck Schumer is the leader in the Senate. Give us your take.
- [05:22]
Corbin Trent
I mean, I guess their leader by name. The Democratic Party, I think ultimately is leaderless because it's visionless. It doesn't really see. I don't think the Democratic Party as a entity or as an ideology has a real vision for how to go forward differently. And therefore it's hard to be led. It's hard to lead if you don't have a direction. So I think Hakeem Jeffries, Chuck Schumer, the best they can do is try to sort of cobble together the leadership and direction of getting us back to, I don't know, 2010, 2009. I don't really know what time period they want us to go back to as a nation, but I do know that it's not one where workers are empowered. It's not one where we're building our private or public ownership. Like, one of the things that surprises me is we look at healthcare, and this is one that I talk about, look at a lot, because it costs us around $6 trillion a year. $6 trillion a year we spend on healthcare, really bad outcomes. It's not as though we're leading the world in very many areas at all in healthcare except spending. And the Democratic Party, basically the best they can come up with, even the people that I sort of, you know, have been inspired by like a Bernie Sanders or an aoc, the best they can come up with is Medicare for All, which is simply single payer insurance. That's it. That's all it does. It doesn't at all go into building public power to fight the broken system itself. So, you know, you're just dumping money essentially into a completely broken system. If 6 trillion isn't getting us there, I'm not sure 8 trillion will or 12 trillion, or, you know, I don't think you can spend your way out of these problems. So the Democratic Party, like your Chuck Schumer's, like your Hakeem Jeffries, and like most of the people that are elected there and in leadership positions at all, look at this system, the system of neoliberalism, and they think that somehow it's going to magically start working again. And the fact is that it's not. They have been unable so far to internalize the depth of the brokenness of this system and then really unable to, I think, really internalize why Trump was powerful, why his messages were powerful. They want to look at it through this extremely narrow and negative lens of racism, bigotry and fear, as opposed to a complete and utter disdain for the system in which is sucking from their lives and extracting from their communities. And I think that spells trouble.
- [07:52]
Ralph Nader
Well, before we get into that, you're describing what John Kenneth Galbraith called the contented classes. These people are in the upper income. They don't have to worry about health insurance. They don't have to worry about getting a mortgage on their home and being able to pay every month. They don't have to worry about unemployment compensation. They don't. They're part of the rich upper class, number one. Number two, they don't Even listen to their own progressive wing. Now, just this week, the Joint Economic Committee came out with a devastating report on Medicare Advantage. Medicare Advantage is a nice word to indicate the corporate takeover of Medicare. They have now, unrobutted, put millions of dollars on ads inducing uninformed elderly people to sign up for Medicare Advantage, which we've called over our program's Medicare disadvantage. The report that just came out, backed by Republicans and Democrats of the Joint Economic Committee, said that there are billions and billions of dollars of overcharges every year and that everybody in Medicare, traditional Medicare or Medicare Disadvantage, is paying the bill. So what else do they need now? Are they going to take the lead on this? Of course not. They were part of the cabal in the Congress that created Medicare Disadvantage. The Democrats and Republicans, just the way, as you point out in your column, they are joined at the hip with the Republicans on unlimited military budget, unaudited military budget, giving the generals more than they asked for, adding to the military budget request from both parties administration. So how do you analyze the way the corporate Democrats who dominate the party led by Schumer and Jeffries, are treating the progressive Democrats?
- [09:49]
Corbin Trent
I mean, I think it's very much like they treated the progressive wing since the Clinton era, you know, Rahm Emanuel and the Obama era candidate. Obama was the first political rally I ever went to. 2007, I guess he was a very inspirational candidate and he was a very depressing president. So I was actually, I was on MSNBC last night and I'm sitting in the green room with Michelle Goldberg, who is a writer for the New York Times. And we're having a conversation before we go on. And I'm telling her that I voted four times in my life, right? And she is like appalled that I've only voted four times. Life. One of those was for you. One of those was for Barack Obama. And the other two were Bernie Sanders in the primaries. And you know, it's like this class of people that you're talking about that can't understand that it's not my job as a voter to inspire myself to vote for you, it's your job as a candidate or as a party or as somebody to build a vision that inspires me to vote. Like, not only am I can be inspired to vote, like, when it came to Bernie Sanders, I quit my jobs. I went volunteering across the entire country to try to help them get elected. When, you know, when it came to people like AOC and others left my family and moved to New York. Like, I'm very inspired I can be inspired to do a lot, let alone vote. I can definitely get to the polls. I will disrupt my entire life for you if I think that you're going to go to bat for me and the people from where I'm from, which is northeast Tennessee and the Appalachian region. So, you know, when I look at how these Democrats have been treating the progressive wing of the party, they have pushed it into sort of a fetal position of this just sort of beaten and abused political movement that's unable to start leading, it's unable to start thinking outside the box. And then they've just got them backed into a corner again. Again, you talk about Medicare disadvantage. I can tell you how bad Medicare is because where I'm from in Lenoir City, there are all these facilities that say we can help explain Medicare for you. You know, come and we'll talk you through it. I went to my one year annual physically of the day, and a guy comes in there, probably in his 70s or 80s. He's got an oxygen tank. He took an Uber to get to the doctor. Well, it turns out it's outside of his network because he has aarp, Medicare or whatever it is. And they only take of the other 30 kinds. And I'm watching people at the desk try very hard to work with him to figure this out. And then the process is so complex and complicated. He spent like 40 bucks getting there. He doesn't have enough money to get back home. The doctor ends up buying him an Uber to get him back. And then they give him all of these numbers to call on how to get the right Medicare for this particular facility. You know, I mean, like, it's completely and utterly dysfunctional. Nobody argues. And yet the Democratic Party can't come up with a solution. The Republican Party can't come up with a solution. And they've got progressives so afraid of being blamed for a Republican winning that they don't want to come up with a solution.
