08/08/22 08/08/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> it was horrifying. they targeted the house with five or six rockets. there were body parts on the ground. it was horrifying. amy: at least 44 palestinians in gaza, about one third of them children, have been killed in a three days of an israeli military bard meant. we will go to gaza for the

latest. then to the historic presidential inauguration in colombia of guerrilla fighter gustavo petro. >> promise tthe people to faithfully comply the constitution and the laws of colombia. amy: president gustavo petro ushers in a new political era of the first afro colombian woman to be elected as president. we will go to bogotá to speak with simon mejía about a new project that centers afro colombians who have long faced violence and repression. >> it brings hope to the people, to the underrepresented people of the periphery of of colombia are the ones who voted for gustavo petro, the indigenous communities, the farmers, the

poor people around the country that have been undertaken for years and years. so it is a good sign for change. there is hope in the air. amy: then cpac ended in texas with a speech by former president trump after kicking off at the far right hungarian prime minister viktor orbán who just won a fourth term in office >> rublicans are play a different cave in which -- u have set up a system designed to produce certain results no matter what the vote say. that is how oran wins. amy: we will speak with professor kim lane scheppele. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in gaza, at least 44

palestinians, including 15 children, have been kill in three days of an israeli military bombardment before a ceasefire began on sunday. at least 350 palestinians were wounded. palestinians accused the israeli government of launching the attack in an effort to build political support ahead of november's elections. palestinian children who survived the israeli assault described horrifying situations. this is a nine-year-old girl named leen matar who was rescued -- pulled from the rubble. >> i was at my grandfather's house when suddenly the rubble started to fall on us and we started screaming and the neighbors came to rescue us. we don't want to keep going through this. every year there are strikes, killing children and injuries. i am happy i am alive because i always had a dream to become a doctor and help people in such times, to help them because i have been through many problems like this. amy: israel defended the

bombardment of gaza saying it was a preemptive operation targeting militants with the group islamic jihad. two senior islamic jihad commanders were killed in the attack. during the bombardment, israel also cut off fuel to gaza, leading to black outs across the region. we will go to gaza after headlines. the senate has passed a sweeping $739 billion bill to address the climate crisis, reduce drug costs, and establish a 15% minimum tax for large corporations. vice president kamala harris cast the deciding vote sunday after every republican in the senate voted no. senate majority leader chuck schumer described the legislation as the boldest climate package in u.s. history. >> the senate has passed the most significant bill to fight the climate crisis ever. it is going to make a difference to my grandkids. the world will be a tter pla for my grand children because of what we did today.

and that makes me feel very, very good. amy: many climate groups praised the senate for taking action but said far bolder steps are needed to address the climate emergency. varshini prakash, the founder of the sunrise movement, tweeted -- "this isn't the bill my generation deserves but it is the one we can get. it must pass to give us a fighting chance at a livable world." she went on to write, "youth readers to congress, pass this bill than get back to work." the senate bill aims to cut u.s. carbon emissions by 40%. but it also includes controversial provisions added to win support from west virginia's joe manchin and kyrsten sinema. at manchin's request, the bill will make it easier for the pipeline industry to win approval of new projects, including the proposed mountain valley pipeline in west virginia. the bill could also lead to more drilling on public lands and waters and expand tax credit for fossil, coal, and gas burning plants. the center for biological diversity has described abella's

"climate suicide pact." the insistence of senator sinema, democrats agreed to drop a proposal to raise taxes on private equity and hedge fund firms. the bill will also allow medicare to begin negotiating for some prescription drugs, which could lower prices for millions. but during negotiations over the bill, senate republicans also blocked an effort to place a $35 monthly cap on insulin for most americans. history was made in colombia on sunday when gustavo petro, a former guerrilla, was sworn in as colombia's first leftist -- -- first leftist president. francia márquez mina also made history, becoming colombia's first afro-colombian vice president. petro is a former m-19 guerrilla who went on to serve as senator and mayor of the nation's capital bogotá. márquez mina is a longtime environmental activist, land and water defender. in 2018, she won the goldman environmental prize. during his inaugural address,

president petro vowed to fight inequality and climate change and to push for peace. he also condemned the u.s.-led war on drugs. >> it is time for a new international convention that accepts that the war on drugs has completely failed. that it has killed millions of latin americans, many of them colombians, and at the last four years and 70,000 north americans are dead by overdose each year. from drugs that are not produced in latin america. the war on drugs strengthened mafias can states. and because supporters -- amy: supporters of gustavo and márquez mina celebrated what they saw as a new beginning for colombia which has been ruled by the elite and right-wing forces for generations. this is manuel ponton speaking in bogota. >> it is the beginning of democracy in colombia because it is the first time there will be a government a popular origin.

