Senator Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent and 2016 Democratic primary runner-up, announced today that he is making a second run for president. During the campaign three years ago, he called for "Medicare for all," a $15 minimum wage and tuition-free public colleges, positions that a number of Democrats have taken on as their own in some form or fashion. The 77-year-old says he's running not only to oppose President Donald Trump but to enact progressive ideal like universal healthcare, a $15 minimum wage and student debt reduction. Bernie is forcing folks like Senators Amy Klobuchar and Kamala Harris to define themselves and their polices within his context. Klobuchar has to say where she stands on free college for all and Medicare for all. Harris has to explain why she's not a socialist. He is impacting how the discussion is being framed. When it comes to explaining how these candidates will pay for their programs, Senator Elizabeth Warren has her millionaire tax. It will be interesting to see if the discussion turns to military spending, forcing some of these hawkish Democrats to really move to the left. What impact will this have going forward to 2020?
President Trump spoke to a segment of the Venezuelan community in Miami on Monday, putting an overtly political gloss on his administration's backing of a coup in Venezuela, casting that country's turmoil as a cautionary tale for those who would embrace socialism. "Socialism has so completely ravaged this great country that even the world's largest reserves of oil are no longer enough to keep the lights on," Mr. Trump said. "This will never happen to us." The president seems to be pulling out all stops to rally support for his ill-conceived coup in Venezuela. What are we to make of this?
Republicans have been warning us about voter fraud for a while. The data told us that it was not happening at any statistically significant level. Well, a case has been found, and it involves a Republican candidate. A North Carolina woman is detailing how a voter fraud operation in a controversial Congressional race worked. In the first day of testimony at a state Board of Elections hearing yesterday, Lisa Britt explained how she illegally picked up and falsified absentee ballots in the 9th Congressional District. Britt explained how she would handle unsealed and incomplete ballots. What's going on with this case?
GUESTS:
Garland Nixon — Co-Host of Fault Lines on Sputnik News.
Ariel Gold — National co-director for Codepink. She carries out creative actions for peace and justice in the US and throughout the world. Ariel has been published in The Forward, Huffington Post, Tikkun Magazine and more.
Bob Phillips — Executive director for Common Cause North Carolina, the Raleigh-based chapter of Common Cause, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization dedicated to encouraging citizen participation in democracy.
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