amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> we are effectively run in this country via the democrats, organ oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable in their own lives and the choices they have made so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too. look at kamala harris, pete

buttigieg, aoc, the entire future of the democrats is controlled by people without children. amy: j.d. vance stands by his comments that the democratic party is run by childless cat ladies. we will get response from reproductive justice and against -- advocate asked. and from the new york times opinion writer jessica grose, author of the book "screaming on the inside: the unsustainability of american motherhood." she says attacking kamala harris for not having kids will backfire, not to mention it is not true. we will also speak with political reporter ian ward about the seven thinkers and groups that have shaped j.d. vance's unusual worldview. >> he never saw trump as the end-all, be-all of the movement.

he is a vehicle for a transnational, populist revolution that could extend 15, 20, 1 hundred years into the future. amy: israel vows to retaliate against hezbollah after blaming it for a rocket attack sunday in the occupied golan heights that killed 12 druze children in a soccer field, stoking fear of a wider regional war. >> we need to sign a deal and stop this more. we want to live, we don't want to die. amy: that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org. this is war, peace, and the presidency. i'm amy goodman. an israeli strike on a school in gaza killed at least 30 palestinians on saturday and injured over 100 more. thousands of palestinians had been seeking shelter at the school in deir-al balah. many of the victims were

children. survivors decried the israeli attack. >> since november we are here, nothing happens. today, they targeted with missiles. we don't know where to go. there is no safe place. they tell us to go east, then west. we don't know where to go. the schools are not saved, the tenants are not safe, and the houses are not safe. where should we go? i am going to sit in the middle of the street. amy: on sunday an israeli airstrike in khan younis killed 10 people including a four-month-old baby girl. meanwhile israel has issued new orders for palestinians to flee the bureij and nuseirat refugee camps. according to unrwa, the u.n. agency for palestinian refugees, 86% of the gaza strip is now under evacuation orders leaving palestinians no safe place to go. on sunday thousands of members of the druze community in the occupied golan heights gathered

for funerals of 12 children and teenagers killed in a rocket strike on a soccer field on saturday. israel blamed the lebanese militant group hezbollah for the strike, but hezbollah denied the claim. axios reports hezbollah officials have told the united nations that the deaths were caused by an israeli anti-rocket interceptor projectile. the deaths occurred in the town of majdal shams in a part of syria which has been under israeli occupation since 1967. diplomats fear the strike could spark a broader regional war. sunday, israel security cabinet authorize benjamin netanyahu's government to decide on the manner and timing of a military response. he responded to the deaths in the golan heights by blocking the evacuation of 150 sick children in gaza who were scheduled to receive treatment in the united arab emirates. venezuela's national electoral

council has declared president nicolas maduro the winner of sunday's election giving him a third term in office, but the opposition is rejecting the official results. according to the electoral council, early results show maduro received about 51% while opposition candidate edmundo gonzalez received 44%. this is maduro, speaking from caracas. >> in this new term you have given me, that you have given to yourselves, i swear, i will give my life to carry out all the changes and transformation our country needs to head for a destiny of prosperity. a destiny of growth, peace, social happiness, to rescue all the rights violated by the economic more anti-imperialist missiles. amy: a delegation said they found the election to be fair and transparent not venezuela opposition candidate edmundo gonzalez rejected the official results.

>> what happened during today's poll when doing was a violation of all the rules to the point where there were majority of electoral registers have not been handed over. our message of peace change still stands. our struggle continues and we will not rest until the will of the people of venezuela is respected. amy: gonzalez joined the race after the venezuelan government barred opposition leader maria corina machado from running. u.s. secretary of state tony blinken said that the u.s. government had “serious concerns" about the venezuelan election results. blinken made the comment during a trip to japan where he and defense secretary lloyd austin met their japanese counterparts. under a new deal, austin announced the u.s. is planning to establish a new military command headquarters in japan to counter china. >> united states will upgrade the u.s. forces japan to a joint force headquarters with expanded

missions and operational responsibilities. this will be the most significant change to u.s. forces japan since its creation. one of the strongest improvements in our military ties with japan in 70 years. amy: in bangladesh, authorities restored communications over the weekend after an 11-day blackout in response to student protests against government job quotas. the protests were met with a violent crackdown, with over 200 people killed. some students say they will resume demonstrations, despite the rollback of the contested quotas, until leaders of the protest movement are freed. local media say police arrested at least 9,000 protesters. people are also demanding accountability for those who were killed. >> my nephew was an innocent kid. why did they kill him in such a brutal way? he was only a high school student.

