2314 - Macron Sabotages NFP; Predicting Harris’s Foreign Policy w/ Cole Stangler, Michael Brenes

The Majority Report with Sam Seder

It’s Hump Day! Emma speaks with Cole Stangler, France-based journalist covering politics, housing, and labor, author of the book Paris Is Not Dead: Surviving Hypergentrification In The City Of Light, to discuss the recent developments after the French elections, and the government's efforts to form a coalition. Then, she speaks with Michael Brenes, historian at Yale, author of the Warfare and Welfare newsletter on SubStack, author of the upcoming book The Rivalry Peril: How Great-Power Competition Threatens Peace And Weakens Democracy, co-authored with Van Jackson, to discuss his recent piece in the Boston Review entitled "The Harris Doctrine." First, Emma runs through updates on Jack Smith’s newest indictment, Harris’ first sitdown interview as Democratic candidate for President, GOP struggles in Georgia and North Carolina, Larry Hogan’s gains in Maryland, the Trump campaign, polling, the RFK campaign, Israel’s expansion of their genocidal offensive to the West Bank, Biden’s heavy-handed pier mishap, Meta, and Nassau County’s mask ban, before expanding on Jack Smith’s updated Jan 6 indictment and the response from the Trump campaign. Cole Stangler then dives right into a background on France’s recent snap elections, called by Emmanuel Macron in the face of the rising popularity of the far-right, resulting in a left-wing plurality in parliament unified by their anti-fascist aims, with the Macronist center-right coalition finishing in second and the far-right in third. From here, Stangler walks through Macron’s astonishing decision over the weeks since to take a hardline stance on refusing to name a left-wing prime minister or allowing the establishment of a left-wing government, taking advantage of a lack of constitutional clarity in the period he is allowed to take in naming a successor. After expanding on how this maneuver is ideologically consistent with Macron’s politics, Cole explores the overwhelmingly (and unsurprisingly) negative – but productive – response from the French left, unpacking their plan for pushing Macron to fulfill his constitutional duties, before wrapping up with an assessment of what Macron’s failure to name a new PM means for the immediate-future of French governance. Emma is then joined by Michael Brenes, who jumps right into the central parallels in his comparison between the infamous Henry Kissinger and Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, touching on their expansive roles in administrations pushing foreign policy projects to maintain and strengthen American primacy with little-to-no moral limit, and walking through the particular role Sullivan has played in advancing Joe Biden’s hyper-Zionist agenda despite overwhelming public disapproval. Shifting focus, Brenes then looks to Harris’ recently named National Security Advisory, Philip Gordon, unpacking his record as Middle East coordinator in Obama’s second administration, including his objections to US interventionism and regime change, stance on Israeli apartheid and Palestinian self-determination, and role in advancing the Iran deal, despite Israel’s objections. After expanding on some more problematic (if predictable) elements of Gordon’s background, Michael parses through the lines between Harris’ critique of Biden’s approach to Israel’s genocide and real signs of a differing agenda, and why Biden’s failures offer important lessons in the contradictions of US primacy and imperialism.

And in the Fun Half: Emma is joined by RM Brown as they watch Trump call on the Lord to come down and count ballots in California, parse through Tulsi Gabbard’s not-so-shocking endorsement of Donald Trump, and listen to Glenn Beck unpack the American Oligarchy. PBD gets some valuable ‘tainment out of Brett Weinstein’s cuckoldry at the hands of Elon Musk, and a West Bank settler unpacks colonialism’s bad rap, plus, your IMs!

Follow Cole on Twitter here: https://x.com/ColeStangler

Find Cole's book "Paris Is Not Dead" here: https://thenewpress.com/books/paris-not-dead

Check out Cole's most recent piece in Novara Media here!: https://novaramedia.com/2024/08/28/macron-is-making-a-joke-of-frances-electorate/

Follow Michael on Twitter here: https://x.com/mbrenes1

Check out "Warfare and Welfare" here: https://michaelbrenes.substack.com/

Check out Michael's piece in the Boston Review here: https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/the-harris-doctrine/

Find out more about "The Rivalry Peril" here: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300272895/the-rivalry-peril/

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