1010/19/20 10/19/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! pres. trump: you have to get your governor to open up your state, ok? >> lock her up1 all up.ump: lock them amy: president trump calls for the locking up of michigan's democratic governor gretchen whitmer st days ter the arrest of 14enen whoere e pa

of a right-wg plot tkikidnap the govern a and te heher hostage. new video shows e e men d trained in tactical ge,, firin assault rifles and taserers. governor w whitmer has accused e presidenent of inspiring terrorists. >> the president is at it again and inspiriring and incentivizig andnciting is kind of domestic trororism y: as thpresidenal caaign ents its fil two to thewwill speak intercept's jeremy scahill about "american mythology," a new seven-partrt audio documentatarn the trump years. >> there's been a tendency for four years to return donald trump someme grarand aberrationf history. and while trumpmp definitely isa dangerous authoritarian desperate in m many ways, a lotf his policies are rooted in those of his predecessor. it is important to set him in the context of history if we what you prevent this from ever

happening again. amy: all that and more, coming up.. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy y goodman. there are over 40 million confirmed cases of covid-19 around the world. the u.s. has topped 8.1 million cases, remaining by far the most infected country, with around 20% of known cases. the u.s. death toll is nearing 220,000. on friday, the u.s. reported around 70,000 new cases, the highest daily total since july. at least 12 states set single-day case records since friday. only two states -- vermont and missouri -- reported significant decreases in reported cases over the past week. in an interview with cbs's "60 minutes," top white house coronavirus task force scientist anthony fauci shared his

reaction when he saw the rose garden ceremony for supreme court nominee amy coney barrett on tv last month. >> were you surprised that president trump got sick? >> absolutely not. i was worried he was going to get sick when i saw him in a completely precarious situation of crowded, no separation between people, and honest nobody wearing a mask. tv, i said,hat on oh, my goodness, nonothing good can come out off that. that has got to be a problem. sure enough, it turned out to be a superspreader event. amy: at around the same time as fauci's interview aired, trump spoke at a campaign rally in carson city, nevada, where he mocked joe biden, warning there would more lockdowns if biden is elected. pres. trump: if i listened totally to the scientists, we would right now a country that would be in a a massive depressn instead of -- we are like a

rocketship. amy: in response, the biden campaign said in a statement -- "donald trump tanked the strong economy he inherited by continually discounting and attacking warnings from the scientific and medical experts working around the clock to save lives. now new coronavirus cases are surging and layoffs are rising." joe biden campaigned in north carolina this weekend. his running mate senator kamala harris is back on the campaign trail and will appear in orlando and jacksonville, florida todad. trump also held rallies in two other coronavirus hot spots over the weekend, michigan and wisconsin, just as state officials reported record-high covid-19 cases. meanwhile, trump's top coronavirus advisor dr. scott atlas, known for pushing a herd immunity strategy, twted this weekend -- "masks work? no." twitter blocked the post are violating a policy on misleading information about covid-19.

down aal judge struck trump rule that would have thrown 700,000 people off food stamps, known as snap, or the supplemental nutrition assistance program, amid the pandemic and record unemployment. an international coronavirus news, russia hit a new high friday with over 15,000 new cases. russia has the fourth highest caseload after the u.s., india, and brazil. cases continue to surge across europe. france enacted a curfew across paris and eight other cities. belgium has closed bars and restaurants nationwide for a month. the british government has given police increased authority to crack down on people who don't self-isolate after getting or being exposed to covid-19. the foreign ministers of austria and belgium have tested positive for covid-19, raisining fears ty may have caught it at a meeting last w week with otherer europen union cocounterparts.

saeb erekat, the secretaryry general of the palesestine liberation organizatation, is in critical condition at an israeli hospital where he is b being treated for covid-19. in michigan, federal prosecutors have released d vide of training exercises caieied ouby a a militia accused t the f off plotting tkikidnapemococrac governor gtctchen itmemer. the videos sw heavilararmed men in taccacal ge firirin assat riflesworking a taser weapon, and talking abo t takin action agastst "gornment thugs.s. the vide were made publi as gornoror wtmer acced prpresidt trtrumof incncing dodomest tererrori during campaign rally in muskegon, michigan, on saturday where trump once again assailed whitmer's response to the coronavirus pandemic and encouraged chants of "lock her up!" pres. trump: and get your schools open.

