Paul Jay says the enablers of this surge in far right populism are the leaders of both major parties and the corporate media

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Story Transcript

PAUL JAY, SENIOR EDITOR, TRNN: Welcome to the Real News Network. I’m Paul Jay.
Donald Trump is not an aberration. He’s the raw and naked face of an economic system that showers speculators with obscene riches and political power. “I use emotion for the many and reserve reason for the few.” That’s a quote attributed to Adolf Hitler. Donald Trump’s not the only actor on the political stage who ascribes to such methods. The enablers of this surging far right populism are the leaders of both major political parties and the corporate media.

Whether it’s the charming smile of leading Democrats or the religious fervor and patriotic zeal of establishment Republicans, they both ensure super confidence for the super-rich. According to an IBS report, the Forbes list of the top 400 American billionaires hold more wealth than the bottom 61% of the nation combined. In the years of the Obama administration the top 1% of the population captured 95% of the post-recession increase in income. It’s a legacy Hillary Clinton defends and promises to continue.

For most people living conditions are more insecure and for many desperate. No wonder some turn to a snake oil salesman because they’re in such pain. It’s obvious that the grown of such inequality managed by the Democratic and Republican Party leaderships has just facilitated conditions for the surge of support for this dangerous caricature. Corporate media focuses on the horse race. A contests they need to better feed their treasuries. They talk about Trump’s temperament and showmanship as he surrounds himself with a dregs of the far political and religious right.

The liberal media mostly ignores the complicity of their own political heroes. Instead they feast on a morbid fascination of Trump’s outrageous racism and xenophobia. They hide the underlying truth. The rise of such a farce as such a serious political force is a sign that the deep decay of the system itself.

Capitalism has lost its dynamism. Too few people own far too much. More profits are generated from parasitical speculation than productive investment. The elites who revel on the deck of the Titanic have next to no interest of the well-being of the majority of people.

From climate disaster to the destructive orgy of under strained finance, the billionaire class and their political minions are not even capable of dealing with threats to the very system that made them so wealthy. It’s the whole of humanity that will pay the price. The ruling elites are dysfunctional. Their answer in times like these has always been war. They’re not fit to rule.
The movements and support of the Sanders campaign and to defend black lives have challenged the politics of the powerful at an unprecedented scale. If a broad front is built that can contest the elites’ control of the political process it could usher in a new phase of the struggle of the American people. The critical front of this fight is against the corporate news media that makes the rule of billionaires seem so reasonable, civilized, and inevitable.

TV news, the gatekeeper of mass consciousness, is critical to the elites’ ability to the maintain control. They can’t wait to write off the Sanders movement. Hoping it fades into the annals of American amnesia. Then corporate media can focus on covering a political race that will add to the $6 billion they reap in political advertising.

If we are to transform this country, we have to break the corporate monopoly on daily video news. We need to speak to the real concerns of workers including those who are susceptible to the big lies of political con artists. We need a global platform to discuss and debate what comes next.

What’s to be done?

That’s why the Real News is sending teams to the RNC and the DNC and we need your help to do it. We plan to go live from the Republican Convention in Cleveland and inside the Democratic Convention in Philadelphia. We’ll give voice to the people in the streets who are fighting for real solutions and of politics independent of the elites. From our studios in Baltimore we’ll provide analysis that goes beyond the facade and reveals the underlying economic and political forces that contend for control of the American state. We’ll continue to strengthen our uncompromising journalism. But we can’t do any of this without you.

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DISCLAIMER: Please note that transcripts for The Real News Network are typed from a recording of the program. TRNN cannot guarantee their complete accuracy.