of reckless and cruel cuts to health care, education, housing, basic food assistance and more. all while funneling billions to a xenophobic boarder wall. congress must and will reject it." well, for more, we go to rochester, new york, where we're joined by journalist david cay johnston. winner of a pulitzer prize for his reporting. david, welcome back to democracy now! can you talk about the significance of this almostdented budget with $50 billion or so going to nuclear weapons, more nuclear weapons with the border wall $2 billion, and these devastating cuts to medicaid and food stamps? want endless wars , dirty air, and you think that the poor and hungry in america are getting too good of a deal, this is a budget for you. that is exactly what this budget is about. donald trump in his inaugural address that he would be the

champion of the forgotten man. everything he did would be about the forgotten man. well, you forgot about thehe forgottenn man as soon as s he walked off thehe dais. in this budget to proposes not only all of this additional money for nuclear weapons and for the border wall, but he wants to cut the environmental protection agency's budget by more than one fourth. he wants to cut the budget of the army corps of engineers by more than one fit. and that matters because the daikon levee system that was built in the united states is the heartland of the country and many of the dams and other facilities that the army corps is responsible for is falling apart anand proving inadequate because of climate disruption with these massive floods along these daikon s systems to cut te budget for that is just nuts unless you want, of course, again informing and large part of the center of the united states.

going after food assistance is absolutely displaying what is really going on here. donald trump said he was going to drain the swamp. he has turned washington into a paradise for the wall street swamp monsters that he told voters he was going after. it is clear his idea of draining the swamp is getting rid of hard-working serious people who are trying to make america better, and replacing them with people who want to mind the economy and extract money from those down below because lots of billionaires feel they don't have enough money. juan: david, i want to ask about the tax cut proposal of trump's. we are seeing this movie repeatedly now over the last 50, 60 years of american history, the reagan administration cut taxes and created massive deficits that then when bill clinton finally came in office, he was immediately hit -- yet to do something about the deficit. then when george ew bush was in

office, he cut the taxes dramatically and we had the financial meltdown that led to president obama came in having again to deal with this massive deficit, now we're seeing trump -- the trump administration, the current republicans in congress, during the same thing. now he wants to extend certain tax cuts in his proposal. could you talk about that? >> what trump is proposing to do is provide a little sop to middle-class families by increasing the child tax credit, extending it into the future when it is scheduled to expire. but continuing his fundamental policy, whicich is massive tax cuts for people at the very top. people with multimillion dollar annual incomes. househoholdsnd 1000 have incncomes of over $2 millin a year. we have people in america like mike bloomberg who make multiple billions of annual income. and he is proposing that we can afford all of this because he is projecting what my children

referred to as happy go magic land thinking about the budget. each year that trump has been in office, three years he has been in office, economic growth has gone from here to here to hear. it is slowing down. but he projects it is going to go like this, which is just not going to happen. nobody believes that. but i claiming it will go like this, he says the federal budget deficit, roughly $1 trillion a year now, member, trump told us he would pay off the federal doesif you got eight years by projecting this economic growth that nobody sees happening and when it is actually declining, he is able to argue the federal good -- budget deficit wilill go down, l of the p projections show they will go like this but everybody outside the administration. so as my children said when they were little, happy go magic land thinking. amy: let's turn to president trump speaking monday about increasing spending on nuclear

weapons. pres. trump: and we are taking good care of our military. we are increreasing spending on our nuclear progogram because we have no chchoice because of what china is d doing, what russia is doing inin particular. so we have a very big nunumber n for that. at the same time, rusussia and china b both want to negotiate with us to stop this craziness of spending billilions and billions of dollars on nuclear weapons. but the only way, until we have that agreement, the only thing i can do is create i far the strongest nucleaear force anywhe in the world, which as you know, over the last three years we much upgraded our nuclear. we have the superfast missiles, tremendous number of the superfast. we call ththem superfast. amy: david cay johnston? in spaceis just out year. this is like a lot of things that donald says in the 32 years almost that i have known him. he just make s stuff up. while there are little pieces of truth in there, this is just all nonsnsense.