get your schools open. the schools have to be open, right? >> lock her up! lock her up! lock her up! pres. trump: lock them all up. amy: it was trump's latest attack on michigan's governor -- whom he previously called "gretchen 'half' whitmer" and "that woman from michigan." governor whitmer fired back sunday morning on nbc's "meet the press." >> it is incredibly disturbing that the president of the united statates 10 dadays after a ploto kidnap, put me on trial, and executute me -- 10 days after tt wasn't covered, thehe presidents at it agagain and inspiring and incentivizing and inciting this kindnd odomestic terrorism. amy: lt thursday, police arrest 5 51-ye-oldld wconsinin resident brian higgins on charges he used night-vision

goggles and a dashcam to surveil governor whitmer's vacation home. he was the 14th person arrested in the alleged plot to kidnap whitmer. in utah, federal prosecutors have indicted 21 self-avowed white supremacists on drug and weapons charges. their arrests came days after 24 alleged white supremacist prison gang members in kentucky, mississippi, and texas were indicted on charges of racketeering, illegal firearms trafficking, and murder. separately, the fbi arrested a known white supremacist thursday and charged him with plotting to firebombmb a synagog i in puebl, colorarado. the indictctments come just wees after fbi director chrhristopher wray warned congress that racially motivated violent extremisism is the primary thrht of domestic terrorism in the united states. the united nations is calling on armenia and azerbaijan to respect a russian-brokered ceasefire after both sides accused each other of violating

the truce with indiscriminate attacks that killed civilians. u.n. secretary general antonio guterres pointed to an attack saturday on azerbaijan's second-largest city, ganja, which killed 13 people, including children. armenia said azeri forces fired missiles on civilians in nagorno-karabakh's capital city. kyrgyzststan's parliamement has installeled a new interim president following protests over a disputed parliamentary election that toppled much of the gogovernment earlier this month. until last week, sadyr japarov was serving an 11-year prison term on kidnapping charges he says were trumped up. he will now serve as president and prime minister of kyrgyzstan at the same time -- the first time the central asian nation has had one person in both roles. a new presidential election is tentatively scheduled for january. russian opposition politician alexei navalny is calling out president trump over his refusal to condemn russian president

vladimir putin for allegedly using banned chemical weapons on political opponents. navalny became violently ill on an airplanane in august but survived the ordeal. german scientists have said he was poisoned with the nerve agent novichok. he spoke with cbs's "60 minutes" from berlin, where he's recovering. >> i think it is extremely , ofrtrtant that everyonee course, including and maybe -- the president of the united states, to be very engaged using chemical weapons and of the 20th century. amy: in afghanistan, at least 12 civilians were killed, and over 100 injured after a car bomb exploded outside a police headquarters in central ghor province. fighting between taliban and afghan government forces have displaced tens of thousands of afghans in recent days, with the u.s. also launching airstrikes in helmand province. this comes as intra-afghan peace talks which started over a month

ago in doha appear to be stalling. in thailand, tens of thousands again took to the streets for protests saturday in defiance of a ban on large gatherings and a police craradown on demonstrations. on friday, riot police deployed water cannons laced with a chemical irritant as the youth-led crowds continue to call for democratic reforms and the resignation of the prime minister. rights groroups also conondemnee arrest of proteste a and a journalist on friday. in bolivia, former president evo morales' political party mas is claiming victory in sunday's presidentialal election. exit pollsls show luis arcrce hs over half f the vote, giving him an outright win. if confirmed, will put the socialist party back in power, putting an end to the far-right government which ousted evo morales in november 2019 and is currently led by jeanine añez. protests have rocked bolivia for months now, calling out the

government's use of military and police repression and violence against indigenous communities. in chile, tens of thousands of people took to the streets of santiago sunday to mark the first anniversary of mass protests against neoliberal policies and inequality in the country. police clashed with protesters firing tear gas and water cannons. chile prepares to vote on a referendum that could replace the country's pinochet -your constitution on sunday. this is one of the proststers. >> there's a lot injustice. we hee to keep fighting. weavave no achieved anything a yearas pasd and noing is en achied. that is y we havto keep fighti in this stets. amy: ilebanon,undreds people mched in irut thi weekend mark onyear of .ntigornment ptests firs xic's foer defen

secrary genel salvad cienegos haseen indied in new yorkn chargeof money laundeng and cspiracy distbute dru in the s. fr 2015 to017. cienfuegoss accuseof worki th the btran ley cartel arrest a tortureivals in change f bribes. cienegos haslso longeen acsed of han rightabuses in mexic includi refusinto allow vestigats to intview soldiersho may he been involvedn the 20 disappeance and kely massacre of 43 students from a teachers' college in ayotzinapa, guerrero. general cienfuegos also defended soldiers who were accused of massacring nearly two dozen people in the town of tlatlaya in the state of mexico in 2014. it was arrested at los angeles international airport. he served as defense secretary from 2012 to 2018 under mexican president enrique peña nieto. in pakistan, tens of thousands

