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In Depth Interview: Progressive Activist Norman Solomon Offers Critical Comments on Sanders and Biden Campaigns

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Norman Solomon is an author, columnist and progressive activist who supported Bernie Sanders again this year, and we share candid comments about Bernie and Joe.Solomon is a longtime Democratic organizer, author of War Made Easy, columnist and media critic.  He’s executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy, and a founder of RootsAction.org

In this wide-ranging conversation, we breakdown the major factors–internal and external–that prevented Bernie Sanders from winning the Democratic nomination this year. We discuss the media malpractice by MSNBC, CNN, and the organizers of the debates.  The media often ignored Bernie, except to attack him.

We talk about black voters in the South and Baby Boomer voters in the north who voted against their own interests and ignored Joe Biden’s considerable baggage, especially his history of supporting legislation that clearly hurt the interests of most African Americans.

Solomon takes exception to the charge that Sanders’ exit from the race is a betrayal, because he always said he would support the eventual nominee. He’s critical of Bernie for failing many aspects of a flawed campaign, and expresses fears about Biden’s ability to beat Trump.

Near the end, we discuss the risk of Trump starting a war with Iran, and the misguided bipartisan support for regime change in Venezuela.  Solomon says that, no matter who wins in November, we must be aggressive in blocking either potential military conflict.