- [12:50]
Ralph Nader
Right.
- [12:51]
Corbin Trent
And I think it's, it's a real disservice and has been for decades and decades and decades, the American people that's led us down a road where fascism starts to look like an alternative, that maybe, maybe we should do this instead.
- [13:05]
Ralph Nader
Well, let's zero in on the progressives, including two you worked with, Bernie Sanders and aoc. The Democratic Party, among its other suicidal decisions, has cut off for years now the connections with progressive citizen groups and progressive unions. It's very hard for us to get through to anybody who can make decisions for the party. For example, I knew Bernie Sanders, before he was mayor of Burlington. I would go up there, speaking at the University of Vermont, get together with him. He hasn't returned a call in 26 years. The only time I talked to him personally was when I was in the Senate barber shop and he was in the barber chair and he couldn't move. And he is very cordial when you talk to him. And he said, oh, let's have lunch. Call so and so in my office, which I did. And it never materialized. Now, I've always praised Bernie. I've suggested things to Bernie. He doesn't return calls. He doesn't meet with civic groups and plot strategy the way Senator Paul Wellstone did. He's more like a lone ranger. I called AOC many times, J. Appel many times I went and sat in AOC's office waiting to see her. She's never returned a call. The only person who returned the call is Rashida Tlaib. And this is true in the House side as well, except for Jamie Raskin, who now doesn't return calls, but he did a few years ago. I knew his father very well. Had they listened to our proposals, which, you know, not rocket science to the old FDR type proposals, updated higher minimum wage, a real full Medicare for all, single payer, replacing the health insurance industry. Cracking down on corporate crooks and corporate crime that are bleeding consumer dollars and consumer savings. Revising the whole tax system, which is a monstrosity where the rich pay less than the middle class, as Warren Buffett has pointed out, changing foreign policy, cutting the military budget, putting the money into public works and repairing America on and on, all wrapped up in something called the Compact for the American People. So people know what Democratic Party would stand for. They don't know what it stands for, if anything. So how do you explain the progressives themselves cutting off access to the two pillars that made so many Democratic Party victories possible many years ago?
- [15:38]
Corbin Trent
I mean, I think it varies based on the person. You know, I mean, I think as inspired as I have been and as much of a fan as I am of say, a Bernie Sanders, I think that your assessment of him as a sort of a lone wolf is very, very accurate.
- [15:52]
Ralph Nader
Right.
- [15:52]
Corbin Trent
Is that he is sort of a loner. That's just part of his personality. But then, you know, whether it's AOC or Jaipal or all these people, I think for different reasons, they have to believe in a way that the Democratic Party, at least a big portion of the Democratic Party, represents their values and just wants to go about the achieving those goals in different ways. In some ways that, oh, that's more pragmatic or that's possible, that there is a lack of ferociousness in their belief in their own ideas and that they're easily cowed in some regards or easily convinced that these other Democrats are part of a team that they are not. And it's. I think it's hard just from a personal level, unfortunately, for people to go into a system, you know, the House or the Senate or wherever, and then work with people that seem like they ought to be aligned with you, but then recognize them as your political opposition, even though they're in the same party. You know, like when I started Justice Democrats or Brand New Congress or any of these organizations, the idea that I started, the understanding I started with, is the Democratic Party as it stood, was my political adversary, but that it was a nice vehicle for ballot access. It was a nice vehicle. A lot of the voters out there, a lot of people that think of themselves as Democrats, that rank and file people in my community, they're Democrats, they shared my values, they shared this vision. But the people in power in the Democratic Party had to be replaced. And so that meant that you were going to go through years and years of primaries, you were going to have to raise millions of dollars, you were going to have to go after them to the nail. And I think that for a lot of people, that lot living in a scenario where you're actively against people that you're working with day in and day out is such a hard thing to do that they don't want to do it. Like, you know, the funny thing though, you mean, you know, the people that I worked with when I worked on the Hill, Rashida Tlaib was the one that treated me like a human being and talked to me and hey, Corbin this, a Corbin that. And for whatever reason, these people, when they get to Congress, they start to think of their job as a sort of maintenance as opposed to Reconstruction. And I think when you talk about things like going back to an FDR style Democratic Party or an FDR style rebuilding of America, it seems so foreign to them. It seems so an affluent to the way that they want to conduct themselves. The first Democrat that I ever met with was Steve Cohen out of Memphis. And it was one of the most depressing meetings I ever had. He was telling me how basically he's powerless, he can do nothing, it's hopeless. Congress is just mess and nothing's ever going to get done. And I left that meeting thinking to myself, well, why the hell are you here. I don't understand. Why don't you give up your seat? You think this, you know, if you're not engaged and excited every day to go fight, to fight to figure out how to make what you just said not true. It's the same as when they say, oh, the banks are too big to fail. Well, the next thing you should do is make them not too big to fail. If your job is so boring and depressing that you can't get anything done, then you should make sure you clear the chaff and beat the people that are making it. So they don't do that. They just want to go about their day and live their life. It's just like I attribute it to, you know, the only reason we can do this stuff is when we have these great depressions or these world wars or this is because then it's forces you to say, okay, work has to be done. We're going to have to put all the different dinners and stuff on the back burner and all the fundraisers that we love doing or don't, you know, whatever on the back burner and then we can get to work. So. And that's what I've been trying to push with whether it was a Green New Deal or this or that, the other now it's vision for America. It's the same kind of work that you're trying to, you know, I'm just trying different brands, essentially. And the thing is, like, if we want to, we can choose a different path. We don't have to wait for World War Three. We don't have to wait for a depression brought upon by AI killing the top 20%. We can do this deliberately. What this takes is unity and a mission. What this takes is a vision. And then people deciding to walk down there and it ain't going to be the Democratic Party. And as long as Bernie and AOC still think it is, then they're going to be unable to lead us towards that future.