of protesters rallied in karachi sunday, seeking the ouster of prime minister imran khan, who they say was installed by the military after a rigged election two years ago. the demonstration was organized by a coalition of opposition groups, who accuse the khan government of mishandling pakistan's economy, as well as cracking down on dissent and the media. a united nations-impososed arms embargo against iran expired sunday, clearing the way for countries like russia and china to sell conventional weapons to iran. that includes tanks, helicopters, and missiles. the expiration came over the objections of the trump administration, which imposed harsh economic sanctions on iran in 2018 after unilaterally pulled out of the iran nuclear deal.. in new zealand, prime minister jacinda ardern has won a second term with her labour party expected to receive an outright majority in parliament. ardern has been widely lauded

for new zealand's response to the coronavirus pandemic. masks and social distancing are no longer required. back in the united states, thousands took part in a number of women's marches across the country in a call to vote out saturday president trump and oppose the nomination and likely confirmation of conservative judge amy coney barrett to the supreme court. here in new york, another rally under the banner "state of emergency" took place in manhattan as the families of breonna taylor and jacob blake joined activists and called on people to vote in the election. this is activist and organizer tamika mallory. about whatis no debate has to be done in these next couple of weeks. the election does not begin on november 3. it ends on november 3. you need to be getting ready to vote right now. amy: in colorado, the cameron

peak fire has become the largest wildfire in the state's history, burning ovover 200,000 acrcres. the calwood fire, which broke out saturday, has forced over 3000 people to evacuate in boulder county. the state ofof colorado is expeririencing drought conditio, wiwith around 60% of the statatn extreme drought conditions or worse. meanwhile, trump reversed course on friday and approved relief funds for the devastating climate change-fueled wildfires in california, which is going through it worst fire season ever recorded. the federal l funds had been refused just hoursrs earlier. over 4 million acres have burned so far in 2020, more than double california's previous record. and the supreme court on friday agreed to expedite the case over trump's attempt to exclude undocumented residents from the census count. the justices will hear arguments

on month before the census november 30, one bureau submits the datata which will dedetermie the allocation of congressional seats aroundnd the country. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. when we come back, as the presidential campaign enters its final two weeks, we will speak with jeremy scahill abobout his new seven part audio documentary series on the last four years called "american mythology." stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "eve of destruction" by casey abrams. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. president trump campaigned in michigan, wisconsin, and nevada over the weekend as he scrambles to pick up more support in critical swing states in the last two closing weeks of the 2020 race. speaking in muskegon, michigan,

on saturday, president trump demanded that michigan governor gretchen whitmer reopen the state. the crowd soon started chanting "lock her up!" trump responded by saying "lock them all up." pres. trump: you have to get your governor to open up your state, ok? and get your schools open. get your schools open. the schools have to be open, right? >> lock her up! lock her up! lock her up! pres. trump: lock them all up. amy: trump's remarks came just came less than two weeks after the fbi and authorities in michigan arrested 13 men with ties to armed right-wing groups,

including six men who allegedly plotted to kidnap michigan governor whitmer and take her hostage. a seventh man waarrested in connecti t to thkidndnapng plot and crgrged on thursday with suspici o of marialal support an act tererrosm. ovover t weeeeke, federa prosecutorrereleas vidideoof training exerceses cared o out by t men acced of plting to kidnap ititmer. the videos show avavily medd men inactical arar firg asultt rififles d a a tase weap. onman n talk about killing "government thugs." >> if this whole thing starts to hahappen, and taking o out a asy [bleep] as i can. every singlone, dude. every single o. amy: governor whitmer appeared on "meet the press." >> it is incredibly d disturbing

that the presidentf f the itited states 10 days a after a plot to kidnap, put me on trial, and execute me -- 10 days after that wawas uncovered, the president s at it again and inspipiring and inincentivizing and inciting ths kind of domestic terrorism. it is wrong. it has got to end. it is dangerous, not just forr e and my family, but for public servants everywhere who are dodoing their jobs andrying to prprotect their fellow a americ. amy: fbi director christher ayay rectly y waed cononess that raclly motivated vient extrism is t primary threat of domestic terrorism. president trump's call to "lock them all up" is part of a pattern where he openly calls for the arrests of h his politil opponents and critics, including democratic presidential nominee joe biden, former president obama, and 2016 presidential candidate hillary clinton.