we have more than enough nuclear capacity to kill everybody in the planet r repeatedly. we have more than enough for mutually assured instruction, which goes by the acronym mad because it is meaningful, and this is trump simply not understanding the world. the man has no real capacity to understand things posted he claims to be the world's greatest expert on at least 23 subjects. but as various people in the white house have leaked out, when asked something, he turns out to know absolutely nothing. by the way, he is very well. in a new hbo show called "avenue five," a takeoff on trump's claim he could shoot somebody on fifth avenue and nothing would happen to him. amy: he has also promised, as he cuts food support children, $18 billion for a new space force. >> yeah, do we want to militarize space? this is an incredibly nutty

idea. we have the united states air force t that is perfectly capabe of dealing with our programs, along with nasa. if we e want to spend more money to go explore the heavens, i personally am in favor of that. it has a cost to it, though, and you have to bear the cost. what trump wants to do is a free lunch. he wants to s say the richest people in americica, we will lor your taxes, the big corporations turn huge profits and pay no taxes, and then we are going to spend all of this additional money on things which are discscretionary stop we can chce to d do them or not do them. and at the same time, we are to say to children and families that are going to food pantries and food kitchens constantly, you know, you have got too much. it is really a remarkable position. it is very clear the republican party y policies that donanald p is reflecting herere boil down o this -- the reason the american

economy is not doing better is the rich don't have enough in the way to get more to the rich is to take it from the p poor, e didisabled, from children, from the elderly. that is, from those people who have little capacity to fight back. juan: this whole issue of once again the president attempting to cut this program that provides loan forgiveness for people who do public service after they graduate from m colle -- i mean, the program had lots of criticism about how difficult it is, even as it exists right now for folks to qualify, but this idea of cutting the ability to reduce their student debt if they do government service is the exact opposite of what several of the democratic candidate, bernie sanders, elizabethwarren, and others, are saying about forgiving student debt and trying to find a way to get young people out among the lifetime of servitude to their student loans. >> i know people who have lots of gray in theirir hair who are

still paying off their student loans. i was lucky enough to go to college when it was free. in $2020 to go to college baback in the 1960's. the real debate we need to be having is what level of education do we need to have to have a stable and prosperous society? if it is only an eighth-grade education, then let's get rid of high school. if it is college as the norm in graduate school for lots of people, then let's invest in that. education is an investment in the future of the country. what trump is really doing is not only helping the bankers who he told everyone he was going to rain and and has never done that, but he is also telling us don't think about the future. think about right now. what you need is more now. never mind what is going to have and your children, your grandchildren if you are my age. let's focus on right now. and this is not a policy to make our democracy and work. of course, i said many times, donald trump does not want our

democracy to endure. he wants to be king donald and he what's his daughter to become empress. amy: we will continue to cover this as a ghost to congress. david cay johnston, pulitzer prize-winning investigative reporter previously with "the new york times," now founder and editor of dcreport.org. his recent piece is headlined "trump's ho-hum economy in three graphs." he teaches at syracuse university college of law. his most recent book "it's even , worse than you think: what the trump administration is doing to america." when we come back,k, we go to nw hampshire. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy:y: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. juan: polls have opened in new hampshire for the first primary of the election season. the vote comes eight days after the still disputed iowa caucus where both senator bernie sanders and former south bend mayor pete buttigieg claimed

victory. both candidates have asked for a partial recanvass of the results. on monday night, sanders of vermont held a massive rally and concert at the university of new hampshire in durham attended by over 7000 people. me why wernout tells are going to win here in new hampshire. while we are going to win the , and whyc nomination we are going to defeat the most dangerous president in the modern history of america donald trump. and the reason that we are going to win is the american people, no matter what their political views may be, are sick and tired of a president who is a , who isical liar