it is the first time people feel happy about the election of a president and for the first time we feel there is a real transition toward guarantees of civil rights. amy: we will have more on colombia later in the broadcast. tensions remain high in the taiwan strait wherehina has extended its largest-ever military drillin the region following last week's visit to taiwan by u.s. house speaker nancy pelosi. on sunday, china ended live-fire exercises but it is continuing to carry out drills simulating anti-submarine attacks and sea raids. in addition, china has suspended talks with the united states on a number of issues, including the climate crisis, anti-drug efforts, and military relations due to what it called pelosi's "egregious provocations." the international atomic energy agency is warning of a potential nuclear disaster at zapper recheck, europe's largest -- zaporizhzhia, europe's largest nuclear plant. ukraine and russia are accusing

each other of attacking the plant twice since friday. russia, which has occupied the plant since early march, said shelling of the plant by ukrainian forces could have "catastrophic consequences" for europe. ukraine claims it was russian forces that carried out missile strikes on the nuclear power plant perhaps in an effort to disconnect it from ukraine's electrical grid. local residents called for fighting to stop near the plant. >> as city residents, we call on the russian army and the ukrainian armed forces to avoid open fighting in the area and within a 20 kilometer zone around the nuclear power plant. we're talking with the safety of the entire planet, not just the safety of ukraine, belarus, and russia. amy: back in the united states, indiana has adopted a near-total ban on abortions, becoming the first state to approve new laws restricting reproductive rights since the u.s. supreme court struck down roe v. wade in june. on friday, indiana's republican governor signed the abortion ban just minutes after the

republican-dominated senate approved the legislation. it's set to take effect on september 15. the new law outlaws abortions at the moment of conception, with exceptions only in cases of rape, incest, or medical emergency. those providing abortion care face a $10,000 fine and up to six years in prison. the new law has drawn fire from indiana's chamber of commerce and some of the ste's largest employers. on saturday, a spokesperson for for eli lilly condemned the abortion ban and said in response the pharmaceutical giant was looking to expand its operations outside of indiana. in new mexico, police say the shooting death of a south asian immigrant in albuquerque may be linked to the killings of three other muslim men over the past nine months. the body of naeem hussain was found late friday, just hours after he attended the funerals of pakistani immigrants muhammed afzaal hussain and aftab hussein

at the islamic center of new mexico. those two were killed last week in what police called ambush-style shootings. a fourth south asian muslim man, mohammad ahmadi, was killed in november. albuquerque police chief harold medina said saturday the killings are likely related. >> [indiscernible] amy: police haven't named any suspects, but on sunday they released images of a volkswagen named as a vehicle of interest in the killings. on twitter, president biden called the killings horrific and said he was angered and saddened by them. a jury in austin, texas, on friday ordered far-right conspiracy theorist and infowars

host alex jones to pay $45 million in compensatory damages to the parents of a sandy hook shooting victim. that's on top of more than $4 million in punitive damages alex jones was ordered to pay on thursday. for years, jones spread conspiracy theories that the 2012 massacre in newtown, connecticut, was a government hoax and that the sandy hook victims' families were paid actors, resulting in online harassment and death threats for those families. on saturday, u.n. secretary general antonio guterres traveled to hiroshima to mark 77 years since the united states dropped the world's first atomic bomb on the japanese city. guterres warned the risk of nuclear war is rising again. >> the horrors of hiroshima and view at all times, recognizing there's only one solution to the nuclear threat. not to nuclear weapons at all.