as the presidential campaign enters its final two weeks, we will s spend the hour looking at these recent developments and the past four years of the trump presidency from his crackdown on immigration to his use of racialized fear mongering and incitement to run the country. we are joined by invesestigative journalist jeremy scahill of the intercept. his podcast intercepted has just released the fourth chapter in a seven-part audio documentary series titled "american mythology: the presidency of donald trump." jeremy scahill is the author of several books, including "blackwater: the rise of the world's most powerful mercenary army" and "dirty wars: the world is a battlefield." also the name of his film. jeremy, welcome back to democracy now! it is great have you with us. we want to talk about a number of the issues you are covering in this conference of document or series you're doing looking at the past four years. but let's start with what

happened this weekend. let's start with once again president trump, this time not saying "liberate michigan," but joining in the chant as the people around him call "lock her up" talking about governor whitmer, who was just the target of a plot to be kidnapped and perhaps lynched? broughght to wisisconsin, whereu grew up, to be tried. talk about what is taking place right now. >> i think what has become very clear over these four years is that donald trump is not an aberration of u.s. history or some anomaly, but he is a very overt representation of any of the absolute most violent, destructive, racist, xenophobic trends in u.s. history. we can talk about the way he has empowered white nationalists,

white e supremacists, encouraged their violence, but i think it is important to set that in broader context of trump being essentially a trojojan horse for the most extreme policies of the republican party. the republican party is one of the most dangerous political bodies on the face of the earth today. focusit is important to on the activities of individual mililitias, the plot against governor whitmer, the use of vehiclcles to try to mururder protesters, we cannot do it at the expense of rick and icing -- recognizing that these arere the unofficial shock troops of what is a long-term republican agenda that has at its sensor white supremacy, anti-worker policies, anti-women policies, and certainly with mike pence in the white house, a r right wing christstian s supreremacist idey that is manifesting itself right now in the court system. what we're seeing is trump using a tactic that was used againstst

black pepeople in this country r centuries where you have these unofficial forces that are doing the lynching and those in power saying, "oh, well, we did not do that. we will rustle up those good old boys and put them on trial" -- if they wowould even do that. there is this next this between the white supremacist unofficial forces come the shock troops of this administration, and then trump cultivating so-called law enforcement as a political class and sort of appealing to the police nationwide to also come out front and center as his racialized shock troops. trained -- can be traced to the three lines of white supremacist politics in official washington as well as the broader racist xenophobic culture inin the united statate. that is what we're seeeeing rigt now, a mananifestation of what donald trump has now made clearr

that the strains of american history are alive, welcome and very, very deadly. amy: last president trump appeared to admit he ordered u.s. marshals to carry out the extrajudicial killing of the antifascist activist michael reinoehl in washington state on september 3. he had been accused of killing a far right activist during a protest in portland. this is trump. pres. trump: we send in the u.s. marshals. took 15 minutes, and it was over. we got them. knew who he was. they did not want to rest in. that ended.s, amy: can respond to this, jeremy? itthere is a word for what appears happenened, and that isa fasascination. it appears to be certainly the way trump is bragging about it -- we don't have all of the details, but donald trump is speaking about this as a political assassination of an american citizen on u.s. soil. it appears they have lied or at

least dramatically misled the public into believing there was some epic shootout that took place. based on the president's own description, it sounds that this was an assassination. i think as we all watch in horror at the kidnappings that have taken place protesters, the murder of unarmed black people in this country, the reigning with vehicleles of police, that again, we are a nation that has long assassinated its own people when they become politically inconvenient or when we consider them to be less than humans uppity. oo we have had civil rights leaders and presidential candidates assassinated. we had a president assassinated in this country. i think this tendency to sort of act as though trump has crossed the rubicon is ahistorical.

trump represents a dark part of the american history that we have never fully reckoned with. we have both parties s in this countrtry have contitinued to empowewer donald trump. the d democrats, fofor all of hr constant harping on trump being the worstt president in histsto, this greatat pride to o democras we knonow it in the e future ofe republic, should be asked, whwhy have you consistently voted t to get this dangerous tyrant,t, as you characterize him, sweeping surveillance powers? the ability to spy on american citizens? you u ink thesee voteses that te democrats are backing in the congress that have to do is surveillance and purely marital relation of law enforcecement -- paramilitary law enforcement, we have a president openly salivating the assassination of an american citizen on u.s. soil? the parts of the executive branch have been so radically broadened, beginning really in the ford administration, but

particularly after 9/11, and when we have a constitutional law professor as president for eight years, instead of moving to radically rain in the powers of the presidency, what was found was obama utilize them himself. now, obama was not running around whacking u.s. citizens on american soil, but he did assassinate citizens overseas coming wooding a 16-year-old american citizen who was never accused of any crime of terrorism, who obama had killed in a drone strike. -- dangers of donald trump i'm not trying to minimize anything about donald trump. i think this is a dangerous, dangerous despot, but if we refuseseto recognize how we got donald trump in the historical context of what he is doing g as president and that it is rooted in american history, if we don't reckon with ththat, then voting donald trump out of office is just o one step. we still have this run system that can be exploited by another