running a corrupt administration , who is a bully and a , who is a person xenophobe, at, a bmophobe, and a religious igot. and those are his nice qualities. amy: president trump also held a major rally in manchester as southern new hampshire university monday. the crowd was estimated around 11,000 people. meanwhile, democratic senator amy klobuchar of minnesota campaign in nashua. in recent days, , she has picked up the endorsements of three significant newspapers in new hampshire. >> if you are struggling to pay for that child care for your kids and choose between that and the long-term care for your parents, i know you and i will

fight for you. and if you are struggling to decide between filling your refrigerator and filling the prescription drug, i know you and i will fight for you. that is that sacred trust in this country. juan: senator elizabeth warren campaigned in portsmouth, new hampshire, on monday. >> our democracy hangs in the balance. so it comes to you, new hampshire, to decide. when there is this much fear, when there is this much on the line, do we crouch down, do we cower, do we back up? or do we fight back? me, i am fighting back. i am fighting back. amy: to talk about today's primary in new hampshire, we are joined by three guests. arnie arnesen is a longtime radio and tv host in new hampshire. she is the host of "the attitude" on wnhn-fm in concord,

new hampshire. she is a former new hampshire legislator and democratic gubernatorial candidate in the 1992 elections. she is in manchester, new hamsher, as is norm solomon, co-founder and natational coordinator of rootsaction.org which is supporting bernie sanders. and here in new york is the artist, writer, and activist molly crabapple, who recently published a series of sketches from her time on the campaign trail with bernie sanders in iowa and new hampshire. we welcome you all to democracy now! arnie arnesen, you were our first guest 24 yeyears ago leadg up to the new hampshire primary. was thetime, it reelection of president clinton. but right now you are in the thick of it. why don't you describe what is happening in new hampshire. you are in manchester or president trump held a rally of some 11,000 people last night.

right nearby, bernie sanders was in durham at the university of you hamsher.e >> what donald trump does is what he does come a performance artist and she. he knew to come right into the center of this election in order to make sure that he was the attention and that we were not. i think he was not successful, amy. i do think there is going to be a huge turnout today and i think in some ways the reason why there needs to be an even bigger turnout is because of the disappointment and iowa. it is not just the chaos in iowa, ththey predicted t there d be a a huge spike in youth turnout. he did not even come close. i think to a large number of people, that is terrifying. not only the chaos, but the fact there was not that level of enthusiasm given the fact that now the opposition is donald trump. it is not whether it is of

barack obama on stage or someone who floats your boat come it is that we do have the tyrant in chief and now more than ever we need to show up, we neneed to exexercise. we need to participate. i think you will see a huge turnout here. i am praying you see a huge turnout with young people. that is always been bernie's calling card. he can expand the base. i know every young person that i possibly know and nobody is doing anything but supporting bernie, which i think is really exciting. i am a little bit worried, though. and that is there is a lot of anxiety and fear and anger going into this campaign. thise are still undecideded morning, amy. they are undecided this morning. i have never seen the electorate so fluid. and here is my fear. my fear is that when you are undecided and when you are frightened, what you saw happen in dixville notch could happen today. and that is we use a pencil and

new hampshire. that is our technology. not only do you have to fill in little circles, you can write in names. although michael bloomberg would be our benevolent despot leader is not running in new hampshire, let me remind everyone, not only is he buying ads in all the states, but the super tuesday states are what? nasa choose its and vermont. what do we know about new hampshire? a long slender state. we are massachusetts and vermont. so all of those ads have also been appearing here. and d because people are so afrd and don't know where to go, he becomes the convenient pond. if i'm in decided, where do i go -- if i'm undecided, where do i go? you seated your voice. you seeded your choice. and you say to the billionaire, not a problem. take care of me. that is not what democracy does i'm going to tell you right now, watch that because he was -- i suspect what happened in dixville notch was happening

because he is so brilliant. just identify people and talk them through it and what you get? get free media on top of his billions of dollars. ism warning people that this isy, but it is not easy, but it is not democratic. you have to make a choice. juan: i want to ask you about the fact in this primary, independents and republicans can vote as well. the impact that might have on final tally for all of the

candidates? >> that is not correct. here's the deal.