amy: human rights watch has accused warren parties into dan, particularly the support forces, of committing widespread sexual violence including gang rape and forcing women and girls into marriages. human rights watch also accuses both of committing more crimes by attacking health-care workers and health care facilities. saturday, forces attacked a city, killing 22 people. donald trump is facing new criticism after suggesting that the 2024 election could be the nation's last election if he wins in november. trump made the comment in florida at turning point action's believers' summit. >> christians, get out and vote. just this time. you won't have to do it anymore. four more years. it will be fixed, it will be fine. you will not have to vote

anymore, my beautiful christians. i love you, christians. i am not christian. you have to get out and vote. in four years, you will not have to vote again, we will have it fixed so good, you won't have to vote. amy: donald trump's running mate senator jd vance has doubled down on his remarks that the democratic party is being led by what he called “childless cat ladies." vance made the original comment on the tucker carlson show in 2021. >> we are effectively run in this country via the democrats, corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable in their lives and the choices they've made so they want to make the rest of the country miserable. kamala harris, pete buttigieg, aoc, the entire future of the democrats is controlled by people without children. amy: on friday jd vance appeared on "the megyn kelly show" and defended his remarks. >> obviously it was a sarcastic comment. i have nothing against cats, nothing against dogs.

people are focusing so much on the sarcasm and not on the substance of what i actually said. the substance of what i said, i am sorry, it is true. amy: in other election news, kamala harris has announced her presidential campaign raised more than $200 million over the past week. that's more than president biden had raised in the first three months of the year when he was still running for re-election. meanwhile some of the democratic party's biggest donors, including linkedin co-founder reid hoffman, are openly pushing harris to fire federal trade commission chair lina khan who has led biden's anti-trust efforts. hoffman sits on the board of microsoft, which was sued by the ftc. president biden has called for major reforms to the u.s. supreme court including 18-year term limits, an enforceable code of ethics, and a constitutional amendment that would bar immunity to presidents for crimes committed in office. in a new op-ed for the

washington post, biden also cited the 2022 overturning of roe v wade by the far-right court. the president did not, however, call for expanding the supreme court, which many democrats and judicial reform experts have done. in northern california, the rapidly spreading park fire has burned over 550 square miles, an area larger than the size of los angeles. the park fire is already in the 10 top largest fires in california's history and has now become the largest active wildfire in the united states, surpassing the raging durkee fire in nearby eastern oregon. in other climate news, police in new york city on saturday arrested 59 protesters outside the home of citigroup ceo jane fraser. the protest was part of summer of heat, a series of nonviolent direct action protests to end fossil fuel financing. police have rated and cleared a

pro-palestinian encampment outside the home of secretary of state tony blinken in mclean, virginia. the encampment had been set up for 183 days to demand an end to u.s. support for israel's war on gaza. in news from the paris olympics, waseem abu sal received thunderous applause on sunday as he became the first palestinian boxer to participate in the olympics. during the olympic opening ceremony on friday, abu sal wore a shirt showing children being bombed, in defiance of strict rules against making so-called political statements. after losing his match on sunday, abu sal said, "the olympic games are already a victory for palestine." and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org. this is war, peace, and the presidency. i'm amy goodman. republican presidential nominee donald trump's running mate jd

vance has doubled down on his remarks that the democratic party is being led by what he called “childless cat ladies." vance made the original comment on the tucker carlson show in 2021. >> we are effectively run in this country via the democrats, our corporate oligarchs, but a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices they've made, so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too. kamala harris, pete buttigieg, aoc, the entire future of the democrats is controlled by people without children. amy: kamala harris is a stepmother of two children. at the time of vance's remarks, pete buttigieg was in the middle of the adoption process and welcomed his twins shortly afterwards while serving as secretary of transportation. also in 2021, vance advocated for a voting system that would allow people with children to cast more votes, on behalf of their children.