amy: and in climate news, california's death valley national park received a year's worth of rainfall within just three hours last friday, triggering flash floods that left about a thousand people temporarily stranded. a sty by the u.n.'s intergovernmental panel on climate change found such monsoon rain events are becoming more intense as a result of the climate crisis. meanwhile, iran has just recorded its hottest-ever temperature in the month of august. on friday, the southwestern city of ahvaz hit 53 degrees celsius, nearly 130 degrees fahrenheit. the heat index was a staggering 142 degrees. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in gaza, at least 44 palestinians, including 15 children, have been killed in three days of israeli military bombardment before a ceasefire began on sunday. at least 350 palestinians were wounded.

palestinians accused the israeli government of launching the attack in an effort to build political support ahead of november's elections. palestinian children who survived the israeli assault described horrifying scenes. this is a nine-year-old girl named leen matar who was rescued from the rubble. >> i was at my grandfather house when suddenly the rubble started to fall on us and we started screaming and the neighbors came to rescue us. we don't want to keep going through this. every year there are strikes, killing children and injuries. i am happy tt i'm alive because i was had a dream to fulfill which is to become a doctor and help people at such times, to help them because i have been through many problems like this. amy: israel defended the bombardment of gaza saying it was a preemptive operation targeting militants with the group islamic jihad. two senior islamic jihad commanders were killed in the attack. during the bombardment israel also cut off fuel to gaza,

leading to black outs across the region. for more we go to guys who do speak with issam adwan palestinian journalist, , a activist, researcher, and new father. welcome back to democracy now! the cease-fire has been declared . can you talk about what has happened or the weekend? >> thank you for hosting me. the scene is terrifying for me as i am a new father. we are expecting happening from israeli even during times of the cease-fire. indicated a violation many times of a cease-fire. the situation is horrifying. we have witnessed 44 palestinians dyi, includg 15 children and sixomen, which represents half of the casualties on the palestinian side.

there are no words to describe the war crimes that have been committed, even when the claims of israeli authorities are targeting military members. this included buildings, killing children and women. amy: can you talk about what started this? >> what started you mention a little in your introduction, cuff supplies during the bombardment. it happened four days before the escalation when the israeli ministration decided to" orders -- to close both orders. when they decided to do that, came along with action to detain senior member of the prg.

with no response by the political parties are in casa, we have added more violence with the targeting of a senior member of the prg in gaza. just to give you a sense of understanding, it has been more of a political person rather than military. amy: can you talk about the two palestinian-islamic jihad leaders who were killed and israel's assertion this was a preemptive attack on a possible attack against israel? >> i don't know how to describe it properly but it included international law especially the humanitarian laws, which prohibit targeting buildings and areas which contain hundreds of civilians. we're talking about gaza that is about 360 kilometers.

how you can possibly target any members of the pr j -- more political persons rather than military. significantly saying they were not a great threat to the israel i administration but following what has been happening inside the israeli administration had of the elections coming in the future, they're using the palestinian to promote the campaign for individual, especially with the decreasing of the public's of work -- public support. amy: talk about the israeli elections coming up in november and how you fe they weigh in here. >> no matter who runs the israel i government, it is always the same, with the same policies, talking about 15 years.

this blockade killed the existence of people living in gaza. there were several individuals with different views and policies -- one goal the palestinians in gaza do not deserve to live a normal life. saying this change inside the israeli government is just a minor change, just an appearance of change of who's leading the government at the policy remains the same thing right-wing or left-wing. amy: now talk about the situation in gaza. what does it mean to have the blackout and the number of casualties, what is the latest figure? we heard 44. more than one third of them children. over 300 people injured. what is happening in the hospitals and how do you get these figures? >> as mentioned, implemented a

closure four days ahead in gaza including blocking the entrance of fuel, which is gaza mainly depends on to run. with the shortage of fuel, it is usually influencing the capacity of the hospitals to treat injuries and to put people in the proper places. this is an indicator of the harsh policies that the israeli administration has benjamin with gaza. i do not know how to describe this because even -- the media mainly focusing on gaza when there hundredsf people dying, hundreds -- there are other times during the blockade people are dying because of poverty.