- [20:13]
Ralph Nader
Well, you know, listeners, people want to read the whole recent article by Corbin Trent. It's called why is the Resistance Failing to Resist? Because too many Democrats in Congress don't actually disagree with Trump and explain that stunning statement.
- [20:31]
Corbin Trent
There is so much over within the Democratic Party's sort of corporate base and too many of that and a lot of what even MAGA Republicans want to accomplish, let alone the center should go Republicans. I mean, you know, I think one of the things that we're seeing in this war, for example, with Iran, is we're seeing a very limited vision for how America can stay competitive with China. When China is developing the technology of the future, they're leading the revolution on renewable energy, whether it's solar, wind, geothermal. They're even working diligently to try to get themselves off of oil entirely. They're trying to do coal, liquid. You know, they're doing all sorts of things technologically. Infrastructure. They're going around the world building infrastructure for people in Africa and this and that. They're building goodwill and they're shipping out water filtration systems, power generation systems, while we're shipping out bombs and death and genocide, you know. And so, unfortunately, the Democratic Party seems to be more in this sort of like Henry Kissinger neoliberal idea that we can control some oil, we can control this, we can control that, and that's how we'll maintain our position in the world. We've got the rulers of currency, we've got this. And they also fundamentally believe that this economic system, this neoliberal experiment that has failed miserably for the majority of American people, 70 years is the best choice we have. They believe wholeheartedly the same as MAGA does, the same Democratic Party believes this. Right. And I think that that unity, economic vision, that unity, global domination, that unity and how to compete in the world, thinking of China as the enemy. When they think of this axis of evil, that phrase in and of itself, whether, you know, they tried to say it's Iran and China and Russia or whoever they put in the axis of evil this week, too often you've got Democratic Party leadership, Democratic Party electeds that will basically agree with what the. With the MAGA nuts will do, too. It'll be a little less openly Christian nationalist. It'll be a little less like the thing that I was on again MSNBC yesterday, and Chris Hayes says he's talking about using US Navy vessels to protect the Strait of Horace, right, and try to move the oil through there. And he says, do we think that US Military people should be risking their lives? And I thought, what the hell kind of statement is that? Why do you think we've been in these wars? Why have we been doing what our entire foreign policy has been for the last 50 years has been for oil. And you're going to say that is the one thing that I do like about this Trump regime is that, my God, they take the pretense out of. He says, we're doing this for oil. We're going after Venezuela for oil. Not like we're going to go to Iraq to deliver them from the Guy that we empowered for years. So the difference between a lot of the Democratic Party in this particular regime is the lack of pretense, the openness of the corruption, the openness of the fact that, yes, we're going to go kill people and kill American soldiers for oil. It's not something we normally would just say. We would say it's for something else. But the reality is we know what it's for.
- [23:48]
Ralph Nader
Well, just to interject here, they don't represent the Democratic voters who are overwhelmingly against the illegal, unconstitutional war on Iran. Well over 80%, only 7% of the Democrats support this war. 7% listeners. And we have a Democratic Party leadership that Corbin Trent describes in this way. Quote, this is where the American people need resistance. War, regime change. Bombing a country we're actively negotiating with, killing a head of state and over 100 school children in the same weekend. And Democratic leadership isn't just failing to resist. They're actively working to make sure nobody else does either. End quote. This is the Israeli government can do no wrong. Lobby AIPAC at work controlling Schumer and Jeffries. Jeffries once said Israel could be one of the boroughs of New York City. That's what he said. He's a great receiver of APAC money.
- [24:54]
Corbin Trent
So I've never heard that.
- [24:55]
Ralph Nader
What do you mean? They're actively working to make sure nobody else does either?