vance addressed the controversy friday in a new interview on the the megyn kelly show on siriusxm, defending his remarks and repeating his claim that the democrats are anti-family. >> obviously it was a sarcastic comment. i have nothing against cats, dogs, i have one dog at home. people are focusing so much on the sarcasm and not on the substance of what i actually said. the substance of what i said, i am sorry, it is true. amy: this comes as cnn reports ohio senator jd vance has been "historically unpopular" as a vice-presidential candidate coming so far, and currently has a "net favorability" rating of negative 16 points in his home region, compared to negative 5 point "net favorability" in nationwide polls. for more we are joined by two guests. in san francisco, renee bracey sherman is a reproductive justice activist, abortion storyteller, and writer who is the founder and co-executive

director of “we testify.” her new article in teen vogue is headlined, "jd vance doesn't want all women to be trad wives, just white women.” her forthcoming book is titled, "liberating abortion: claiming our history, sharing our stories, and building the reproductive future we deserve”" and in new york, jessica grose is with us, an opinion writer for the new york times whose new piece is headlined, "attacking kamala harris for not having kids will backfire." not to mention that it is not true. grose is the author of "screaming on the inside: the unsustainability of american motherhood.” welcome to you both. jessica grose, let us begin with you. if you can respond to these comments that, yes, senator j.d. vance made when he was running for senate in 2021, but did not

back down when talking about what he said just recently. >> i don't think, whether or not you have children, affects whether or not use approach pro-family policies for the u.s.. we had build back better which was very profamily. maybe you can argue that was not the best bill. we don't see republican supporting things like paid leave, childcare. we don't see them out front in terms of profamily policy. i just find the entire line of attack to be ridiculous and also unpopular, insulting people who are deeply involved in children's lives, whether or not they happen to be those children's biological parents. voters of all political persuasions have that background. why are you offending them for no reason? amy: this is another newly

uncovered video from 2021 in which j.d. vance claims critical media coverage of him on journalists who are miserable childless adults. >> many of the most unhappy, most miserable, most angry people in our media are childless adults. let's just be honest about it. because look, the elite model, the american dream to the elites is get as much credentials as you can, get as much money as you can, the most prestigious job, and that is where you will find self-worth. most of our mainstream reporters are not impressive enough to find meaning in their jobs. they are just not good at it. amy: jessica grose, your response and how people are responding to this, we are this -- his attacks are coming from? >> first, i want to point out, i had children younger than he

did, so the media is not just filled with people who don't have children, who are bitter. i think it is a way to paint republicans as the profamily party and the media, which he categorizes as liberal -- it contains people with all sorts of backgrounds -- as being antifamily, being bitter, trying to encourage other people to be bitter, when that couldn't be further from the truth. amy: i wanted to quote pete buttigieg, play a clip, responding to j.d. vance's remarks in a recent cnn interview david >> really sad thing is that he said that after we have been through a fairly heartbreaking setback in our adoption journey. he could not have known that but maybe that is why you should not be talking about other people's children. it is not about his kids or my kids or the vice president's

family. it's about your family. people's whose well-being will depend on whether we go into a future led by somebody like kamala harris who is focused on expanding the prosperity and the freedom, the well-being of our families. especially if you have kids and are worried about climate, choosing between a party that has a plan to create jobs and a party that still calls it a hoax, as we just went through the hottest day in world history. or do you want your children to grow up in a country defined by a return to the chaos and recrimination and cruelty that was the hallmark of the trump era? amy: meanwhile, "friends" actress jennifer aniston was one among many who criticized vance's comments. she posted on instagram, “i truly can't believe this is coming from a potential vp of the united states. all i can say is, mr. vance, i pray that your daughter is fortunate enough to bear children of her own one day. i hope she will not need to turn to ivf as a second option.