dying because of lack of job opportunities. that is what the media is electing to cover on the situation in gaza. amy: israel and the palestinian some jihad agree to a cairo -mediated trip after three days of intense rocket attacks by israi forces. >> we have reached a deal and theris an egyptian commitment to release prisoners as soon as possible from the israeli jails. we announced a cease-fire by 11:30 and we welcome the efforts made to end. >> amy: can you talk about egypt's involvement here and where you think this is going at this point? >> ai said before, the cease-fire is never a safe solution for the people of gaza because it moves another tangibles improvement in the situation in gaza of day by day and from a w to war,

especially 2008, 12, 28 and the current one, the infrastrucre usually damaged eqpment, so the solution in the cease-fire that happened between the two sides, there were three conditions revealed from the egyptian mediation, in e process to release two detain in the previous days ahead of the escalation and one who has been on a hunger strike for more than 100 ds and they transferred him to a medical care. those demands are indications of how much the situations worsening day by day. that is what the situation is not improving. people do not feel safe because israel can send a new round of

escalation on valuable targets as they claim despite the fact even the israeli media outlets do not recognize this as in achievement, the killing [indiscernible] they were more a political targets and military. the israeli government keeps bragging about it. amy: is releasing a number of the palestinians killed were killed by the backfiring of palestinian-islamic jihad's own muscles. your response? >> i believe the israeli side used video that shows nothing in the middle of darkness that during the environment of the refue camp, i would say no

clear indication -- we have seen a huge bombardment between 9:00 p.m. and 12:00 p.m. and during these times, more than 12 targets were hit aone camp. no clear identification of whether this -- the israeli side has always undermined the rocket position of the palestinian defense and now they are recognizing this rocket killed seven palestinians. i don't think this makes any sense because israel -- exaggeration to its benefit. amy: you tweeted the cease-fire is never a time to celebrate for gazans but rather a moment to mourn the deaths of innocent civilians killed by the israeli war plane to barely survive

wondering, my going to be next? can we end where we started, you are new father. yet i to month old little girl -- you have a two month old little girl. can you talk about what you see that future is in gaza? >> it is really terrifying thinking about all the years, even before my daughter came into my life, a huge sense of guilt that i brought her in july. it is pessimistic to talk about it but it is part of being alive that i brought a child io situation. i was born in 1993 and that my entire life under occupation. i have been denied majority of my rights including the right to have proper education outside or mitigation in cases of illness. so imagining the situation i placed my daughter -- being a journalist and being exposed hugely to cases of slaughter of

children and women, it keeps echoing in my mind and my heart and is it going to be next? if not me, it could be my daughter. amy: we want to thank you for being with us, palestinian journalist, activist, and researcher come in joining us from gaza. next up we go to colombia where the newly inaugurated president gustavo petro is ushering in a new political era with francia márquez mina. stay witus. ♪♪ [sic brea

amy: "mamita" by bomba estéreo and simón mejía. we will be hearing from in the next segment. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. i know colombia sunday, thousands celebrated the historic inauguration of president gustavo petro and vice president francia márquez mina,

ushering in a new and hopeful political era in the south american nation after centuries of right ring -- right-wing rule. petro is the first leftist to ever govern colombia, while márquez mina is making history as the first afro-colombian woman to be elected vice president. the pair won colombia's presidential runoff election in june with over 50% of the votes. petro is a former member of the guerrilla group m-19, who has vowed to fight against inequity and poverty in colombia, increase taxes on the wealthy, expand social programs, restore peace, and combat the climate crisis by halting new oil extraction and moving away from an economy long dependent on fossil fuels. he's also pledged free public university education and healthcare reform. and reestablishing relations with neighboring venezuela. gustavo petro addressed supporters in bogotá sunday, during his inauguration, where he also denounced thbrutal,

u.s.-backed, so-called war on drugs. >> i will finally unite colombia. we will unite between all of us our beloved colombia. we have to end the divisions that confront us as a people. i do not want two countries. i wonder strong, united -- i want a strong, united colombia. it is our responsibility. we call on all of those o are armed to leave their arms in the haze of the past in exchange for the work as owners of a prosperous but legal economy that puts an end to the backwardness of the region. it is time for a new international convention that accepts the war on drugs has

