Naming names to hold feet to the fire

My latest writing prompted a wide-ranging discussion with Katie Halper & Aaron Mate

Earlier this month, I wrote about the transition in the House and what progressives could learn from populists in the GOP who have come to wield greater influence as a result of demonstrating greater assertiveness against their party’s corporate leadership. That article prompted an invitation last week from pundit & comedienne Katie Halper to rejoin Useful Idiots, a weekly program launched in 2019 by Rolling Stone to explore “politics, culture, and the news media.” 

I was grateful for the opportunity to join Katie and her former co-host Matt Taibbi in November 2019 to discuss my campaign for Congress responding to the failure of Democrats to contain a fascist President, in June 2020 to discuss the movement for Black lives and the failure of Democrats to represent it, and again in September 2020 to defend myself against false accusations orchestrated by racist Democrats loyal to Pelosi. This was my first time joining Katie with her new co-host, journalist Aaron Mate.

Our latest interview started by addressing the themes in my latest writing exploring potential lessons for populists in the Democratic party demonstrated by those in the GOP.

To my grateful surprise, our discussion expanded to also include some other topics I’ve covered in previous articles. One was the mounting racism plaguing San Francisco despite its (increasingly undeserved) “progressive” reputation, made painfully visible online through a recent viral demonstration of unapologetic entitlement by a sadly typical San Franciscan.

Shahid Buttar (find me on Substack) @ShahidForChange

Too many San Franciscans ignore the disdain & racism that flourish in our city. Electing Black figureheads does nothing to address them. This video makes visible an attitude towards poverty that has grown sadly pervasive.

Don Salmon @dijoni

This man should be arrested. This is what white supremacist do abuse, homeless, Black people, anti-blackness in San Francisco. Nancy Pelosi Districk. You got a black woman who is the mayor. https://t.co/pGgLDGPuOc

Another theme that Aaron introduced involved patterns among journalists who defer to establishment corruption while amplifying fraudulent ad hominem attacks on voices who challenge it. It’s a topic of which I have grown weary, but as long as it persists, it inflects literally every other issue that may come up for public discussion, so I’m glad that Aaron invited me to share my thoughts.

That discussion about the erosion of journalism—with deference to the establishment and character assassinations targeting its critics serving as opposite sides of a coin—led to a broader conversation about its implications for government. We discussed a sad relationship between governance and political theater that is too often allowed to supplant it, and I named two beneficiaries of the institutional racism widely embraced among San Francisco Democrats who currently serve on our city’s Board of Supervisors: Dean Preston and new Board President Aaron Peskin.

My discussion with Katie & Aaron also offered a chance to preview some themes of a few upcoming articles. One will explore troubling ethics violations and reported racism in the office of Oakland’s new Mayor, Sheng Thao. Her record—exposed by Black journalists and grassroots activists in Oakland—has been widely suppressed by local journalists who appear to be more committed to a feel-good narrative than either public accountability, their own profession’s ethics, or racial justice.

Another will revisit the 2020 “civic lynching” revealed by the San Francisco Bayview in July 2021 to finally expose its various architects, including elected officials, Democratic operatives on both sides of the bay, public relations executives, and journalists from both corporate news outlets and independent outlets whose continuing impunity has enabled this pattern to repeat itself.

Many of these figures have gone on to build careers based on recurring racist accusations punching down and left at grassroots activists who observe their corruption. Having witnessed the continuing failures of journalists from San Francisco to Washington, DC to hold power accountable, I’m writing this continuing series to offer the transparency they have unfortunately resigned.

Feel free to share video of our discussion with friends, especially any who get their news from online videos or may be less inclined to read the analysis that prompted it.

Paid subscribers can access below a collection of articles I’ve written exploring the radical legacy of Dr. Martin Luther, King, Jr. I’ll distribute another post tomorrow offering contemporary context for this year’s commemoration. In the meantime, these can offer a primer on one of our nation’s most prolific and widely celebrated—yet, ironically, still widely unappreciated and unrecognized—voices.

I hope you have a chance this weekend to share the radical legacy of our nation’s most celebrated justice hero. #ReclaimMLK!