Superb discussion with genuine analysis of disturbing issues. My decision to subscribe has been validated. Long an admirer of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, my trust in her is increased. Thank you Mehdi Hasan for providing us with reliable journalism!
Dems are going to have to do better than we are not Trump. We are funding a genocide. That's where I draw the line. I've been calling, and writing my legislators for 30 years with very little results. America is a Democracy in the sense that we get to pick our own dictators but the lobbyists run the show. The double standard is so glaring. The both sides argument does apply in some cases. We have DEMs who have kissed the AIPAC ring. AOC talked about appealing to her base. Who in the hell does she think her base is. I'm tired and I am done. I am tired of the American empire with its imperialists agenda that pushes the most vulnerable in our society to the margins. To ignore that reality is DISHONESTY. Btw, I called AOC and Bernie's offices and called them cowards for not calling what Israel was doing genocide . I am sure AOC got similar calls so she didn't evolve on the issue all by herself.
I’m so with you! I’m tired and I’m done with Dems who keep saying “but Trump” while taking AIPAC money, spewing their lies and half-truths. AOC is no better and I’m sorry, this interview doesn’t change shit about her for me. She’s not much better than the rest of the establishment Dems who say a lot but don’t do much. #done. And #freepalestine.
Agreed. The idea that one party has the higher moral or ethical high ground than the other at this point is invalid. The political journey for the world now is to mobilise different politcal options than a choice between two broken corrupt alternatives. If a government’s complicity in genocide has not made that clear am not sure what will.
70% of that budget they approved goes to defense. There is always money for war. But we defunded UNRWA the UN agency that supports Palestinian refugees. We rightly criticized Trump for tossing paper towels at folk in PR during the aftermath of hurricane Marie but we are supposed to ignore Biden supplying Israel the bombs and warplanes and other weapons to kill Palestinians with impunity. Then to add insult to injury, he airdrops food into Gaza that killed at least five people when the aid landed on top of them. I mean this sounds like something out of a F'ing cartoon. Crazy!!!
You are right but you also risk getting so far out front of public opinion that you find yourself a righteous group of progressives with no contact with the rest of the people who want to see progressive change. Democracy still requires a majority. That means everyone has to compromise to reach enough common ground to have a majority government to implement badly-needed change. Yes, global warming means we are running out of time but if you too far ahead, you become ineffective. It's a classic progressive dilemma. If you condemn "the left" as well as "the right" then you doom yourself and the possibility of making the needed changes. You just know it's not going to come from the right.
As I stated, this country is not a democracy but an empire. You'll have to research and find out what that really means in light of your comment. Dr. King stated five days before his assassination that he feared that he was integrating his people into a burning house. He also said Blacks may well get the right to vote but will have no one to vote for. Palestine is taking up the news cycle but there is still the Congo, Haiti, the Philippines, etc, etc, etc. As one commentar stated, the US with all of its talk of democracy and human rights makes it clear, the Emperor has no clothes.
Is there any country on earth that fits your idea of democracy? We all wish to support the ideal, to be the ideal. But we are stuck here in Realityville, along with the challenges of first-world problems. (Which while not as immediately existential are still problems). It is valid to criticize well-meaning but compromised leaders, but if one refuses to support leaders unless they are perfect, there will be no one to support. We are left to determine who is the least worse and support them. I am not an American but looking in from the outside, it seems pretty clear who that is in America in 2024. The leader of my country is Justin Trudeau and there are many, many criticisms to make about him. But the alternative is Pierre Poilievre. He is not just worse but exponentially worse. We can't let the possible imperfect be the enemy of the unattainable good.
Given your dismissal of the Ruling Duopoly and lack of competitive political system beyond those two choices that better represent Wall Street than Main Street, will you be voting for and recommending others vote for indie candidate and paper trail proven Cornel West?
Unfortunately, the two ruling parties control our political system. Would to God Bernie had started a third party when he had the opportunity to. And the parties choose the candidates who will run and who will be nominated. Then there are the lobbyists. So folk will have to decide what they will do. God help us!!!
AIPAC and the military industrial complex do rule the roost. I would hope disillusionment with Biden and the majority of the Democratic Party doesn’t justify throwing the baby out with the bath water. The Squad are amongst the only representatives speaking out against the genocide. They already did not have the support of their own party members. That’s a lonely place to be. I’ll save my vitriol for the Biden, Gottheimer and other such ilk.