because you are trying to take that away from her, too." vance responded to aniston in an interview with megyn kelly saying, "well, first of all, that's disgusting because my daughter is 2 years old. and second of all, if she had fertility problems, as i said in that speech, i would try everything i could to try to help her because i believe families and babies are a good thing.” jessica grose, if you could respond to that, and also his stance on ivf in the senate. >> he voted against a bill that would have enshrined protections for ivf. that shows me that if it becomes a partisan issue, we know what side he is on. just having people being supportive of all different kinds of families is a much more appealing idea than trying to divide us by what our family status may or may not be. if we want a future where people

can have the families that they want and build the families they want, i don't really see him being broadly supportive of the policy that would help that. to give him a little bit of credit, he is supportive of a child tax credit, but he also accuses kamala harris of not being supportive of a child tax credit, when she has been extremely supportive of that policy. amy: you also noted harris would not be the first president with no biological children. there were five others. warren harding had a child out of wedlock, denied paternity, that he was the father, confirmed by dna testing almost a century later. if you can talk about the sexist double standard, jessica. >> there is still this idea that if you are a woman, unless you bear children, you are somehow less than.

it just devalues all of us to divide us this way, to put our work into whether we are able to or desiring of having our own children. i just cannot think of something that is less american than not giving people the freedom to decide what they want to do with their bodies and family building. i just think it has absolutely nothing to do with how you legislate. at baseline, any legislator should be able to come up with policy and support policy that has nothing to do with them, because that is what being a legislator is. representing all the people, whether they voted for you are not. whether someone has biological children is completely irrelevant to whether or not they are a good leader. there is a history of people being terrible parents who are also leaders, and we don't think

of them as any less than in terms of whether or not they were good legislators. it is a completely different question. amy: you have also pointed out, looking at presidents, vice presidents, their opinion on this. had trump made any comment on this? >> i have not seen him comment directly on anything j.d. vance has said. he was asked a question about childcare during the debate with joe biden and he didn't answer it. he responded with some sort of word salad about how biden is terrible, did not enter the substance of the question at all. who knows what he thinks or what policy might support. when he was president, he really didn't do much in terms of family policy. i would not be optimistic that a trump presidency would be particularly profamily.

amy: in 2021, j.d. vance wrote on social media, universal childcare is a massive subsidy to the lifestyle present as preferences of the affluent over the preferences of the middle and working class. can you respond? >> i think that it implies that only affluent women want to work after they have children, and that couldn't be further from the truth. people up and down the socioeconomic ladder have different preferences. there are wealthy women who would prefer to stay home, affluent women who would prefer to work. there are women with fewer resources who would prefer to stay home, women who would prefer to work. claiming how much money you have or how much education you have is directly correlated with wanting to work after you have children is just false. childcare, whether that is a new

group, family childcare, helping parents stay home, if that is what they prefer, i think feminists and liberals want to support all those choices. when i was researching my book, people would tell me, i cannot afford to work and i cannot afford to stay home. the family needed the income from working but didn't make enough to pay for child care. that is putting families and possible situations where there preferences are not even coming up. let's get families the help they need to be even to be able to make the choices they would prefer to make. amy: also vance's views on no-fault divorce and pornography are now surfacing. how do you reconcile those views with his running mate, donald trump, who is three times divorced, of course was found liable to paying money to an adult movie star?

>> they are not reconcilable. i don't know what to say. [laughter] they are completely opposite. we know we have the top of the ticket. vance is sort of a self proclaimed troll. i don't know how seriously he takes all the things he said. he has appeared on a lot of podcasts and said a lot of things that were pretty wild, including parents should have more votes because they have children and should have more of a say in our democracy. i don't know what to think about all of that. certainly, i don't think donald trump would get rid rid of no-fault divorce. amy: we will link to your piece in the new york times, "attacking kamala harris for not having kids will backfire." jessica's book is "screaming on the inside: the unsustainability of american motherhood." we turn now to renee bracey

sherman, reproductive justice advocate. she wrote a very interesting piece in teen vogue. the piece is called "jd vance doesn't want all women to be trad wives, just white women." explain, renee. >> thanks for having me. i should let your audience know, full disclosure, i am a child this cap lt lady, i am fine with that, and my wife is amazing. people may have seen this trad life phenomenon on tiktok, usually white women making these videos talking about how amazing it is to make everything from scratch, this idyllic 1950's home life, how great it is to be home and opt out of the working society. these are videos that are basically propaganda for the world that people like j.d. vance want.

