America learns nothing
The first—and possibly only—debate between Harris and Trump demonstrated why "democracy in America" is a myth
23 years ago today, America woke up to a national tragedy. As disturbing as the news was that Tuesday morning, the still-unfolding legacy of that day has grown catastrophically worse in the decades since the 9/11 attacks. After being glued to the television all day with some friends, my housemate, and another grad student who was crashing on our couch at the time, I shaved my head that night, having discovered during a pilgrimage to Mecca the previous summer that doing so was a ritual way for Muslims to shed our worldly attachments.
A law student’s alarm
My alarm at the time may have been driven by any number of things.
I was in law school at the time, and felt painfully aware that the Supreme Court’s 1944 Korematsu decision upheld indefinite military detention during a time of armed conflict. While the Bush administration had no formal authority to detain civilians outside the criminal legal process, the lack of formal authority didn’t ultimately stop it from hatching a continuing mass surveillance scheme, or launching a torture program in violation of international law.
The Court is responsible for guarding the Constitution, and its abdication in Korematsu effectively invited the Bush administration to consider military detention without trial. Ultimately, the administration did precisely that, while locating its detention facilities offshore in locations including Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib, Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan, and CIA “black sites” located in any number of countries.
I’d also recently watched The Siege, a 1998 film starring Denzel Washington, Annette Bening, and Bruce Willis depicting a horrific government response to terror attacks in the U.S. It was a compelling film even before the 9/11 attacks rendered it more or less prophetic.
As a student studying what passes for law in the U.S., I was aware at the time how precarious our so-called “rights” have always been when challenged by perceived exigency. And as a Muslim Pakistani-American immigrant, I figured—sadly, correctly—that I would likely fit a racial and religious profile.
On the one hand, I felt surprised as the ensuing months unfolded at how relatively slowly Washington responded. On the other hand, I spent the next 20 years fighting that response as it continued to expand beyond domestic surveillance to include executive secrecy, military detention, torture with impunity, and unprompted wars on multiple countries.
Those decades witnessed me chasing a futile dream of guarding constitutional principles from political demagoguery that, during last night’s presidential debate, ensconced itself in the mantle of bipartisan consensus.
Neither Harris nor Trump support peace
Last night’s face-off might be the only time that Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will ever debate each other. Having repeatedly embarrassed himself on national television, Trump has indicated his reluctance to repeat the exercise, and with good reason: he has no business running for the White House in the first place, especially given his multiple impeachments and criminal convictions.
But while any number of observers have sang praise for Vice President Harris in the wake of last night’s debate, most have shied away from observing an elephant in the room: a disturbing imperial consensus uniting her and Trump.
Harris and Trump went so far as to compete over which of them would be more brutally efficient in demonizing immigrants, and which would be more belligerent towards other countries. Neither pledged to guard the principles that once united America before they were casually discarded in the response to the 9/11 terror attacks.
Harris suggested at one point that the war on Gaza started on October 10, 2023—conveniently forgetting the 75 years of military occupation and human rights abuses that preceded it and prompted the events of that day. Both she and Trump would effectively enable Netanyahu’s self-serving genocide to continue.
Harris and Trump differed over where to target their belligerence—Harris would prefer to target Russia, while Trump seems to prefer focusing on China—but a vision of unrestrained American militarism standing above international law outrageously unites them. Neither of them appears willing to champion a rational or humane foreign policy, while both of them insist on demonizing the migrant workers and families responsible for America’s prosperity.
It is disappointing to witness yet again how little this country ever seems to learn from even its own history. While professional journalists continue to fail America, bipartisan fascism continues to consolidate. Meanwhile, voters unwilling to support imperialism enjoy a better option than either of the candidates who debated last night.
Cornel West? 😂 He’s a buffoonish side show who ran a terribly disorganized campaign that’s in line with his messy personal life. He’s an empty sack coat who speaks in riddles. The far left lives in such a bubble that the can’t see what a ridiculous character he is.
“As a debater, [Harris dominated Trump]. As a presidential candidate, she showed why so many warmongering Republicans have been so eager to support her.”
- Caitlin Johnstone