Speaking of The Squad, HM was going for star power. I get it. He is trying to get Zeteo off the ground. But with the dearth of Palestinian voices within this discourse Rashida Tlaid who was the first to speak out against our participation in the genocide and has faced constant persecution for it should have been last night's guest. As for AOC, there were blindspots in her responses and I don't think anyone is above criticism. I don't think anyone from Dearborn, Michigan was convinced by her performance last night. The Dems keep deflecting to Trump but Biden is president and as usual they can't get their messaging together. Tlaid can speak to the disillusioned Arab American community far better than AOC.
Agreed. As the only Palestinian representative in Congress, Rashida is best to speak on the ongoing atrocities in Gaza and the West Bank and I would be surprised if Medhi doesn’t have her on soon. I somewhat incorrectly think of the Squad as more than the original four. Jamaal Bowman has been speaking out loudly and unabashedly. That Biden is the alternative to Trump is sickening. He’s screwing the country, the world and his own party. If AOC is guilty of anything it’s being nuanced and calculating. Hakeem Jeffries, Schumer ,Dan Goldman…etc., all huge recipients of AIPAC money. My own state “progressive” officials have for the most part been silent. Don’t get me going on Fetterman.
Agreed Stephen. Bowman recently made a speech on the floor chastising his colleagues for deriding Rashida calling her antisemitic and a terrorist. And you had Dems who agreed to censure her. WT. . .Senator Warnock has kissed the AIPAC ring. There was a silent protest at his church recently. He doesn't deserve to stand in King's pulpit. This country is in grave trouble.
She is an excellent speaker, a honest politician a great individual. Great discussion. You must interview humble and sincere people over and over again.
As a white woman who is not a Muslim, I was overtaken to see a Muslim woman in her religious headdress freely asking her question while just being herself. I feel joy for that woman. Zeteo has given her space to "be herself" in a public setting. I appreciate her confidence as an American Muslim. Keep standing tall and confident, Gentle Lady!
That was excellent. Truly a professional piece of journalism and production.
As someone who has been watching online independent news as my primary source for years, this location shoot felt as professional as if it were done by the big networks. The support you got from your journalist colleagues in attendance was impressive too.
You should definitely think about doing a daily news recap and commentary. Think a mini version of Democracy Now but with a less old school style. The interviews are excellent keep them coming, but Don Lemon is primarily doing those too.
Mehdi, I’m glad you’re now on your own. While it’s tempting to join in the adulation, this practice tends to contribute to a cult-like following that’s not helpful. Hence, I’ll address more the critical than the positive.
Thank you for asking AOC, tough questions about Israel’s unfolding genocide of Palestinians; she seemed initially evasive. This is one of Biden’s major “mistakes” and may prove fatal. In fact, Biden is admittedly a Zionist, an ideology anathema to democratic progressive values.
It’s a given that voting for a third party is a vote for the GOP, but Biden’s betrayal of his base should not be overlooked, as it has been for far too long. I hope you pursue this issue further. AOC seemed evasive, as if trying not to offend or be critical of Biden—the president must be challenged and pressured to abandon Israel; otherwise, we’re toast.
Biden’s complicity in the Palestinian genocide should be a red line. I’m inclined to consider, as a democratic voter, his impeachment unless he immediately demands a cease-fire, withdrawal of its troops from occupied Palestine, ends non humanitarian aid to the region, support U.N. resolutions, demand an end to apartheid, recognize that Zionism is a colonial settler and White supremacy imperialistic colonial scheme, and demand a one-state rather than two-state solution with the right to return for those with roots in occupied Palestine, with equal rights for for all.
I hear/read, all too often, that Israel has a right to defend itself; we might begin to ask whether Israel has a right to exist while we support demanding protection of the civil rights for all in occupied Palestine; ie, we can and should be anti Zionist while vehemently not antisemitic.
We need to quickly decide whether Biden is fit to be a Dem Party’s presidential
candidate while being complicit in Israel war crimes of genocide and starvation of Palestinians. These crimes should be automatically disqualifying.
It pains me to consider supporting the GOP to pressure Biden to change policies.
As progressives, we need to evaluate Biden’s despicable support for the prosecution of Julian Assange; let’s also consider ecocidal policies under the pretext of fighting the climate crisis—destroying Nature under the pretext of saving the Earth. Fascists are inherently violent at their core; Biden is in support while providing the requisite weapons to carry out the genocide; prosecution of Assange and plunder of the Earth.
As to the latter, he has proposed saving 30% of of public lands, Nature and/or the Earth; essentially ecocide—policies that should be unacceptable red lines to progressive Dems.