agenda. it is about trump. juan: i want to ask about the turnout. i will was disappointing in terms of the expectations to the degree of enthusiasm that many of the organizers expected. what is your sense or how this particular vote will occur today , especially the issue of turnout? >> what i saw yesterday, for instance, i've been to close to a dozen candidate events in the last week or so. yesterday i went to one that was for biden and the biggest here in manchester. if joe biden had not been responsible for so many deaths of so many people in iraq and

have almost felt sorry for him because the turnout was so scant. you had this feeling of a campaign falling many deaths of so many people in iraq and elsewhere for supporting war, supporting a neoliberal agenda, i would apart for joe biden. town, was out in a small franklin pierce university come elsewhere in the state. bernie just rocked the house with a multicultural young audience of students. and it was powerful stuff he was talking about climate. he was talking about student debt. you could feel the emergence of a new consciousness, if you will, among a new generation. so there was this sort of transcendent feeling in the room. then last night i went to exeter high school, a public high scschool, where pete buttigieg spoke. and it was massive. the turnout was incredibly

large, especially for not a bigg urban area. i would guess 500, 600 cars in the parking lot. a couple thousand people there. and the enthusiasm was there. i think that speaks to t the vectctors of the turnout. the bottom is falling out from the biden campaign. bernie had a very strong base. juiced up by corporate media that are not looking at the content of what buttigieg is putting forward. there's a tremendous amount of hype that is catching on, at least in this state in terms of the grassroots or some of the grassroots for buttigieg. i think it is very important for not only progressives, but others, wherever you are coming from politically, to see that what buttigieg is doing is swinging to the corporate center. he has done it all year. but in the last three days, he has emerged as a technocratic spokesperson for austerity. he is an austerity technocrat.

he is speaking for back to the future, obsession with deficit, cutting into the potential for anything like a green new deal. and that is part of the choice that is in front of the voters today. amy: i want to ask you, norman. is media coverage nationally just astoundingly, the corporate media -- i'm not talking about fox. i'm talking about msnbc and cnn. so anti-bernie it is remarkable. yesterday i think one of the --mentators use the term bernie has flatlined at number one, they say. flatlined at number one. i was trying to say, how do you say number one and a negative way? amy klobuchar is really risen in the polls something like 4% to 7%. and they talk about the amy surge. i am just wondering, today on msnbc in the morning there

manchester, trump had just spoken there was bernie at a rally of 7500 people, at the six people and their little circle, not have been to bernie sanders event last night, which was not far away, but they had been many different places. as john was talking about very significantly, 7500 people at bernie's rally last night, mika brzezinski said, yeah, but who knows if any of them are from here -- or something like that. from new hampshire. and this is a clip of msnbc's chuck todd. >> i went to bring up something that j jonathan last put in the bulwark today, about how we have all been on the receiving end of the bernie on t the brigade. he said, no other candidate has anything like e this sort of didigital round brigagade excepr donald t trump was of questionoo one isis asking is this, what if you can't when the presesidency without an online mob? what if we now live in a world where having a b bullying ag social mededia army running arod

pumping anyone who sticks their head up as either an important ingredient for or a critical marker a success? rally around here. there are people coming from three or four states on that. that is real. thisis is like b bernie. >> that is a really depressing sentence you just read. amy: norman solomon, if you could respond? >> i would boil it down to a five-year corporate media salt on ash assault on bernie sanders. there was a notorious one day document it on the eve of the pivotal michigan primary and 2016 where the newspaper owned by the richest person in the world, jeff bezos, washington post published 16 negative articles about bernie sanders in 16 hours. and that pattern has continued.

what we have seen in recent weeks as bernie's strength has risen is an escalation of the war onbernie -- not 100% bernie, but the vast preponderance of coverage from corporate media. peopople need to remember that f you, for instance, don't trust comcast, why would you trust a network that is owned by comcast? these are class interesting worked out where the top strata hiresership and investors the co, hires the reporters, and so what we are saying, not to be rhetorical, but we really are seeing a class were underway. bernie sanders is very clear about who he aligns with. he aligns with working people. he aligns with the elderly. he aligns with children who need -- and before that, neonatal care and nutrition one to five. he is fighting for those who suffer from lack of power.