- [24:59]
Corbin Trent
Well, I mean, so they have, for one thing, they of course, channeled and signaled that they're for the regime change. And they're really excited that they're going to have probably not only no political consequences, political upsides. They've signaled that over and over to make sure that people aren't actually going out there speaking too loudly against it. But then the one thing that really proved to me, and I think to anybody that was watching it, was the fact that there was a resolution by Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna that was out there to strip war powers, war powers resolution that was going, you know, that if it got the signatures, it was going to be forced to vote. And that could have pulled back the unilateral capacity of this president to go to war. And not only did the party not whip to make this happen, they actively tried to stifle it using back channels. And it's clear the reason they did that is because they wanted this to happen. They wanted this war to happen, damn the consequences. And in fact, cynically, so cynically, they were thinking any consequences that come from it are going to get owned by this president and we get to benefit from it. So those dead school children, we get to use that for political ads, we get to use that for political expedience. To hell with the school children. This will help us win power. Win power for what, though? Why do I want these Democrats in charge when they have so such similar goals, such similar worldviews and such similar long term visions, which are basically death, destruction, empower Israel's ability to maintain our access to oil in the region, use our military as a way to grow our influence instead of our innovation and our manufacturing and our capacity to do things that provide comfort and security for the world through something other than guns. You know, and what's funny is the Michelle Goldberg people over at the New York Times, when they hear that I've not been inspired to vote except for four times a month, they look at me with disdain. They look at me through this lens of like, you know, I'm part of the problem, right? And I would say that, hey, just because you've not had a Democratic Party that even resembles the one that my grandpa tell me that's not my fault. Because you fell in love with the corporate interest, because you fell in love with, with neoliberalism, because you thought that this was the exporting our jobs, exporting our capacity, that extracting from West Virginia, extracting from Appalachia, extracting from Ohio, extracting from the Chinese and this colonialism at home and abroad is the way to go. That's on you. And it's, I mean, I don't know if you can tell, but it sort of enrages me. And people say, why are you so angry at the Democrats and not the Republicans? Because I never once or even an iota of a moment thought the Republicans were on my team. Not ever, right? But there were glimmers of hope in my life where I thought possibly the Democratic Party could be on my team, could fight for working people, could fight for an America that I can be proud of and believe in. And they disappointed me at every turn. So, hey, if a guy throws a Molotov cocktail in my house and sets it a fire, I'm going to be very upset with him. But when the fire department shows up and refuses to put it out, I'm actually going to be madder at them because they're here to help put out fires. The dude came through, was an arsonist. I have no doubt about that. I don't like the arsonist for sure. But the fire department, good guys, came and didn't help. I'm even mad at this. Well, that to me, with the Democratic Party.
- [28:16]
Ralph Nader
Look what's coming up in Congress. So get your view, Israel is going to send the bill for the Iran war to the Congress again, greased by AIPAC lobbyists swarming over Capitol Hill. What do you think the resistance is going to be this time? They Rubber stamped over $16 billion right after October 7th for the Israeli military and other demands by Netanyahu. You think he's going to get away with it again or you think there's enough resistance building up? The Progressive Caucus is chaired by a very progressive member of the House in Texas. Cesar, what do you think that battle is going to be like?
- [28:54]
Corbin Trent
I don't want to sound like a cynical, cynical dude. I guess I am though. It's the problem here. I have not seen the Progressive Caucus flex muscles to do much of anything. Say what you want about the Freedom Caucus or the Marjorie Taylor Greene's of the world and obviously I don't respect anything that they've accomplished. But they have a set of goals, they have a set of ideals and they fight tooth and nail to achieve and their political consequences be damned. Marty Taylor Greene's not in office anymore and they're willing to sacrifice their political careers to advance an idea. And I've not seen from very many Democrats there are not a ton of Democrats that are willing to do that. What I think the resistance will be there is they'll say are you sure that's all you need? Are you sure we can't give you some more? Just like when they ask for military funding and they say are you sure we can't up that a little bit. My guess is, is that we're going to continue to fund the IDF and help. We're going to continue to arm them as best we can. We're going to transfer weaponry to them continuously and we're going to see continuation raids in this bank. We're going to see the genocide. I mean the genocide is continuing in gossip. It's getting way less press now. But there's still no food going into. There's still no water going in. It's not like this is stopping well.
- [30:07]
Ralph Nader
On March 28th there's going to be the third massive rally under the title no Kings run by indivisible. I have said that this is an obsolete demand. We have a vicious, cruel, out of control, crazed dictator at the helm. It's becoming worse and it will become worse under Trump, much worse by the week. We can see it happening and they're still having a no Kings rally. They expect 10 million people. They could say to them. Get out your cell phones. We want to raise $50 million right now to organize powerful groups in every congressional district pressing for impeachment and removal from office. Donald Trump, they're not doing that. So you found that a group called Brand New Congress, where the focus has got to be, it's all about Congress. It's the only major tool to turn the country around, and there's only 535 of them to work on. You're also a co director of Justice Democrats. There are grassroots organizations working to elect progressive Democrats to Congress. So what do you think of the major mass rally movement in America? No kings.