In the event of Biden’s impeachment, VP Kamala would become president and seek re-election without, to my knowledge Biden’s betrayals of Dems base. If pressured, she might support single payer Medicare for all. Biden supported a public option, but once elected, reneged.
Full disclosure: I voted for Marianne Williamson in the primaries. Given a choice between Biden and djt, I’ll vote for the former, as we all must/should.
I think we know he is not qualified to be the Democratic Party candidate. The party has fallen in line and it seems beyond hope that this will somehow change before the election. The country has been put into a terrible dilemma. Jill Biden, tell your hubby it’s game over. Our only hope and possibly the only person his ego will listen to. I’m actually serious.
I loved this interview. AOC is an embodiment of intellect and morality that is absent from a majority of elected officials. She is part of a younger minority in Congress that found their way there on a platform of unwavering honest commitment to the principles of just representation. And of course she and others in her similar wheelhouse are the very ones under threat by monied undemocratic forces that have gradually eroded our already fragile uneven democracy. Thank you chief justice Roberts and your onerous Citizens United campaign that put our democracy up to the highest bidders. Bernie Sanders and Angus King are two examples of long serving Independents. Seems like the time is truly here for a different representative democracy not reliant on only two parties. The Democratic Party doesn’t seem to want or support such members.
This was Rashida in February and we are still sending Israel blank checks. I love how she asks her colleagues, "Why are you whispering to me? " https://www.instagram.com/reel/C55tJOKr4GF/?igsh=OG94dGRwNnNmazJ3 . If you can't open it on Instagram, you can find it on YouTube .
Superb discussion with genuine analysis of disturbing issues. My decision to subscribe has been validated. Long an admirer of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, my trust in her is increased. Thank you Mehdi Hasan for providing us with reliable journalism!
Thank you so much
It was an excellent night; thank you for including subscribers, and congratulations!
Thank you!
Thanks Mehdi. What a contrast in interviews, former PM Olmert versus Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez. I hope she will be a frequent guest.
Let's hope so!
loved hearing AOC, and you too.
Cheers
Dems are going to have to do better than we are not Trump. We are funding a genocide. That's where I draw the line. I've been calling, and writing my legislators for 30 years with very little results. America is a Democracy in the sense that we get to pick our own dictators but the lobbyists run the show. The double standard is so glaring. The both sides argument does apply in some cases. We have DEMs who have kissed the AIPAC ring. AOC talked about appealing to her base. Who in the hell does she think her base is. I'm tired and I am done. I am tired of the American empire with its imperialists agenda that pushes the most vulnerable in our society to the margins. To ignore that reality is DISHONESTY. Btw, I called AOC and Bernie's offices and called them cowards for not calling what Israel was doing genocide . I am sure AOC got similar calls so she didn't evolve on the issue all by herself.
I’m so with you! I’m tired and I’m done with Dems who keep saying “but Trump” while taking AIPAC money, spewing their lies and half-truths. AOC is no better and I’m sorry, this interview doesn’t change shit about her for me. She’s not much better than the rest of the establishment Dems who say a lot but don’t do much. #done. And #freepalestine.
Agreed. The idea that one party has the higher moral or ethical high ground than the other at this point is invalid. The political journey for the world now is to mobilise different politcal options than a choice between two broken corrupt alternatives. If a government’s complicity in genocide has not made that clear am not sure what will.
70% of that budget they approved goes to defense. There is always money for war. But we defunded UNRWA the UN agency that supports Palestinian refugees. We rightly criticized Trump for tossing paper towels at folk in PR during the aftermath of hurricane Marie but we are supposed to ignore Biden supplying Israel the bombs and warplanes and other weapons to kill Palestinians with impunity. Then to add insult to injury, he airdrops food into Gaza that killed at least five people when the aid landed on top of them. I mean this sounds like something out of a F'ing cartoon. Crazy!!!
You are right but you also risk getting so far out front of public opinion that you find yourself a righteous group of progressives with no contact with the rest of the people who want to see progressive change. Democracy still requires a majority. That means everyone has to compromise to reach enough common ground to have a majority government to implement badly-needed change. Yes, global warming means we are running out of time but if you too far ahead, you become ineffective. It's a classic progressive dilemma. If you condemn "the left" as well as "the right" then you doom yourself and the possibility of making the needed changes. You just know it's not going to come from the right.