what we have to think about, if you look at history, women of color have never been a part of that idyllic society. women of color always had to work, whether they were wet nurses, enslaved women, being abused by white women on plantation during slavery, to when they were working in the 1950's, they were still in the home because of mass incarceration, family separation. they did not get the choice to decide, do i stay home or do i work? with low wages, without access to social safety supports, because of racist barriers, they have always had to work. when j.d. vance talks about what this future looks like, where he wants women at home, he is picturing white women. you want to white women to be at home procreating while the rest of us are laboring under capitalism, so he and his donors

can keep making more and more money off of our backs and low wages. amy: can you talk more about the issue of vance's views on gender, sex, marriage? what it means, while he is attacking people who don't have children, and being very focused on the nuclear family. it cannot even be, in the case of kamala harris, stepchildren. >> the short answer is he is a weirdo. the long answer is he is a white supremacist, white nationalist. he believes the only children that are physically born through natural birth, conception, those are the ones that are legitimate. which is wild, because he promotes adoption as an alternative to abortion, which it is not, but then attacks pete

buttigieg for adopting children. again, he has this view that certain families are valuable. those are families that are white, that have natural children, heterosexual parents. he does not recognize that this world, we make our families and lots of different ways. divorce, step parents, adoption, abortion, all of these ways that we make our family, that is the reproductive future we are building together. he cannot stand that. he cannot stand fighting for abortion access, reproductive justice, ensures that we are able to decide if, when, and how we want to grow our families. amy: in other news about j.d. vance, he has written a forward to the forthcoming book by kevin roberts, president of the heritage foundation, project 2025.

the trump campaign this event any connection to project 2025, a radical republican blueprint to overhaul u.s. policy from everything from immigration to reproductive rights to the climate. talk about the maga right's views, what you think a trump white house would mean for reproductive rights? >> a trump-vance white house for reproductive rights and abortion access is terrifying. if you care about abortion, ivf, if you like having sex, with whoever you want, if you like sex toys, all of this could be gone. this is the modern comstock. anthony comstock used a meal service to try to ban contraception's, pornography, sex toys, all of these things. project .25 is just the updated version of that. vance is just the updated

version of anthony comstock. anything that you love about your sex life, your family, the freedoms that you get to have, to build the families that you care about, that you love, build your life, that is under threat with this project 2025. i hope that people pay attention to that in no way that they didn't necessarily hear us when we said that roe could and would be overturned. please listen to us now. they are very serious about this, this is not a pipe dream. they wrote it down, it is their goal. they will stop at nothing to achieve it. amy: can you talk about how vance's personal background and professional history cast doubts on his public stance on gender roles and family life? married to a high-powered successful woman, quit her law firm the week of the republican convention.

friday, vance was asked about his wife and interview with megyn kelly. >> i love my wife so much, because she is who she is. she is not a white person. we had been attacked by some white supremacists over that. i love her, she is such a good mom. >> your response, renee? >> [laughter] he is a weirdo. it is mild to me that you are aw married to a woman of color and you cannot see her other than someone who is not a white woman and a mom. his view is that whiteness is the default. women's role in society is to have children. it is terrifying that he cannot see us for anything else. as i wrote in the piece, he enjoys them being a power couple, until he needed to

achieve the higher echelons of power, and then she had to give up her's. he believes that women are there to be subservient to men like him. it is a really terrifying future in which we don't get to decide whatever futures are, particularly women of color, need to serve white men like him. amy: renee bracey sherman, thank you for being with us. founder and coexecutive director of we testify. we will link to your piece in teen vogue, "jd vance doesn't want all women to be trad wives, just white women." her latest book, "liberating abortion: claiming our history, sharing our stories, and building the reproductive future we deserve." next up, we speak with ian ward about the seven thinkers and groups that have shaped j.d. vance's unusual worldview. back in a minute.