trump or even by a democrat who claims to be hoping and changing, left and right. amy: jeremy, back on the issue of the white supremacist, the michigan attorney general also warned when people talked about them being kind of like keystone cops-esque and we see the video of them practicing shooting, taser rain the terrifying ideas thatat they would not stop at kidnapping her but as they have promised in the past, lynching her. the michigan attorney general said this is just the tip of the iceberg. you have president trump's own fbi, even if christpher wray is not exactly his ally, and the department of homeland security chad wolf coming out this report saying that white supremacists, violent extremists are the

number one domestic terroristic threat in this country, far more threats toational the united states are white supremacists, right wing extremists. clearly, the trump administration, if they have even look at that information, have taken that and said, ok, this is a good thing, let's continue to courage them. donald trump i is doing what authoritariaians throughout hiorory have d done when they ae asked toondemn the violence of unoffici forces. they wilgrudging d do that while e at the same time saying things likike stand downwn and d by -- inin other words, wait and see. but i really want to emphasize that you cannot separate these ite supremacist militia alleged plots to kidnap democric goverrs in this country, fm m the ct that

ump has cultivat law enforcement as aololitic class and has openly and repeatedly enuraged them to act extrajudicial .. to beat people harder. to not specter right. he teatened to sit in the this lita a at thheigightf the black lis matteter protests. trp p encoaged mays anand goveveors to bt them harder in ththe stets. havave pair militared state of -- paramilitary state of law enforcement t this country that ten actss a whit supremacist a, particarly wh facingown ricaamericanor broro people or pele of cor. ift is something that i fear we focus too much on the threat of white supremacist private actors at the expense of recognizing how the taxpayer-funded official forces also serve that same function and with the full backing of the oite house, that we are sort

being misdirected here. this is a systemic problem. the proud boys of the world and the ku klux klans of the world and the militias of the world, they are essentially auxiliary forces for official government forces that often function as effective white supremacist militias, particularly in black communities. amy: did he e have kenosha where they come together, where you have these white vigilantes, in saying they are protecting private property and the authorities there, the law enforcement authorities, are supporting them. then you have kyle rittenhouse -- >> giving them water. amy: in yeah them same, we support them. did he have the 17-year-old, wooden house who opens -- kyle rittenhouse who opens fire and kills two black lives matter activists. --sident trump defense in. defense them. he is not killed by federal authorities as we saw happen in oregon.

>> at these black lives matter protests when these vital so-called counterprotesters show up -- we've seen people fire arrows from crossbows at protesters. we have seen the use of vehicles as illegal or semi-lethal weapon against protesters. more than 100 cases of dividuals using their cars. i believe that last count, eight of them were police officers that actually used vehicles to ram into protesters. donald trump on a domestic level saying sosomeone like kyle rittenhouse, he is misunderstood and he is essentially on n the right side of historory. and he does the same thing abroad. trump has pardoned o outright we criminalals who have committed massacres against civilians are broad. and at home, at his rallies, offered to pay the legal fees of people that beat up protesters. he has encouraged the police to

act with more brutality. he is consistently staking out a position that says if you kill in the name of protecting the real america, white america, then we are going to be there for you. we have your back. that is a very, very frightening, overt manifestation of a w white supremacy that at e core of this country that has never been fulully addressed. it is why we are seeing some light trump able to pull this off. we do not have a true opposition in the form of the democratic party on the legislative level. quite the contrary, if consistently supported some of trump most dangerous tools available to the executive branch. amy: which takes us from racism o xenophobia, particular documentary -- part of your document or series. this begins with you, jeremy scahill. >> from the beginning, metp's approach has been with legal challenges. including on daca and family

separation. while the challenges wind their way through the courts come the trump administration has also developed sophisticated strategy of implementing interlocking changes to undo. recent analysis from the migration policy institute finds the administration has adopted more than 400 changes to immigration rules and regulations. journalist juan gonzalez has written several books dealing with the history of u.s. immigration policy. >> the fascist trade represented by president trump wants to totally reverse immigration policy to instead of saying give me your tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to be free, give me your best educated people who have the most money who can by essentially -- essentially by their way to the united states. amy: that is democracy now! cohost juan bizzell is in jeremy scahill's series "america mythology."