completely failed. that it has killed a million latin americans, many of them colombians, during the last 40 years and leave 70,000 north americans dead by overdose every year through drugs that are not produced in north america. the war on drugs strengthened mafias and weekend states. amy: that was gustavo petro addressing colombia during his inauguration in bogotá yesterday. the day before on saturday, indigenous leaders from throughout colombia held symbolic inauguration for petro and vice president francia márquez mina in bogotá. márquez is a prominent land and water defender, winner of the 2018 goldman environmental prize who helped organize the women of the community of la toma in colombia's pacific southwest region of cauca to stop illegal gold mining on their ancestral land. despite threats from multinational corporations and paramilitaries, she continued to fight back in defense of the earth.

márquez mina is also former -- is also a lawyer and a former housekeeper. this is márquez mina speaking at the indigenous-led ceremony saturday. >> brothers and sisters, here i am with you, ready to hold your hand and walk alongside this government which will not be easy because we must say here in colombia, we have the most dangerous elite in the region. amy: that was francia márquez mina, the first afro-colombian woman to serve as vice president in colombia's history. just after their election but before the inauguration this weekend, i spoke to simón mejía, founding member of the grammy award-winning colombian band bomba estéreo about a new project that centers the resistance, experiences, and traditions of afro-colombians, people who have long faced violence and repression from right-wing governments and paramilitaries, drug

traffickers, and multinational corporations seeking to exploit sacred natural resources in the land. the project is called bomba estéreo presents, el duende, a musical journey on colombia's pacific coast. we began our conversation speaking about the significance of the election of gustavo petro, a former guerrilla member, and francia márquez mina, an afro-colombian woman and environmentalist, as colombia's vice president. >> it is historical for colombia because colombia has been i will say for centuries, right-oriented in terms of politics. and all the left candidates that we have in recent history that were candidates for presidency were killed. so having this person that was from a very symbolic guerrilla here in colombia that was called

m-19, a left-orientated, choosing h as vice president francia márquez, that is a social and environmental leader, in a country where more environmental and social leaders are killed in the world, is really symbolic. and it's really -- it brings hope, hope to the people, to the underrepresented people of the periphery of colombia, who are the ones that voted for gustavo petro, the afro communities, the indigenous communities, the campesinos, the farmers, the poor people around the country that have been undertaken for years and years. so it's a good time for change. there is hope in the air. we don't know what's going to happen, but the good thing is that there is hope in the air. and i feel when there's hope in the air, there's light at the end of the tunnel.

so we'll see what happens and people are really excited about this. and i think that regarding what's happening to the -- in the world, that you see that everything is turning to the right. having colombia and many other countries in latin america turning to a center, to a left is very symbolic of how this latin america piece of the earth and central america might be really important for the future of politics in the world, especially if we unite as one bloc, not just small countries, but one bloc, protecting our environment and asking for things from the first world countries. amy: i wanted to ask you about the film were featured in in 2020, which follows your journey across the colombian pacific

coast, spending several weeks with afro colombian and indigenous community's who have been on the frontlines of the violence and the killing -- colombia one of the most violent places, lethal places for environmentalists all over the planet. can you talk about what you learned on that journey and what you want to nvey to the world through your music and your research? >> yes. that was a project that we made withn ngo, a north american ngo, environmental. it's a purely environmental film. and we did it with an organization that is called stand for trees. they do these projects all around the world linking forest conservation with carbon credits. so we were invited by them to d the piece of colombia, that was

meant -- that is and happens in the pacific rainforest in colombia. pacific rainforest is a forest almost as important as the amazon jungle for colombia and for the world. it's one of the most biodiverse jungles in the world. it's full of water. it's impressive, full of water. but at the same time, it's one of the most conflicted places in colombia because there's illegal and legal gold mining and there are routes of drug trafficking. i have to say that the drug trafficking is the main problem here in colombia -- not drug trafficking, but i think cocaine being illegal is the engine to all the deaths that we have in mexico and in colombia. so i will have to say also that anyone around the world who buys cocaine is carrying death here in mexico and in colombia.