he is fighting against those who have too much power. so the net effect is, it is not only the democrat national commitittee that bernie is up against. i think even more significantly, the bernie sanders campaign, which now i think truly is a movement for a constellation of movements, the bernie sanders campaign is up against the oligarchy. and that oligarchy's biggest and strongest arm are the corporate media outlets. amy: we're going to gonna break and come back to this discussion. we will be also joined by molly crabapple. arnesen and norman solomon are joining us from new hampshire. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. the polls are open right now and new hampshire. the nation's first primary. some are asking why both new hampshire and iowa are the first

primary and caucus given they are two of the why test states statescountry -- whitest in the country. we are joined by molly crabapple, award-winning artist and writer. her art is in the permanent collections of the museum of modern art and the library of congress. her recent piece in the nation magazine is headlined "a sanders campaign sketchbook." of the syrian war." during the break on the tv aspect of our show, we were playing some of your amazing illustrations. molly, you're just returned from being out on the road with bernie sanders in both iowa and new hampshire. talk about the illustrations. this is a perfect example of art and resistance that you have

been drawing. >> it is such an honor to be here. i was on the road with the bernie sanders campaign in iowa a few month ago, and then in new hampshire a few weeks ago. i was doing these illustrations from life packed into these high school gyms, these breweries full of working people like with my sketchbook on my knees trying to not just capture bernie, but also the massive movement behind him. exciting to be there. it is hard to explain. when you're there and when bernie or aoc walks in n the ro, the energy in the room is like nothing i've ever seen. i have drawn a lot of political rallies for a lot of people. it is a super diverse group of people. it is maybe from older people in wheelchair sitting up front to young people involved with sunrise movement. they are so excited. they have so much bite in them. juan: can you respond one particular moment i think of new hampshire when mayor pete buttigieg was called out for his role in over policing and the black community in south bend, your take and your sense of that moment in the rally? >> oh, my god.

someone who during the last democratic debate defended the fact he was locking up my putting black people in cages for marijuana possession by saying he needed to do this to prevent gang slaughter. i can't think of a more racist, ridiculous statement. for you.ayor pete amy: talking about police, let's go to the audio that has just resurfaced of controversial remarks made by former new york city mayor mike bloomberg who is now running for democrat on -- therunning for president on democratic line. i am getting a little mixed up because i am in new york and he was a republican mayor of new york. during a 2015 interview with the aspen institute, bloomberg defended stop and frisk saying "95% of murders, murdered victims fit one mo

you can take the description, xerox had come and pass it to all the cops." murders, murdered victims, fit one mo. you can just take the description, xerox it and pass it to all the cops. they're all minorities. that is true in new york and true virtually in every city. amy: bloomberg went on to defend the over policing of communities of color saying "the way you get the guns out of the kids hands is to throw them up against the wall and frisk them." suedn, mayor bloomberg was for this. hundreds of thousands -- something like three quarters of a million black and brown young people were thrown up against the wall. molly, can you talk about the significance of this? ouren want to ask that of guests in new hampshire. >> mike bloombererg is a bililla

republican who purged the city of the working class, who sold it out to foreign oligarchs, and who terrorized black and latino youth. it is not innocent to stop and frisk people -- this is putting people in cages where people were assaulted, where people were raped, were khalifa browder was so tortured that he was driven to suicide. that is mike bloomberg's legacy and not someone who should be anywhere near the presidency. amy: norman solomon, how much is this being raised in new hampshire? he is a writing candidate, as you described, swamping the country's airwaves with ads. >> bloomberg i think is a subtext. he is the oligarch in waiting to try to grab control of the white house. and a lot of facts are not getting out there. it is a classic and it is a dystopian classic of cannot white house be bought?