the trump admiministration has succcceeded in essentially pendg asylum in amererica. >> and virtually shut down the southern border for all practical purposes. i think what is important to remember is that trump also, as we just heardhis administtition h tininked withth more than 400 different aspec of immigrati policy. in the most overt orangible way, you are setting thrurules making itbut a ao much more difficult,uch more expense e just run-of-the-mill normalmmigrati produres. what weave seen is this sort ofethodica, surgal operatioto g go thrgh andake li as merable andifficucu as psible focurrent migrantsho arelreadyere, t also pspective immrants, includin childreho a fleeg legimate vience.

by the way, we should mention that many of the countries in central america where people are fleeing from see violence in the countries -- the violence in those countries is largely part of u.s. dirty wars that work waged throughout the 1980's and 1990's and the u.s. support for death squads in civil wars and dictators. that is almost never discussed what we talk about the broader so-called crackdown on immigration. but all of this is the architecture of one of the most vile people to serve in government in modern times, and that is trump's senior advisor stephen miller. this was a kind of pathetic, angry white guy in college who felt the black people and the immigrants were all ruining his opportunities in the world. and d you sort of unleash this unstable, nasty, angry, hateful man with the levers of power to write immigration policy. what we're saying is this very overt racism. i would link this also to the

way that donald trump talks about ilhan omar, the democratic congresswoman from minneapolis who herself was a refugee from somalia. the one handd on chicago as a placeholder to attack black america is sort of viololent people who need to be put in their place, and uses ilhan omar to attack immigran at large but specifilly to say black igrants are the problem. thespeople from solia, they don't even he e a government where she e isrom. en s sheomes h he. ilhan omar is a u.s. citizen she was refugee, flooded country were man people probly see "ack hawkown." the u.s. was deeply involved in the destabilization of the country that she fled. and her story is a classic american one. she left a violent place where she did not have freedom and came to the united states seeking a better life, mobilized and organized herself and became a member of the u.s. house of

representatives, democratically elected. when you look at the broader immigration picture in this country, on the one hand there's the policy. on the other hand, this is a classic authoritarian tactic to tell the "real citizens" of the country that the problem is the dirty, filthy vermin that come in the form ofof the outsider. that is what trump is doing and what despotsts have done throughout history. trump is only the front man for this. bipartisan democratic republic immigration policy for decades has targeted immigrants in a merciless way. bill clinton started this business with expanding the border wall and building fences and propping up paramilitary law enforcement. george bush doubled down on it. barack obama also -- he earned the moniker of the deporter-in-chief from immigrant rights activists because he deported record numbers of people. 3 billion people were deported under barack obama.

the democrats are running joe biden as a candidate, joe biden represents some of the absolute most right-wing aspects of the history of the modern democratic party, including on immigration. now he is saying h he is shiftig someme of that -- i do think the are very clear, tangible ways that joe biden would take away some of the imminent threat democrats, but let's not pretend that donald trump just popped up at all the sudden we have a racist immigration policy. this country has had a racist immigration policy for very long time, and it is bipartisan with republicans being much more vicious, but it has been bipartisan. amy: as you look back, let's not forget thehe word he used as he talked about, and was in order, but s-hole countries, that include african countries as well as haiti in trump's book. and a notification sent by trump administration to congress late last month, the administration proposed denying most refugees from somalia, syria, and yemen

and just this past weekend in the last days, the trump administration put out a press release saying they had arrested 170 "aliens those quote and of course we don't use that word, said they arrested 170 people targeting sanctuary cities. jeremy scahill, we have to go to break. when we want to look at the america mythology documentary that you drop today, that you release today on war. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "it's all over now, baby blue." this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. withe spending the hour intercept cofounder jeremy scahill.l. his podcast has just released the fourth chapter a seven part

documentary series titled "american mythology: the presidency of donald trump" has it focuses on war and looks at how donald trump ran for president in 2016 with a mixed message of attacking the legacy of their right or u.s. military adventurism while simultaneously pledging to commit war crimes and promote imperialism. this is trump denouncing the iraqi war and used it to attack his republican opponents during a presesidential debate in the lead up tohe 201016 election. mr. trump obviously, , the war n iraq is a bid fact mistake. yoyou can takake it anyway you . it t took jejeb bush -- - if you remember, the beginning when he announced for president, took him five days -- s she went bac. itit wasn't a mistake it wawasna mistake. it tooook him five days before s people tolold him whahat to say. he ultimatelely said, it was a mistake. the e war in iraq, w we spent $2

trillion, thousands of lives. iran is taking over iraq with the second largest oil reserves and the world. obviously, it was a mistake. george bush mamade a mistake.. we can make mistakakes. at that one was a bebeauty. we should never have been in iraq. we have destabilize the middle east. amy: in that case, was debating jeb bush, among others. iraqven as he attacked the war, donald trump repeatedly called -- said the u.s. should kill the families of terrorists. this is what he said during a 2015 i interview on n fox news. mrmr. t trump: one ofof the pros that we e have and onene of the rereasons we arere so ineffectcs theyey are tryrying -- they aree usining them m as shields.. we arere fighting g a very polilitically c correct or. take out theirr families. when you getet these terroriris, have t to take out t their fami. they carare about theieir lives, don't kid yoururselves.