- [31:21]
Corbin Trent
So I've been to all of them, and the energy's there, the enthusiasm's there, the energy's there. The leadership is the vacuum. The leadership is the vacuum. And it's the same thing. I wrote a piece called the Right Builds Movements and the Left Builds Rallies. And, you know, that's unfortunately what we do. It reminds me of the New Deal coalition. You could not have a New Deal coalition unless you first had a New Deal. Right. So the New Deal, it wasn't just FDR's idea. There were a lot of people, socialists, communists, and various other people pushing these ideas that ultimately became the New Deal. And then eventually you had a coalition of candidates, coalition of incumbents around this big idea. Right. And the problem is with the no kings or any of these groups, Gavin Newsom is a great example, is that they aren't pushing for anything substantially different other than, I mean, no kings. Yeah, okay, no kings. Great. But Congress has abdicated its power over and over again for political expedience. They can have wars without taking any political hits. Essentially, the more power they give to the president, then the less they have to take on political. As far as being able to be attacked in an ad. And as far as the Constitution goes, the House of Representatives in the Senate are the most powerful bodies in our government, period. If they are in lockstep as a supermajority to do things, they can remove corrupt Supreme Court justices, they can remove executives, they can do constitutional amendments. All the things we need to do, they can do it. They're united in an effort to do it. And unfortunately, we haven't seen that level of unity since the 1930s, 40s and 50s, when we had super majorities. But the one thing I will say that is sort of exciting, that when you look back, say, right before the Depression, you had Hoover, you had a trifecta of republic. And then there was this big movement to do something major for the American people, do something transformational. Now, interestingly, it was to stave off the communists that were getting a little bit of enthusiasm, but still. And what that led to was a massive turnaround of who was running Congress. It went from a Republican trifecta that was barely in power, sort of like the one we have now, to super majority Democrats that could indeed do all of the like. People keep saying we need to get money out of politics. Well, friends ain't getting money out of politics unless you can pass a constitutional amendment. That's the only way you're going to overturn Citizens United. And to do that, you have to have a huge political movement that elects a super majority of people behind that idea. So there's this disconnect between what we want to achieve as a nation and as people, what the actual political recipe to get there is. And so you see all these Democrats, they want, like a reasonable Republican Party. Well, I want a Republican Party small enough that we can drown it on a bat. I want a corporate Democratic Party small enough that we can drown it in a bath, you know? So the idea, I say this needs to be a political take on prisoners. Let's move this damn thing forward and have faith in our country, faith in our countrymen, and have faith that we can still do stuff as a nation. And until we get that vision back, I fear that Congress isn't going to do it.
- [34:29]
Ralph Nader
Let me put before you another example what we tried to do that illustrates your point. Quote, Democratic leadership isn't just failing to resist. They're actively working to make sure nobody else does either. End quote. In 2024, we got together with some progressive labor unions, postal workers, the flight attendants and others to make Labor Day really Labor Day, rather than a day for corporate salesmanship, and build the momentum for November in 2024 on behalf of progressive candidates and progressive agenda. And we took it all the way up to the AFL cio, Liz Shuler, on a telephone call, she was so excited about it. She really said, this is a great idea. So we thought in July they would announce it. They would tell the locals to start getting ready for events, connecting with citizen groups, connecting with progressive elements all around America who need a focus and are willing to roll up their sleeves and go to work. And we were very excited because there wasn't much momentum with Kamala Harris. She was campaigning with Liz Cheney. So July came and went, and there was no word from the FL cio, the go signal to the locals and the union membership. And so I called up the head of the postal workers, Brother Diminstein. And I said, what's going on? He said, they passed it by the Democratic Party and the Democratic Party nixed it. They nixed it. Right. And I can say with full confidence, had that grassroots movement on Labor Day been allowed to proceed, Trump would not have been president. You know, it's only 240,000 votes in three states, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin that elected him president. Just 240,000 votes. So how do we get out of this grip that the Democratic Party has in a two party duopoly? They can't defend a republic against the worst, most vicious Republican party in history. How do we get out of that?
- [36:35]
Corbin Trent
So it's both the Democratic Party, the dnc, the dccc, all these acronyms that make up party. But then I can tell you another story similar to what you just told me. So I'm working on the hill in AOC's office and we're trying to pass MINT that strips the Hyde language from all of the Democratic bills coming out of the House because it's the Democratically controlled House and the Hyde language is what says no federal dollars can be used for reproductive rights for women, abortions and various other things. And we thought it was sort of ridiculous that a Democratically controlled House would write bills that already have that language, which ostensibly we're against in. Right. So simple ask. We're going to put an amendment up. We found a way to force the vote on it, we're going to do it and we're getting ready to start whipping votes for it and we start getting calls. The calls we get though are from Narol and Planned Parenthood. They're from like the upper presidents of these people saying, please don't do this. It will embarrass the Democratic Party. It'll show that there's division. It'll show that we're not in lockstep as a party that is for women's reproductive rights. We have a 10 year plan, and this is in 2019, we have a 10 year plan to really codify ROE and to protect women's reproductive rights. Now, we ended up ultimately backing off and letting Ionis Presley's office do a version of this that was non binding and more sort of ceremonial. And so the varied groups that women and men that are fighting for these rights, for women's reproductive rights, that are donating their dollars and time, these organizations help them do fight the fight that they're trying, that they're theoretically fighting. That group actively worked against us to try to expose some Democrats for Being actually pro life. And they had this 10 year plan that ultimately we know how that 10 year plan ended up, which was the repeal of Roe versus Wade and so on and so forth. The missions that these folks exist to do, they are too afraid to actually go out there and fight these fights. Whether it's economic, whether it's social. They just don't have the courage or the conviction of their beliefs to go out there and do this work. And so when I was with Alexandria, we created this short film called A Message from a Future with aoc. And this was supposed to be. I'm kind of obsessed with World Fairs because I think they used to help America and the world see that there was a path towards something, a future that was brighter, sort of like a sci fi version that's not very, very negative these days. Right. But this was more positive. And we were going to say, okay, this is a post green New Deal world, very beautiful. So I think one of the things that we've got to do in order to build political power, political movements, is to be able to have a population that sees something different is possible, that has a goal to shoot, has a world of plenty, A world where we can go to see doctors, A world where we can get decent wages for our time, world where we can afford to buy a house or rent a house or whatever it is we want to do. And that seems so detached from possible now that I think people have sort of given up. They've lost faith and hope in their political system. They've lost faith and hope in their government. And so we're having to sort of rebuild from all of this cynicism and doubt. And I think it's going to take people turning on the Democratic Party from within the Democratic Party, or it's going to take a third party starting up. And those are so damn expensive to get started and so complicated to get started. I don't know that we have the time for.