♪ [music break] amy: “easy to love” by couch. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org. this is war, peace, and the presidency. i'm amy goodman. we continue our look at republican presidential nominee

donald trump's running mate j.d. vance as we look at "the seven thinkers and groups that have shaped jd vance's unusual worldview.” it was written by our next guest, politico reporter ian ward who joins us in new york. he spent a few months with vance this year for a profile about his first year in the senate and his broader vision for the republican party in a piece that was headlined, “is there something more radical than maga? j.d. vance is dreaming it.” ian ward, welcome back. we had you on during the republican convention when we were in milwaukee. now these comments have surfaced that vance doesn't disavow from 2021, in an interview where he attacked kamala harris, aoc, pete buttigieg, calling them cat ladies, childless cat ladies. talk about, where do his views come from?

who are the people that influenced him most? >> vance comes out of a conservative intellectual system that is very concerned with this question child rearing, family policy, in particular the declining birthrate in the united states. currently the birth is around 1.7 children per family which is below the replacement rate. who people having 1.7 children, the population will not propagate itself. many on the populist right see that as an enormous civilizational existential challenge. not a technical issue, a question of whether society can propagate into the future. the converse of that, they are looking at ways to raise the birthrate through public policy. one of their primary influences in that respect is victor orban's government in

hungary. they have adopted a sweeping set of profamily policies, tax subsidies for families of children, block grants for newlywed families by houses, a whole range of things. there is a fairly robust interchange between conservative intellectuals in america and profamily advocates in hungary looking at ways to raise the birthrate. amy: as you profile the seven thinkers -- i'm not sure if i'm pronouncing his name right, patrick denin. >> philosopher, professor of political theory at the university of notre dame. he himself is a catholic, has become known as the figurehead for a group of thinkers who call themselves post-liberals. he wrote a book in 2018 arguing that liberals, that system of

political philosophy, undermined itself, the expansion of individual rights, expansion of a free market economy has undercut the collective basis of american lives. family, religion, any sort of communal eat those -- ethos. in a more recent book in 2023, denin argued for what he calls a peaceful revolution to replace the liberal order with a post-liberal order. the difference being, the liberal order is primarily directed toward a protection of individual rights of liberties. postliberal order is grounded in a catholic worldview, catholic social teachings, although he doesn't say that it's pleasantly -- explicitly. postliberal order is geared toward the preservation of conservative values, religious values.

denin is very close with vance. vance attended the book launch for this book back in 2023. vance has said exquisitely that he is a member of the postliberal invite, that he views his role in congress as anti-regime. so he is closely tied in with this world that denin represents. amy: vance himself converted to catholicism in 2019 his wife is hindu. who is brad wilcox, university of virginia professor, who wrote get married, why americans must form strong families and save civilization. >> he comes from a profamily, intellectual, conservative logistic guy -- religious guy. the broader context is these are a group of people who are questioning what liberals call progress is actually good for

society, also whether the past 60 years of social change, dating back to the 1960's, have actually been a good thing. vance does not think it has been. he comes from this world that thinks the sexual revolution was a mistake, has had terrible unintended consequences, that women's entrance into the workforce has not been good for feminism, as liberals make it out to be. he uses this line in a couple of speeches, if you're worldview tells you it is bad for women to become mothers but liberated for them to work 90 weeks in a cubicle at the new york times or goldman sachs, you have been had. this is part of his broader critique that the culture war, class wars, liberals have weaponized social views to consolidate and advance their own economic interests. the idea of liberating -- his conception -- that it is

liberating for women to enter the workforce ultimately comes down to the benefit of companies who can benefit from more and cheaper labor, as opposed to benefiting the women who find fulfillment or liberation in the work. amy: let's talk about peter thiel. you talk about the great influences, his former venture capital loss, gave something like $10 million to his campaign. where his philosophy fits in here. >> if i'm being honest, he is wrapped up in this idea that the society could not propagate, but his interest in vance is primarily thinking about the relationship between democracy and freedom, second, the role that technology plays in society. thiel is a techno-libertarian which occasionally goes into

techno-authoritarianism. he thinks technology holds the potential to be completely revolutionary but has been perverted by various economic incentives, the poor leadership of liberal elites, to become anything that shackles us, prevents us from building a better society as opposed to liberating us. his famous slogan is that we wanted flying cars but we got 140 characters. we thought technology could change the world, but instead we turned it into twitter and instagram, which make us anxious, unhappy, more open to exploitation by companies. he also doesn't think that freedom and democracy are compatible anymore. vance does not endorse that a view but that is thiel's political philosophy. amy: talk about curtis yarvin.