you have to take out their families. amy: so by april 2017, just three months into his presidency, trump launched a tomahawk missile attack on syria and retaliation for an alleged chemical weapons attack on civilians. jeremy, say in your series, like have logs -- "like pavlov's dogs, the bipartisan war machine responded accordingly." let's go to some of the media coverage of trump's attack on syria. this is msnbc brian williams referring to a pentagon video of u.s. missiles fired at syria as "beautiful" three times in 30 seconds. -- weinto greater detail see these beautiful pictures at night from the decks of these two u.s. navy vessels in the eastern mediterranean. i am tempted to quote the great leonard coehn. there beautiful pictures of fearsome amendments making what is for them a brief flight over

this airfield. what did they hit? amy: that was msnbc's brian williams. and, this is cnn's fareed zakaria. >> i think donald trump became president of the united states -- i think this was a big moment saidse candidate trump had he would never get involved in the syrian civil war. he told president obama, you cannot do this without the authorization of congress. he seemed unconcerned with global norms. president trump recognize the president of the united states does have to act to enforce international law, does have e o have t this broader moral and political purpose. amy: so that is cnn's fareed zakaria. trump became president that night to the beauty of the weaponons, the bombs falliling n syria. jeremy scahill? >> i will point to at the end of 2019, you hahad more than 180 house democrats vote for a

record shattering military budget for donald trump. only fortysomething democrats opposed it. thanrecord shattering more $22 billion greaterer than any was aera military budget bipartisan product. nothing brings the democrats and republicans together more than a crease missile strike or policy on -- u.s. policy on israel. on foreign policy, the most sordid intensive packs when it comes -- sort of intensive packs have come from when he is tried to move away from work. when trump was trend actually ended the korean war -- yes, he was doing itit in an insane way and i don't cosign any of trump rhetoric, but wouldn't it be come as allan nairn points out, wouldn't it be a great thing for the korean people of the korean war ended? and yet you have democrats goading trump and essentially trying to push him into doing something really insane. on the one hand, trump wanted to

broker this deal with kim jong-un and north korea. on the other hand, he would threaten to wipe north korea off the map entirely. the democrats repeatedly played with fire, particularly when trump said that's get out of the foreign wars. donald trump by all indications it seems like one of their sins why john bolton was ousted as the national security advisor was because he was too belligerent even for donald trump. trump said if he had not gotten rid of john bolton, we would be in world war vi by now. it is important to look at the bigger picture. donald trump is the kind of guy who says we need to murder the families of terrorists. barack obama actually did kill family members of suspected terrorists, including american citizens who were children. they repeatedly double tap drone strikes were they would bomb funerals -- they would hit weddings. yes, it is shocking to hear any american president say the

things that donald trump says, but let's not pretend here like the democrats are doves. bill clilinton initiated the f t -- the longest sustained bombing since vietnam. engaged in regime change, delete economic sanctions, dramatically expanded drone stririke operations, surge troops around the worlrld. i carefully analyze donald trump's war policy, i would say he thus far has proven less murderous than george w. bush and more for were criminal and jimmy carter. amy: explain and explain what this portends for the future. what you feel a possible biden win could mean and what would mean of if trump remains as president? >> when it comes to sort of the current and ongoing wars, joe biden -- what we know about his

time as vice president and as chair of the foreign relations committee, biden trump have some similar ideas about how u.s. war should be waged. joe biden was against -- reportedly against the troop surge that obama did early on in his presidency. biden favored using cia operators and special forces teams to do so called targeted strikes, the kind of antiterrorist operations where you're going in and taking out high-value targets or working with local forces on the ground but with special operations forces going in and then getting out. i would say there are some overlaps between the way trump has approached his afghanistan strategy, for instance, which has been essentially to pull out convtional fces and calate the mass murde escalatthe lling. jobiden much mo of a kind of global -- globally oriented neoliberal who is a major fan of

using very, very brutal economic sanctions mixed with covert operations. joe biden is a very hawkish political figure. and i think he and donald trump on a foreign policy level when it comes to war strategy tactics, i think they have much more in common and the press will let on.n. donald trump has not been in exceptional president when it comes to war policy. almost every single act that people have gasped,, my god, trump did that come you can point to historical analogs. he assassinates generaral qassem soleimani in baghdad in an airstrike. multiple u.s. presidents have attempted to assassinate foreign leaders. bill clinton repeatedly struck presidential palace in iraq. ronald reagan n attempted d to l muammar qaddafi. on and on. you can go back to history through the coups. the reason i bring this up is