- [40:08]
Ralph Nader
Well, you know, it's interesting you mention all this because I once met Norman Thomas at Princeton University. He's a graduate and he came to lecture when I was a student there. I walked him back to his hotel and I asked him, Mr. Thomas, what do you think your greatest achievement is as head of the Socialist Party? He said, having Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Democrats steal so much of my program. He was referring to Social Security, he was referring to unemployment compensation, minimum wage, regulation of business, et cetera. But I know some of our listeners are saying if you had a viable third party that was progressive and Basically said to the Democrats, if you don't adopt this agenda, you're going to lose more votes because we're going to have a competitive democracy and you don't own all the votes on your side, you got to earn them. What is your position when people say, what about the Green Party? What about third parties? What about different kinds of agendas to put on the campaign trail to unlock the grip of the war mongering, corporatist Wall street grip on the party by the party leadership like Chuck Schumer and Hakim Jeffries?
- [41:21]
Corbin Trent
I think it's an extremely important way to go. I mean, like you said, the New Deal became the New Deal. A lot of the things that came out of that and then even into the Great Society stuff happened because of socialist, happened because of communists, happened because there was an alternative, right. And there was something to defend against. And it made the Democratic Party better. They were better because they had a very strong progressive and they had a element of politics that was actually in favor of seizing the means of production. So therefore they had to negotiate. They had to make themselves out of the people that were considering. And right now the only people they're competing with are Republicans. And the Republicans are getting increasingly more fascist, increasingly more crazed. So they find themselves moving further right. And there is no anchor to hold our politics, our political spectrum into a wide political spectrum in FDR is vast. You know, it really went from communism to fascism. And you got a cool Democratic Party out of that or at least a decent one. And as that's condensed then it's become less and less useful as a Democratic Party to the vast majority of this country. So I would love to see a powerful third party. I would love to see. You know, I went out again when I was in AOC's office. I said Medicare for all. Great. What we should do is do DHS or VA for all. We should be an alternative. We should make Medicare for All right wing middle ground or whatever need to move the window. That's our role. That is the role that we are here to fulfill.
- [42:55]
Ralph Nader
Well, it sort of gets worse. You listen to the Democratic Party leaders. They don't even say Social Security benefits have been frozen for over 45 years. Time to raise them and increase the taxes on the rich. The Social Security taxes, which are now capped at about $170,000 of income. Instead of say on their millions of dollars of income to pay for it. All they say is we're going to protect Social Security. Like we're going to hold the line from having it corporatized by the Republicans on child tax credit. They cut poverty in half. Children poverty, they're mealy mouse done that. Even though it's overwhelmingly supported by conservative and liberal families who know what it means for them and have very low income. The same with child care. A lot of throwaway lines that don't mean anything, which is why people don't believe the Democratic Party. But I thought your most cogent point, Corbyn, was this phrase in your article. As I told Salon before the bombs even started falling, the Democratic Party that exists now in Congress is very much a party that's aligned with the war machine and has been for decades. The core, the corporate Democratic Party, which is the one that's in charge right now, has been fully in lockstep with the Republican Party on this. That's one of the places where these two parties have been merged for quite some time. And you say it's not just your opinion. You cite other people who believe the same thing who are inside the Congress, and then you have something to say about Senator Fetterman from Pennsylvania. What was it?
- [44:32]
Corbin Trent
Well, I mean, John Fetterman, I believe, has shown us that a person that ostensibly runs as a progressive and is going to be a stalwart Democrat is still absolutely 100% involved and committed to the APAC war machine and committed to the general war machine. You know, there is no line. There is no line in the sand for them. There is no amount of death and murder and destruction that can cause him to back away from that position. He is, what are they, the Catholics call it, invincibly ignorant. You know, he is just locked into this world where our ability to stay where we're at in the global pecking order is determined and is involved basically through our military. That is the lens through which the majority of the Democrats view this. That's what they viewed it since Iraq. That's why you had one lone vote against the Iraq war resolution. You know, not one. There was one vote against this in the House. Right. So to me, it's bizarre to even think that it's debatable that this Democratic Party is anything but aligned. Military, industrial. They've proven it time and time again through war funding, through surveillance capacity. And John Fetterman is, I think, just indicative and shows exactly what this Democratic Party is because he's a little bit more open about it. He's sort of a Trumpian corporate Democrat, or he just says what he thinks instead of dressing it up in some sort of political speak. The rest of them, I Mean, I would Slotkins the same way. You know, there's so many Democrats in the Senate, so many Democrats in the House on some gradient, that's how open will be about. But they're absolutely in line funding the Israeli idf, absolutely in line, funding all the military bases that we keep around the world. And they have no vision for how to change that.
- [46:17]
Ralph Nader
Let's go to David.
- [46:19]
David Feldman
So I think what would save the Democratic Party is a Southern strategy because that's where the economic immiseration is and that's where the New Deal coalition without the racists could be. They had a Southern strategy in 92 yet Clinton from Arkansas, Gore from Tennessee and then as you just pointed out, they abandoned the South. Al Gore would have won in 2000. He didn't need Florida. All he had to do was carry his home state of Tennessee and he would have been president. That was the problem. So let me ask you about Roy Cooper, North Carolina. He's running for senator. Democrat Andy Beshear, governor of Kentucky, Democrat. To me, without knowing too much, they seem like the golden ticket for the Democratic Party to win the South. But are they going to do if they became president and vice president, would they do what Clinton and Gore did to the South?