so if they don't legalize it, the problem will be forever and we'll have death and violence forever in the countries that are involved in this illegal business that should be legal. so this film, it wasn't about drug trafficking. it was about projects, of communitary projects in the pacific, afro -- one afro and one indigenous, that are protecting thousands and millions and millions of hectares of forest in exchange of carbon credits. that's how they finance -- finance, do the work and do their work and protect the jungle. and the objective of the film was just to have a pair -- a musician or an artist to go and show that to the world, know how these communities are protecting forests, that they are key to

climate balance, key to climate change, and key to absorbing all the carbon that is in the atmosphere. so we went there. and as i was a musician, we related it with music. so i was with the communities. we did, like, musical encounters. and in the middle of the musical encounter, we'd talk about the work they do for protecting this forest, the menaces that they have. itas beautiful because it was offering the indigenous community -- they live each by the side, but it was knowing the process behind all this huge and really imptant work that they do, facing real dangers, because protecting forests here in colombia is a dangerous task. and being a social or environmental leader is really dangerous in colombia because they kill them. they kill them. so visualizing this is a way to

show to the world the important -- the thing that they do and how important it is and how important it is to protect these people as well. amy: founding member of the grammy award-winning colombian band. we spoke to him in bogotá. to see the full interview and hear his music, you can go to democracynow.org in both english and spanish. coming up, we go to cpac. stayith us. ♪♪music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. on saturday, cpac wrapped up in dallas with a speech by former president donald trump who outlined plans for republicans as they take control of congress after the midterm election "public safety" and repeating his call for the death penalty for drug dealers. this comes as several republican candidates who supported trump's lie the 2020 president election was stolen won their races in

recent primary elections. one of the booths had people standing on each side of the bars listening to testimony from the january 6 hearings on headsets. brandon was convicted in january for his involvement in the insurrection. cpac's day featured a speech by viktor orbán. he appeared saying the speech week before that europeans "do not want to become peoples of mixed race. he spoke thursday for more than half an hour, drew multiple standing ovations, perhaps the loudest when he was condemning same-sex families. he said a battle is being fought for western civilization. >> you have midterm elections this year. congressional elections.

european parliament elections. these two locations will define the two fronts in the battle being fought for western civilization. today we hold neither of them. yet we need both. you have two years to get ready. amy: on thursday, just before hungarian prime minister viktor orbán address to cpac in texas, democracy now!'s nermeen shaikh and i spoke with kim lane scheppele specializes in the rise and fall of constitutional government focusing on hungary. today we bring you part two of our discussion. she began by talking about the significance of viktor orbán addressing cpac. >> cpac is quitenternational and etc a lot ofhat is going from something called the berals international witches is there are aot of leaders who start as charismatic

populace who get themselves elected and then take this sharp autocratic turn by locking down powers so people can't get rid of them and it turns out that in many cases they are sharing the tools they used to stay in power. since that started happening and orbán i think has modeled genre because he got there first and because he has been packang these little developments for taking over the courts, developing a compliant parliament, shutng down all the independent think tanks, shutting down the independent agencies o government, because he is been so successful at it and keeps appearing to win elections -- and for a long time people thought he was still a democrat -- all of that looks really enticing. so i think what cpac has realized is theimodel for how to do this around the world, that they want to learn from. so they have been learning from orbán, gone to brazil with

bolsonaro, gone to israel where netanyahu has been able to whip up nationalism and keeping themselves in power for a long time and someone. cpac is going international and i think they are learning a lot of things. if i can give you one example of what i think cpac has recently learned or what the conservative movement in the u.s. has learned from orbán, when orbán first came to power, he distrusted the civil service because many people working under the government were not on his team, so to speak. he used the excuse of an imf austerity program which hungary was under to say we need to fire a big chunk of the civil service. so they change the law that protects people who work in civil service from political influence and fired thousands of people who were not associated with their political party. they then reinstated the law under civil service and orbán increase the size of the civil

service from what it had been when he first came to pow, except all the people were his people. have just seen there was a scoop a couple of weeks ago that there now these boot camps training young conservatives of trumpist mode to a neatly and government as soon as the republican is elected and the idea is they will traner a lot of civil servants onto this thing that trump invented in his first term called schedule f which means you reclassify them and suddenly they don't have their job protections anymore. and whoever the republican president is will be able to fire a large number of civil service employees while than hiring a to regular civil service jobs that are protected all of their own people. so you see orbán -- steve bannon has been running gu cams for young conservatives to go in and take over government not just through the political