wet my great fear is if defeat donald trump and he is no longer president and we preteted that all of these bad things happen as s a result of donaldd trump, then wewe really have not moved forward. yes, we have stanched the bleeding. this is a horrifying administration. but unless we're are willing to take on the fact that our electoral system is bought and paid for by corporation, that the united states is constantly despotics politics to resumes, the belief that we have the right to kill anyone anywhere on the flimsiest of justifications -- if we pretend it was just lawlessness began with donald trump, in a sort of like when obama said we need to look forward not backward and refused to hold any cia torturers accountable. it is the number one w way to assure that torture will happen again. it is the number one way to ensure u.s. militarism a and the

killing of civilians will continue. if you don't recognize the root of the problem most of donald trump is not the problem. donald trump is the product of americanan impererial histstory. amy:y: you talk k about the numr of people that have died. therere's a different kind of battleground now in the u.s. and around the world and it is icu, a hospital bed. it is right now something like close to 220,000 people in the united states, one fiftfth of te death toll of coronavirus in the world right here in the most powerful country on earth. and 1/5 of the infections, something like a million when we surpassed the 40 million mark for infections around the world. jeremy, your parents are both nurses in wisconsin, crucial swing state that recorded its highest number of new coronavirus cases on friday. according to an internal government report, many of wisconsin's 72 counties are now considered sustained covid-19 hot spots.

on saturday, trump rallied in janesville, wisconsin, and said it was time to open up the state for business as usual. your response to what trump has done around the coronavirus with his handpicked advisor, coronavirus advisor dr. scott atlas -- he has pushed aside dr. fauci, tweeting this weekend, which twitter deleted, "masks? nono." >> i don't know how else to describe what trump has done except to say homicidal. it could be even on a liberal level with -- literal level with trump saying he was diagnosed with coronavirus come at walter reed, now he is running a around climimbing is not t infectious.. how w do we know when donald trump's last actual negative test was and has he just been running around spreading this?

is the president of the united states -- we talk about presidents being murderers on a policy level, but this president may actually be killing people. i think that is an metaphor for how this entire thing has unfolded. trump believes as long as he and his people have a good medicall care and they can weather this, it doesn't really matter who dies because at the end of the day, the point is to stick it to the democrats and maintain power. this is also a very racist response. out thewas just wiping kind of f trump family or his inner circle instead of disproportionately affecting blacack and brownwn and poor pee and in this country, i think we would see even a greater level of o outrage at this administration. my mom has a very seriousus lung condition. i think k she rightly blames president trtrump becacause she can't set foot outside her house.

she can'n't see her r grandchil. i thihink that is a b big motivg factor for people, particularly older people,e, who are increasingngly sayining they spt joe biden as they recognize it did not have to be this way. to me, it is really an indication of the kind of presidency this has been. it is often one huge rift. one huge scam. i think perhaps the most long term danger - -- the short-term crisis is unconscionable, the number of people that have been killed and made it sick because of incompetence. levevel, if joerm biden wins and becomes president and we don't reckon without we got here, withoutut donald trump was createded, nurturured in the systemem and able to s seize po, and i i fear for t the future of this countntry because this is e tip of the iceberg seeing someone like trump takake power and bring all of this to the four. i think if we don't reckonon wih history, we are in deep trouble

as a country no matter what happens during these elections. amy: you talk about black lives matter. i want to end with the catholic peace activists in georgia, catholic peace activist catholic nielsen to -- patrick o'neill was sentenced to 14 months in jail friday for breaking into the kings bay naval submarine base in georgia to protest u.s. nuclear weapons policy. he is part o of the kings bay plowshares 7 -- a group of catholic peace activists who entered the base in 2018 armed -- dr. king. >> i set for a long time the greatest dananger the worldd has faced from donald trump is the possible threat of a first-rate nuclear weapon that happens is the result of some tweet that trump does not like from a foreign leader. these catholic peacece activists during the trump administration try to confront that nuclear threat and there was a total media blackout on the action that they did. society,ed in a just

they kings bay plowshares activist trial would have been reported on as one of the most brave confrontations of the most dangerous aspect of this government and particularly this administration. amy: we have to leave it there. jeremy scahill, co-founder of the intercept.

. nine pm at bangkok airport on saturday january the fifth. eighteen year old saudi arabian citizen rough mohammed al kanoon arrives on a flight from kuwait's she's desperate and on the right