>> i should begin with a caveat. many of the thinkers i mentioned in the piece, vance is in regular contact with. he talked to people like patrick denin, peter thiel. he has called yarvin a friend, but i think he is more distance from these thinkers, vance. yarvin is a blogger, former computer programmer. he came to internet fame in the early -- ne-yo reactionary, often cited as the philosopher of the new right, the world that comes out of intellectually. he is a monarchist. that is how he would describe himself. he thinks american democracy has

denigrated into a corrupt oligarchy. the way to resolve this tendency is to install a dictator, a term that he used, a national ceo who would run the country like the ceo of a startup. vance has not endorsed in public this project. he has cited yarvin's work in his belief that a second trump administration should fire a significant number of civil servants and replace those people who are ideologically aligned with himself and trump. this is another guy that vance is reading. amy: what about rene gerard? >> a french-born philosopher literary critic. he was one of thiel's mentors at

stanford university. gerard was introduced to thiel. his ideas are incredibly complicated. i will not try to summarize them shortly but one idea that vance has cited, his own conversion to catholicism, what gerard, the scapegoat mechanism. in society, people compute over a limited set of goods, they want the same things, which creates social conflict, which is ultimately resolved by identifying a member of that community that is somehow wrong. you then scapegoat then, often by killing them, and that leads to social equilibrium. he thinks this changed with the advent of christianity because they society scapegoated someone who was not guilty of any crime against the community -- jesus

christ -- so by killing someone who is innocent, the christian narrative shows the problem is not with the scapegoat but with ourselves. the whole christian theology. vance has identified with the story, found it profound, helped him identify some of his own spiritual hangups. he studied that narrative in particular as a way of explaining his own conversion to catholicism. amy: we just have one minute. talk about amari. >> he is the editor of a magazine called "compact," which began as a union between the populace right and populous left. he's an advocate of pro-worker conservatism. he is another catholic convert. the idea that the conservative

right, catholic social teachings, the doctrine of the catholic church. amy: we have to leave it there. people can leave your articles, talking about the claremont institute and other influences on j.d. vance. ian ward is a political reporter. the new piece, “the seven thinkers and groups that have shaped jd vance's unusual worldview.” his more recent piece, “is there something more radical than maga? j.d. vance is dreaming it." next, israel vows to retaliate against hezbollah after blaming it for a rocket attack on sunday in the occupied golan heights that killed 12 druze children, stoking fear of a wider regional war. back in 20 seconds. ♪ [music break]

amy: "come and build my garden" by grass future society. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org. this is war, peace, and the presidency. i'm amy goodman. israel has blamed hezbollah after a rocket attack sunday in the israeli-occupied golan heights that killed 12 druze

children at a soccer field. hezbollah has denied responsibility. the attack took place in the village of majdal shams, home to members of the druze community, an arab-speaking minority group. israel claimed the victims were israeli citizens though many druze in the area do not have israeli citizenship and are in fact syrian citizens. this is a resident of majdal shams. >> we are not more precious than children who are killed anywhere else in the country, or innocence killed in southern lebanon, or innocence killed in gaza. our children are not more precious than them. we are human beings. we live our lives in peace and tranquility. our wish is that every mother who lost their dearest yesterday, that was to so cultivate -- was to celebrate their birthdays, just like netanyahu and his son, we want to live and we do not want to die. amy: the deadly attack has further stoked fear of a wider regional war.