appointments but to the civil service. that is one of the things orbán pioneered and now they're doing it here. cpac is picking up all of these tricks from autocrats who have managed to install themselves in power forever while still appearing to the outside world -- the debate in the outside world is if it is still a democracy or not. the answer is, no, it hasn't been since 2012 but it has taken a long time for analysts to catch up to it because it looks different than your 20th century dictatorships. amy: i want to ask you as orbán addresses cpac and we are in the midst of these public hearings on the january 6 insurrection, about this christian nationalism , which is increasingly a term that is used here. for white christian nationalism. it is how proximate it is, how close it is to what supremacists

. i'm also thinking of catherine stewards book -- catherine stewart's book. can you talk about how all of thisomes together? >> in this regard, hungary and the u.s. are quite different. hungary is the country in which something like a percent of the population attends religious services regularly. it is just not a religious country. it is a kind of secular individualistic society. that is why orbán's christian democracy appeal strikes primarily for outsiders. it is not really something tha is whipping ulots of religious groupsn hungary. on t other hand, it does whip up nationalism. hungary against the eu, hungary against its historic enemies and someone, and racism -- which is a bipart of orbán's appeal.

no black and brown people, muslim people, etc. the u.s. version imuch more christian-focused, although, it looks to me some of the groups that were behind -- the muscle behind january 6 were not themselves christian organizations. seems to me these right wing been specially have a number of different strands in them, some of which are the religious right that would be all in on banning abortion, for example. some owhich would be all in it for the great replacement theory, which is the black and brown people shall not replace white people as governors of the state where white people have dominated. and some of it is this nationalism of our country first, we're sick of globalization, we are of being dependent, watching our jobs go to other countries, and someone. a mix of those strands in the u.s. and a mix of the anti-globalization strand and

the white nationalism strain in hungy, but the christian democracy has not been the main thing goingn. nermeen:ho is the base for supporting orbán in hungary and the base year for trump? what is the demographic that you have identified? >> so trump's base and orbán's base are sort of rural, less educated voters who feel left behind by globalization. so is the former workinclass, the former farmers who have found themselves in the wake of globalization with far less prosperous lives than ty may otherwise have had. it is a kind of resentment against these global forces. it is also a resentment against the percepti that in the city there are all of these educated people who look down on them and who would mu prefer to mingle with company that doe not look ke them. is that same kind of

basically rural, small town, small city, less well educated, people who don't get out much. it is the people who don't have passports. the people who have never left the country. it is that people don't speak languages. one thing that i think is important to understand about hungary, you can also say about the u.s., people don't speak languages. there was a recent survey that showed something like 12% of hungarians can carry out a conversation in any other leg which was size hungarian. -- language besides hungarian. we have a business problem in the u.s. where we have lots of americans who just don't know what is happening in other parts of the world because they don't have languages, that all travel, don't have passports. so it is the base that thinks home is everything, thinks their local community as everything. they are supporting these kind of right-wing nationalists in part because the right wing

nationalist are saying we don't want those global forces, either. we don't want the strange people coming in to our peaceful little communities in the u.s. with guns butonetheless -- so i think in that sense, the bases are very silar. when you look at these right-wing movements, bolsonaro in brazil,modi in india, look at erdogan in turkey, these are the bases that all are drawn from the rul, small town group that doesn't ever leave their own countries, doesn't get out of their language bubble, their cultural bubbles. and it isn't very well educated. that is what is propping of these leaders. amy: isn't that the case with israel and the united states? they have to turn to, not the young jewish population in the united states, but the christian nationalistss to their most turning to for support in the united states right now. >> exactly.