- [47:17]
Corbin Trent
I fear that they would because I fear that their ideologies are I think we're still in this situation where most people in politics and especially have been there for a while are still captured by the neoliberal mind virus. And the way and they look at the markets, they look at the private sector as the way forward. I mean it was also Ford that worked on creating executive order to take anything out of the government that wasn't like direct government job and so started privatizing a lot of things that we thought of as state services. And until you get a, an alternative to the sort of neoliberalism really embedded in somebody's mind and then they can start looking at the various barriers that are in the way of reinstating it, then I think it's going to end up in the same way because they're going to get in rooms. But the serious people, the serious people that are going to tell them what really is happening and how to do things and they're going to be too easily swayed by the status quo because it is a powerful thing. So if you look at the statistics then if you look at real wages or household income, all the stats tell us that neoliberalism has made Americans at every level of income more and more wealthy. Sure, the wealthy have gotten more rich than the poor, sure, the distance between the rich and the poor has grown, but everybody's better off. That is what the official statistics tell us. Now I think everybody listening knows that that's a lie, but it's confusing. The official statistics tell us that our reality that we live in is wrong, you know, and I think that's a hard thing for people to internalize. So then what does that mean? What do we trust? And until people start trusting their gut, they're trusting their eyes and start trusting what they hear from people that they talk to and their constituents and the people that they're trying to lead and instead they trust math that has been manipulated and what did I say? Lies, damn lies and statistics. Until they internalize that, I think we're going to end up with the same thing. And I think that's what, you know, Mr. Nader here, the plans that you all put together, till somebody brings that in and like owns and then starts going out there as a presidential candidate and knowing that they've got to get Congress, knowing that Congress has to be along with that, they can't do this alone. That means that they're going to be campaigning up and down about all across this country people that are willing to support their agenda. You know, I think that's what we're going to need. And I hope 26 and 28, I hope Trump proves eye opening enough for people. But I just believe that too many people have gotten the wrong lesson.
- [49:52]
Ralph Nader
Corbin taking off on David's question. Are you heartened by the victory of the Senate candidate for the Democratic Party in Texas a few days ago?
- [50:02]
Corbin Trent
I think Talarico has a lot of potential. I think that he is somebody that has, I mean he reminds me a little bit of Jimmy Carter when, when he talks about why he believes what he believes. It seems to come from a place of faith and that sort of thing, which I guess is useful. My experience in the Bible Belt has been different than a lot of people's. I didn't come out of it as devoutly Christian issue that you might think. But yeah, I think James Tellarico has a way about him communicating and connecting with people. But I do think he's still missing some of the key elements how to change Americans lives quickly. I don't think we have time to go about this in a Barack Obama slowly. I think there's, we've got to really go again because we're working against generations of cynicism, generations of government failure and generations of people not believing that the government provide them a better way of life. And I think that is what's led to the market's dominance, is it's not. It doesn't have a competitor. So until the public sector can compete with the private sector in improving the lives of people, Amazon sends you all these packages really quickly with a smile on the bottom. We've got to be able to compete with it.
- [51:19]
Ralph Nader
Let's go to Hannah.
- [51:20]
Hannah Feldman
My question's about the reality of being a progressive legislator in Washington. In order to win in her district, AOC had to make promises to her constituents, to her voters in the Bronx and in Queens. So appealing to the people she's allegedly going to Washington to work for, but actually operating as a Democrat on the Hill, I imagine you have to make promises, convince people in your party that you're there to work for the party. So what's the actual. Maybe not like the time split, but how much time does a progressive Democrat really spend serving their constituents? And how much do they spend serving their party?
- [52:07]
Corbin Trent
I mean, it depends on what you look at as serving your constituents, I guess. So, like, one of the things that Alexandria was extremely interested in, really done an amazing job of doing it even with her campaign and her office is providing like specific and literal actual services to her constituents. Like during COVID they were doing tutoring, free tutoring. They were giving out backpacks and laptops and spending lots of time and money really helping the people in the community. And so to that, you know, in that way, she spent a lot of time and effort helping the people in her district. Then if you look at it though, more from a 30,000 foot political viewpoint. Right. How do you help your constituents? You do that, I imagine, at least my theory is you do that by building a national movement to replace Ed Wood in the Democratic Party. You do that by building this national movement, the national vision, by expanding people's hopes and dreams and opportunities. Now, you mentioned that she has, you know, as a Democrat, she would have had to work with the Democratic Party. It actually turned out I was there for the first year of it. You don't have to. In fact, she didn't. She didn't pay DCCC dues. She didn't do anything. She was free for a variety of reasons. One, because she had so much attention and so much press capacity. Two, because she had a donor base that was not at all tied to leadership of the Democratic Party. She did not need them at all. The only reason you would need a Democratic Party is if you played by their rules. Nancy Pelosi had zero power over her unless you say I'm going to now determine my efficacy on how many bills are amendments to us. And if you want to pass basically meaningless bills or get basically meaningless committee seats, then yes, the Democratic Party has power. But if you want to bring about a transition, transformational movement to carry the country forward, then it doesn't really then the Democratic Party has no well, we're out of time.
- [54:02]
Ralph Nader
We've been speaking with Corbin Trent before we conclude how can people connect?