As I stated, this country is not a democracy but an empire. You'll have to research and find out what that really means in light of your comment. Dr. King stated five days before his assassination that he feared that he was integrating his people into a burning house. He also said Blacks may well get the right to vote but will have no one to vote for. Palestine is taking up the news cycle but there is still the Congo, Haiti, the Philippines, etc, etc, etc. As one commentar stated, the US with all of its talk of democracy and human rights makes it clear, the Emperor has no clothes.
Is there any country on earth that fits your idea of democracy? We all wish to support the ideal, to be the ideal. But we are stuck here in Realityville, along with the challenges of first-world problems. (Which while not as immediately existential are still problems). It is valid to criticize well-meaning but compromised leaders, but if one refuses to support leaders unless they are perfect, there will be no one to support. We are left to determine who is the least worse and support them. I am not an American but looking in from the outside, it seems pretty clear who that is in America in 2024. The leader of my country is Justin Trudeau and there are many, many criticisms to make about him. But the alternative is Pierre Poilievre. He is not just worse but exponentially worse. We can't let the possible imperfect be the enemy of the unattainable good.
Given your dismissal of the Ruling Duopoly and lack of competitive political system beyond those two choices that better represent Wall Street than Main Street, will you be voting for and recommending others vote for indie candidate and paper trail proven Cornel West?
https://www.c-span.org/video/?534481-5/cornel-west-2024-presidential-bid
Mitch Ritter\Paradigm Sifters, Code Shifters, PsalmSong Chasers
Lay-Low Studios, Ore-Wa (Refuge of Atonement Seekers)
Media Discussion List\LookseeInnerEarsHearHere
Unfortunately, the two ruling parties control our political system. Would to God Bernie had started a third party when he had the opportunity to. And the parties choose the candidates who will run and who will be nominated. Then there are the lobbyists. So folk will have to decide what they will do. God help us!!!
AIPAC and the military industrial complex do rule the roost. I would hope disillusionment with Biden and the majority of the Democratic Party doesn’t justify throwing the baby out with the bath water. The Squad are amongst the only representatives speaking out against the genocide. They already did not have the support of their own party members. That’s a lonely place to be. I’ll save my vitriol for the Biden, Gottheimer and other such ilk.
Speaking of The Squad, HM was going for star power. I get it. He is trying to get Zeteo off the ground. But with the dearth of Palestinian voices within this discourse Rashida Tlaid who was the first to speak out against our participation in the genocide and has faced constant persecution for it should have been last night's guest. As for AOC, there were blindspots in her responses and I don't think anyone is above criticism. I don't think anyone from Dearborn, Michigan was convinced by her performance last night. The Dems keep deflecting to Trump but Biden is president and as usual they can't get their messaging together. Tlaid can speak to the disillusioned Arab American community far better than AOC.
Agreed. As the only Palestinian representative in Congress, Rashida is best to speak on the ongoing atrocities in Gaza and the West Bank and I would be surprised if Medhi doesn’t have her on soon. I somewhat incorrectly think of the Squad as more than the original four. Jamaal Bowman has been speaking out loudly and unabashedly. That Biden is the alternative to Trump is sickening. He’s screwing the country, the world and his own party. If AOC is guilty of anything it’s being nuanced and calculating. Hakeem Jeffries, Schumer ,Dan Goldman…etc., all huge recipients of AIPAC money. My own state “progressive” officials have for the most part been silent. Don’t get me going on Fetterman.
Agreed Stephen. Bowman recently made a speech on the floor chastising his colleagues for deriding Rashida calling her antisemitic and a terrorist. And you had Dems who agreed to censure her. WT. . .Senator Warnock has kissed the AIPAC ring. There was a silent protest at his church recently. He doesn't deserve to stand in King's pulpit. This country is in grave trouble.
Had a fantastic time last night and this was a great interview!
Thank you for coming!
This was Amazing, As Mehdi ended he is working to bring both sides story. This is what we are looking for, we will judge at the end.
Thanks
Great event! Thank you, Mehdi!
AOC is an amazing person, and an amazing public servant. NY is lucky to have a politician with this caliber!
She is an excellent speaker, a honest politician a great individual. Great discussion. You must interview humble and sincere people over and over again.
As a white woman who is not a Muslim, I was overtaken to see a Muslim woman in her religious headdress freely asking her question while just being herself. I feel joy for that woman. Zeteo has given her space to "be herself" in a public setting. I appreciate her confidence as an American Muslim. Keep standing tall and confident, Gentle Lady!
That was excellent. Truly a professional piece of journalism and production.