exactly. the bond between evangelical christian movement and jewish nationalism, zionists in israel, really one of those underreported stories. as young people in the u.s. become -- move more and more to the left, israel is finding young jews not their primary base of support. then you on yahoo! this is a global trend and i think one ason why cpac is looking abroad. i think you he realized this is a global trend, this is something where they can take advantage of the lessons learned from others about how to get power, what kinds of campaigns work, you know,hen oncehey have power, how to keep it. and i think, as much as -- every time the culture war issues come , i also get pretty outraged by what they say jusas a

substantive matter but i also think need not to take our eye off the ball what is going on underneath the surface,hanges the laws that lock in power. in many ways, once you lose the ability to change leaders through free and fair ections, or in a different world. hungary is a few steps ahead of the u.s. on that. amy: i want to go to that issue next, the issue of you following hungary as increasingly authoritarian and if you see united states following suit? i mean, we just came out of a primary where one person after another who ran for office in the republican primaries from arizona to michigan, even those that are running for secretary of state, run the elections are election deniers. >> this is such a familiar

playbook for orbán. the reason why is orbán one thing orbán did as soon as he came to power was he captured election machinery so it was see people counting the votes, his people and all the election commissions and it was his people in the courts. what orbán has shown is if you can control writing the rules and then you can control the courts that hear disputes under ose rules, it doesn't matter how people vote because your rules will overwrite any popular vote. orbán has engineered the super majorities in the hungarian parliament from having less than the majority. one thing orbán and trump share is in the pos, their base is about one third of the public. one third, made up to 40% when having a good day. another trump nor orbán have ever had majority support. so the question is, how do you go on winning elections if you

don't have majority support? the answer is, you fiddle with the rules and if that doesn't work, you thought of account. you put your people in place. th is where, frankly, the democrats don't ink this is really all about turnout and voter suppression. and that was true at one point that that is how rublicans played up by the republicans are playing a totally different game now in which you win or lose elections before anybody ever casts a vote because you have set up a system design to produce a certain result no matt what the votes say. that is how orbán wins and that is what we are moving into and 'm very afraid ac and the trump republican party is borrowing from orbán's playbook. nermeen: just before we end, how would you respond to those who say there are many more checks on power in the u.s. and therefore it can never be quite as concentrated as it is in some

of these countries, brazil to hungary to the other instances -- other countries that you named? >> that is not true anymore. if you think about how you learn civics, the three branches of checks and balances d all that, we have constitutional checks as well as our stem of federalism. they' suppose to -- they work because the officers in those branches are defending the prerogatives otheir branches. so the senate is supposeto defend the prerogatives of the sete, the judiciary is supposed to defend itself, the states are supposed to resist incursions from the federa government. all that -- that is how checks and balances work. all of that falls apart if people are putting party above their institutions. and once you have republican control runng through all of the branches and running down

into the states,ll of those checks and balances disappear. we are now sina senate which has basically decided it will govern by blocki anything the democratic president wants to do, even when it is in the interest of their members. at isomething they would not do if it were defending the senate as opped to defending the party. so essentially what has been happeninnow with e republican party is that it has disabled all othese checks and balances. we still teach students checks and balances are what keeps our democracy afloat. and the fact is, they have already been undermined. so we are a lot closer to dictatorship that i think anyone realizes, and that is because our constitution is not working as it was designed to function. the thing i must say really has been particularly freaked out is that orbán verearly on captured the top court in the system. and once the cots are going to come to bat for you and defend

anythi you do and not say what you're doing i unconstitutional or were they cometely -- with the constitution means through thr decisions, you're living with a captured court. anthat really isomething exemely hard to overcome. unfortunately, in the u.s., we are already there. amy: kim lane scheppele, professor of sociology at princeton university. we spoke to her thursday right before hi gary prime minister viktor orbán addressed cpac. you can see part one of our interview at democracynow.org. one of the booths featured a mock jail cell with a january 6 insurrectionist crying inside the cell as people stood on the others out of the bars listening to testimony from the january 6 hearing on headsets. at one point, republican congressmember marjorie taylor greene went into the cell, got on her knees to pray with a man wearing the orange jumpsuit, as some of the people surrounding the cell side of the lord's

prayer, others throwing money inside. that does it for our show. [captioning made possible by democracy now!] 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. ñcñcñcñc

welcome to nhk newsline. china's military says it is continuing air and maritime drills around taiwan on monday, china conducted four days of military exercises which were scheduled to last until sunday but it's announcement that they will continue is seen as ratcheting up the pressure on taiwan.