just the onslaught of advertising, particularly on tv around the country, and he is rising in the polls. has he hit the ceiling? we don't know. there's a video i think that must be circulated to millions on youtube. that is with michael bloomberg speaking at the 2004 republican national convention vehemently expressing his support and endorsement for the reelection of george w. bush. so how do you go from 2004 with that kind of speech to saying in 2021 to be the democratic presidential nominee? that would require tremendous amnesia among people who vote in democratic primaries stop it would require forgegetting about or discounting thehe human lives that george w. bush destroyed and that bloomberg helped him destroy in a rack and for that matter, the war at home of the class war, the racism that george w. bush embodied through his policies. it comes down to be going to

live in this fantasy world driven by a $55 million man or are we going to get real about humanity and what is at stake? juan: i wanted to ask molly and terms of the work that you did getting out the latino voters in iowa -- most people identify iowa as a largely white state, but there is a significant percentage of latinos in many of the cities of iowa as a result of people being recruited into work in the meatpacking industry in the 1990's and the early 2000's. and to amazing working-class pottery can organizers, we have been organizing latino phone banks where we have been getting people together who speak spanish to call i latino voters. andi we had like 30 people when you use the bernie language

spanish dialer because i have used english dollar a lot, when use the spanish tyler, the level of latinos who support bernie -- amy: explain what you mean by dialer. >> there bernie sanders campaign, i think most of the campaigns it has an interface for phone banking where you can call in and connect with voters. there's one in englishsh but there's also a special one for spanish speaking voters. so what me and david and jasmine did was we organized latinos who speak spanish to call other latinos who speak spanish and we did that right before the caucuses. we saw the incredible, incredible support he was getting for latinos. and this is a really important point i went to make. there has been this ridiculous lie that has been advanced by cable news pendants that people of color don't support bernie. bernie is the most popular

candidate with latinos in america. there were six times as many latinos who caucused for him in iowa as there were two his rival biden. about thisu talk issue of these two whitest states? it is her tradition that has gone on for decades. fascinatingly, the boston globe, which is right next door to new hampshire, has just written in editorial sing this tradition must end. you have two of the whitest states. like 95 percent white. it is not only determining the agenda of the candidates, the issues they are addressing, but it sets the tone leading to goingafter these states, to iowa and new hampshire step you get this image of who a voter is. everywhere on television, older white boater. , asou, too, are calling for

julian castro, though he is now supporting elizabeth warren he ran for president, a change in this order. the factlike -- it -- they are white that it might change, it is the fact that the iowa catastrophe happened, the chaos, and that has provided the crcrack that has that why iowa first. >> i think the entire primary system the way it is structure is ridiculous. i think there should be one day that every single state votes. the person who wins the most states in the vote should get the vote. i think that probablyy if we did not have this ridiculous electoral college system, then the primary system should also just be popular vote for the country. i don't know, one man/one vote, call me notes. and go what do you think? >> the problem with that is come that guarantees a michael bloomberg. and the reason that is is the kind of money and name recognition you would need to win a primary on one day

undermines what needs to happen. look, i understand what iowa and new hampshire should probably not be first. i understand we are one of the widest states, one of the richest, and the second oldest state and nation. oh, my god. if you're looking at the demographic, take this responsibility way for me and reflect the nation. the problem is, if you have a one day primary on the same day than what ultimately happens is that benefits name and money. and it doesn't develop the opportunity of relationships. i would love to see candidates be able to run in smaller states to create that relationship, but we have a couple of things going for us. as citizens united, look at the flooding of money. all of these things have benefited the wealthy. if you have a 50 state primary, then you have guaranteed that they went. that is not what i want. i want the opportunity to evaluate a candidate and let smaller voices rise to the top. that will never happen on a 50 day situation. i want to go back to what we've been talking about.

let's talk about joe biden. a friend of mine watched joe biden the other day and d he sa, this reminded me of a movie "the sixth sense." let's talk about mayor pete. he talalks in lofty terms about turning the page. here's what no one in the media has asked him, what thehell is -- it is a nice line but he gives you no content. he is winning becausese he is charming but he is not giving us anything of substance. that is the difference between bernie and that is the difference between mayor pete. if you want something that will appeal to working people where they trust it and they know daschle and amy: we have to leave it there. , thank you so much . norman