- [54:07]
Corbin Trent
Well, right now people can find what I'm doing at America's Undoing or a fight worth having.com I'm working with America's undoing America's undoing.com and it's not as negative as it sounds. America undoing.com and then the the new endeavor is a fight worth having. So because I think America is fight worth having and I think this is the time to do it.
- [54:30]
Ralph Nader
Thank you very much, Corbin. You're a refreshing voice and you've gotten on MSNBC and I hope you get on a lot other mass media.
- [54:38]
Corbin Trent
Well, thank you so much for everything you've been doing since you've started doing it. You've been an inspiration to me for the last 30 years since I've been paying attention to you.
- [54:46]
Ralph Nader
You're very kind. Thank you, Corbin.
- [54:48]
Corbin Trent
Thank you sir.
- [54:49]
Steve Scrovan
We've been speaking with Corbin Trent. We will link to his work@ralphnaderradiohour.com now let's check in with our corporate crime reporter, Russell Mulcaiber.
- [54:58]
Russell Mokhiber
The National Press building in Washington, D.C. this is your Corporate Crime Reporter Morning minute for Friday, March 13, 2026. I'm Russell Mulcyber. Corporate lawyers now know that under the Trump administration, it is likely that their major corporate clients will not be criminally charged for such serious crimes as violating laws governing foreign bribery, pollution and consumer protection. What's a Corporate lawyer to do? Leo Strine has some ideas. Strine was Chief justice of the Delaware Supreme Court from 2014 to 2019 and is currently of counsel at Wachtel, Lipton, Rosen and Katz. Last month, Strine delivered the David S. Reuter Lecture at the securities Regulation Institute in Coronado, California. The title of the lecture, practicing Law in a Lawless Time. Strine said that it is important that corporate lawyers and top corporate leaders leaders stand their ground on a basic nonpartisan proposition. We are a nation under law and the law should apply to everyone in an equal, non discriminatory manner. For the corporate Crime Reporter, I'm Russell Mulchyber.
- [55:58]
Steve Scrovan
Thank you, Russell. Welcome back to the Ralph Nader Radio Hour. I'm Steve Scrovan along with David Feldman, Hannah and Ralph. I want to thank our guest again, Corbin Trent. For those of you listening on the radio, that's our show. For you podcast listeners, stay tuned for some bonus material we call the Wrap up featuring Francesco de Santis with In Case youe Haven't Heard. A transcript of this program will appear on the Ralph Nader Radio Hour substack site soon after the episode is posted.
- [56:24]
David Feldman
Subscribe to us on our Ralph Nader Radio Hour YouTube channel and for Ralph's weekly column. It's free@nader.org for more from Russell Mokhyber, it's at corporatecrimereporter.com the American Museum of
- [56:38]
Steve Scrovan
Tort Law has gone virtual. You can visit tortmuseum.org to explore the exhibits, take a virtual tour and learn about iconic tort cases from history.
- [56:46]
David Feldman
To order your copy of the Capitol Hill Citizen Democracy Dies in Broad Daylight. It's@capitol hillcitizen.com and remember to continue the
- [56:56]
Steve Scrovan
conversation after each show, you can go to the comments section@ralphnaderradiohour.com and post a comment or question on this week's episode.
- [57:04]
David Feldman
The producers of the Ralph Nader Radio Hour are Jimmy Lee Wirt, Hannah Feldman and Matthew Marin. Our executive producer is Alan Minsky.
- [57:13]
Steve Scrovan
Our theme music, Stand Up, Rise up, was written and performed by Kemp Harris. Our proofreader is Elizabeth Solomon.
- [57:19]
David Feldman
Join us next week on the Ralph Nader Radio Hour. Thank you, Ralph.
- [57:24]
Ralph Nader
Thank you, everybody. Contact your senators, representatives. I got to hear from you before this war gets massively out of control in the Middle East. Promoted by Netanyahu and his servile supporter, Tyrant Trump.
- [57:44]
Corbin Trent
Stand up, step up. You ought to step out. I think you step up, step up.
- [58:03]
Ralph Nader
I think that you should step up, rise up.
- [58:06]
Corbin Trent
Don't laugh, Take it from me, Someday
- [58:32]
Ralph Nader
we'll all be free.
- [58:39]
Spanish Language Host
Hey, family, if you haven't already, I invite you to tune in to one of KPFK's strongest traditions, our Spanish language slate, airing Monday through Thursday, 8pm to midnight. A rich mix of public affairs, environmental justice, immigration news, deep dives into Latin America, and, of course, music that moves the soul. It's community radio at its finest, an espanol for la comunidad. So tell a friend, spread the word and listen in Monday through Thursday, 8pm to midnight, right here on KPFK 90.7 FM and kpfk.org Familia le stengo una invitacion especial.
- [59:28]
Ralph Nader
Come on, start, baby.
- [59:30]
Corbin Trent
I'm so late. Please don't do this to me. Yes.
- [59:33]
Hannah Feldman
Come on.
- [59:34]
Corbin Trent
Come on, come on, come on, come on. Oh, God. Son of a piece of.
- [59:43]
Spanish Language Host
I give up.
- [59:44]
KPFK Radio Host
If that old junk in your driveway is a lost cause. You can always donate it to KPFK through our auto donation program. It's as simple as calling 877-KPFK-AUTO. And asking the operator to assist you in arranging for a pickup. We'll tow it away, and we'll mail you all the necessary paperwork. For you to write it off of your taxes. Call us now at 8 7.