As someone who has been watching online independent news as my primary source for years, this location shoot felt as professional as if it were done by the big networks. The support you got from your journalist colleagues in attendance was impressive too.
You should definitely think about doing a daily news recap and commentary. Think a mini version of Democracy Now but with a less old school style. The interviews are excellent keep them coming, but Don Lemon is primarily doing those too.
At the end of the day, I’m here for all of it!
Congrats
Mehdi, I’m glad you’re now on your own. While it’s tempting to join in the adulation, this practice tends to contribute to a cult-like following that’s not helpful. Hence, I’ll address more the critical than the positive.
Thank you for asking AOC, tough questions about Israel’s unfolding genocide of Palestinians; she seemed initially evasive. This is one of Biden’s major “mistakes” and may prove fatal. In fact, Biden is admittedly a Zionist, an ideology anathema to democratic progressive values.
It’s a given that voting for a third party is a vote for the GOP, but Biden’s betrayal of his base should not be overlooked, as it has been for far too long. I hope you pursue this issue further. AOC seemed evasive, as if trying not to offend or be critical of Biden—the president must be challenged and pressured to abandon Israel; otherwise, we’re toast.
Biden’s complicity in the Palestinian genocide should be a red line. I’m inclined to consider, as a democratic voter, his impeachment unless he immediately demands a cease-fire, withdrawal of its troops from occupied Palestine, ends non humanitarian aid to the region, support U.N. resolutions, demand an end to apartheid, recognize that Zionism is a colonial settler and White supremacy imperialistic colonial scheme, and demand a one-state rather than two-state solution with the right to return for those with roots in occupied Palestine, with equal rights for for all.
I hear/read, all too often, that Israel has a right to defend itself; we might begin to ask whether Israel has a right to exist while we support demanding protection of the civil rights for all in occupied Palestine; ie, we can and should be anti Zionist while vehemently not antisemitic.
We need to quickly decide whether Biden is fit to be a Dem Party’s presidential
candidate while being complicit in Israel war crimes of genocide and starvation of Palestinians. These crimes should be automatically disqualifying.
It pains me to consider supporting the GOP to pressure Biden to change policies.
As progressives, we need to evaluate Biden’s despicable support for the prosecution of Julian Assange; let’s also consider ecocidal policies under the pretext of fighting the climate crisis—destroying Nature under the pretext of saving the Earth. Fascists are inherently violent at their core; Biden is in support while providing the requisite weapons to carry out the genocide; prosecution of Assange and plunder of the Earth.
As to the latter, he has proposed saving 30% of of public lands, Nature and/or the Earth; essentially ecocide—policies that should be unacceptable red lines to progressive Dems.
In the event of Biden’s impeachment, VP Kamala would become president and seek re-election without, to my knowledge Biden’s betrayals of Dems base. If pressured, she might support single payer Medicare for all. Biden supported a public option, but once elected, reneged.
Full disclosure: I voted for Marianne Williamson in the primaries. Given a choice between Biden and djt, I’ll vote for the former, as we all must/should.
I think we know he is not qualified to be the Democratic Party candidate. The party has fallen in line and it seems beyond hope that this will somehow change before the election. The country has been put into a terrible dilemma. Jill Biden, tell your hubby it’s game over. Our only hope and possibly the only person his ego will listen to. I’m actually serious.
I loved this interview. AOC is an embodiment of intellect and morality that is absent from a majority of elected officials. She is part of a younger minority in Congress that found their way there on a platform of unwavering honest commitment to the principles of just representation. And of course she and others in her similar wheelhouse are the very ones under threat by monied undemocratic forces that have gradually eroded our already fragile uneven democracy. Thank you chief justice Roberts and your onerous Citizens United campaign that put our democracy up to the highest bidders. Bernie Sanders and Angus King are two examples of long serving Independents. Seems like the time is truly here for a different representative democracy not reliant on only two parties. The Democratic Party doesn’t seem to want or support such members.
This was Rashida in February and we are still sending Israel blank checks. I love how she asks her colleagues, "Why are you whispering to me? " https://www.instagram.com/reel/C55tJOKr4GF/?igsh=OG94dGRwNnNmazJ3 . If you can't open it on Instagram, you can find it on YouTube .
“institutional racism informs all our institutions: it is subconscious, it is foundational” … “passive voice is reserved for the marginalized” Yes!
That was an outstanding interview. Rep. Ocasio-Cortez is a brilliant young woman. I'm looking forward to your future content.