sunday, israel security cabinet authorized a manner and timing of a military response. earlier today, is really drone attacks reportedly killed two people in southern lebanon. this is secretary of state antony blinken. >> we are in conversation with the government of israel, emphasize its right to defend its citizens, and our determination to make sure that they are able to do that. but we also do not want to see the conflict escalated, we don't want to see it spread. amy: lebanon is calling for an international probe into the attack and iran warned israel against using the attack in majdal shams as a pretext for "any new adventure towards lebanon." for more, we're joined in boston by rami khouri, palestinian american journalist and a senior public policy fellow at the american university of beirut. he's also a non-resident senior fellow at the arab center - washington. welcome back. talk about the significance of

this attack, where it took place, and who died. >> the significance of it is that it hit a druze village in the israeli-occupied syrian golan heights which has not been an arena for battle between lebanese, palestinians, israelis. the druze have stayed out of the conflict. lebanese druze are supporting the palestinians, but those in the occupied golan are pretty much on their own. druze in israel since 1948 have become citizens. this is a bit unusual. 12 youth playing soccer, killed all at once, is dramatic for anyone in the world. the facts of the attacks are a little bit more dramatic, but

not much more dramatic than anything that has happened in gaza over the last 8, 9 months, where dozens of kids are killed, babies are beheaded. this is a problem that we have had since the beginning of the arab-israeli conflict, the imbalance, looking at the suffering of israelis, suffering of palestinians, arabs, and you see it in this situation. the tragedy of young people dying is a universal tragedy. there is no difference between them, as the person you said, quoted. but we still have a problem with the political and military confrontation. israel wants to assert its military strength, that it has power, that it will use it. the americans stressed israel's right to self-defense, not anyone else's right to self-defense. this is a deep structural

conflict that have been going on for over half a century. and it will continue going on with incidents like this intermittently flaring up. but these deaths happen on an almost daily basis when israel attacked lebanon, kills kids, certainly in gaza. it's a challenge for everyone including the news media to really cover it accurately. many in the media are not saying that the golan is syrian territory annexed by israel. some of them are now. there are a series of different dimensions to this situation that are fascinating. the last thing, the israelis, the defense minister with the usual bravado, saying we will hit them hard, they will learn a lesson, etc. this is standard operating procedure for israelis that rely on the military strength more than political engagement, or

trying to dispense justice to all sides. militarism is not a solution, it's a part of the problem. the israelis will not make a big attack on lebanon because they are worried hezbollah can hurt them really badly given their technological prowess, determination, which is far greater than anything israel has experienced. amy: axios reports that hezbollah officials have told that you and that the deaths were caused by an israeli interceptor projectile. aren't there also a lebanon-israel peace deal negotiated, and then you have these israel-palestine negotiations going on in rome. how will this affect them, do you think this could lead to a wider regional war? >> i still don't think that a

wider regional war will come. we have not had a wider regional war since probably 1973, and that was not the whole region. a wider regional war is not in the cards because it will only lead to wider regional mass suffering, mostly by civilians, infrastructure destruction. already you've had tens of thousands of israelis leaving israel, more trying to get out, staying in lebanon and other places. regional war is not in the cards. it could happen accidentally, and this is one of the scary things. this may have been an accident. nobody in their right mind would deliberately attack children playing soccer. well, the israeli do that all the time in gaza, but they are not in their right mind when dealing with palestinians. they are fanatics. but most normal people would not attack children playing

soccer. it would seem this is an accident, whether it came from an israeli shell or lebanese shell, the five or six groups in lebanon that have artillery. we will find out. but the danger is always there, an accident could spark a bigger confrontation. but the most dynamic sector in the past two days has been american and other diplomats in overdrive trying to calm things down, which has been a tradition of american diplomacy, but also one of its greatest failures. all they do is tell people to calm down, be easy, proportional response, don't let this expand, but at the same time, they keep feeding israel with its military means it needs to keep the situation tense, including constant military changes, especially hezbollah and israel.

this reminds us the whole conflict with hezbollah, iran, israel, has not worked very well . there has been no serious diplomacy that tries to address the underlying causes. they are all resolvable. these are man-made, women-made issues that can be resolved by human beings. both the united states is not able to mediate impartially except on a few technical issues here and there like oil assistance, things like that, but on issues dear to zionism, which wants to other -- assert itself in the region, the u.s. is on that side. this is one of the problems we have. amy: rami khouri, thank you for being with us. so much to talk about. palestinian american journalist and a senior public policy

fellow at the american university of beirut. he's also a non-resident senior fellow at the arab center - washington. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]