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Journalist Michael Tracey joins Scott to talk about Trump’s 2024 campaign. Tracey argues that the anti-establishment credentials of Trump are often overblown, and that when one takes an unemotional look at what a second Trump term is likely to deliver, it’s not anything to get excited about. He and Scott also discuss the campaign of Kamala Harris.

Michael Tracey is a New York-based journalist. You can find his writing on Substack and follow him on Twitter @mtracey

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Roberts and Robers Brokerage Incorporated; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; Libertas Bella; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott.

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Gareth Porter discusses the 1994 Buenos Aires Jewish community center bombing, and in particular the allegation that Hezbollah was behind the attack. Porter has written a piece based on testimony by an Argentinian undercover police officer that paints a different story. Porter’s theory—one that adheres much more closely to historical fact and personal testimony—is that it was really Argentinian neo-Nazis in the police force along with veterans of Argentina’s Dirty War that were responsible for the bombing, exposing anti-semitic trends that had long been simmering in the country. As has often been the case, the story about Iran was simply created in order to deflect blame toward a convenient enemy.

Discussed on the show:

• “How a police spy’s stunning testimony threatens the official US-Israeli AMIA bombing narrative” (The Grayzone)
• Argentina’s Dirty War

Gareth Porter is an investigative historian and journalist on the national security state, and author of Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare. Follow him on Twitter @GarethPorter and listen to Gareth’s previous appearances on the Scott Horton Show.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Listen and Think Audio; TheBumperSticker.com; and LibertyStickers.com.

Donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal, or Bitcoin: 1Ct2FmcGrAGX56RnDtN9HncYghXfvF2GAh.

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Scott talks to Sheldon Richman about the dawning realization that a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians is never going to happen. Although Prime Minister Netanyahu recently backed down from his official plans for annexation of the West Bank, Richman says that for all practical purposes these territories were annexed years ago. And the current military occupation and subjugation of their Palestinian residents is unlikely to change in any meaningful way. Scott and Richman’s hope, echoed by a growing anti-Zionist movement in America, is that by acknowledging the false promise of the two-state solution, Palestinians might someday simply be granted equal rights under a single state.

Discussed on the show:

• “What Social Animals Owe to Each Other” (The Future of Freedom Foundation)
• “Opinion | For Israel and Palestine, Equality in a One-State Solution” (The New York Times)
• “Yavne: A Jewish Case for Equality in Israel-Palestine” (Jewish Currents)
• Beinart’s Final Solution: End Israel as Nation-State of the Jewish People” (Newsweek)
• “The Single-state Solution Is Already Here” (Haaretz)
• “Prophetic Anti-Zionists” (Antiwar.com Original)
• “Finkelstein: Israel will pretend that illegal annexation is a compromise” (The Grayzone)
• Oslo Accords
• Killing Gaza

Sheldon Richman is the executive editor of the Libertarian Institute and the author of Coming to Palestine and America’s Counter-Revolution: The Constitution Revisited. Follow him on Twitter @SheldonRichman.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Listen and Think Audio; TheBumperSticker.com; and LibertyStickers.com.

Donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal, or Bitcoin: 1Ct2FmcGrAGX56RnDtN9HncYghXfvF2GAh.

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Scott talks to Gareth Porter about the idea of a war with Iran. Certain hawkish figures in the U.S. government have been slowly and steadily pushing for such a war for a long time, and have gained even more prominence during the Trump presidency, as he has shown unprecedented support for the Israeli government. Israel’s prominence in the Middle East, says Porter, is of course what the tensions with Iran have always been about; Iran is in no way a threat to the actual interests and safety of Americans—but it is a threat to America and Israel’s aspirations of dominating the Middle East.

Discussed on the show:

• “Russia Secretly Offered Afghan Militants Bounties to Kill U.S. Troops, Intelligence Says” (The New York Times)
• “Long-Planned and Bigger Than Thought: Strike on Iran’s Nuclear Program” (The New York Times)
• “Pompeo and Netanyahu paved a path to war with Iran, and they’re pushing Trump again” (The Grayzone)
• “When the Ayatollah Said No to Nukes” (Foreign Policy)
• “NATO officials were briefed on Russian bounties on US soldiers” (Business Insider)
• “Israel hoping for Iran confrontation before November election: sources” (Business Insider)

Gareth Porter is an investigative historian and journalist on the national security state, and author of Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare. Follow him on Twitter @GarethPorter and listen to Gareth’s previous appearances on the Scott Horton Show.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Listen and Think Audio; TheBumperSticker.com; and LibertyStickers.com.

Donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal, or Bitcoin: 1Ct2FmcGrAGX56RnDtN9HncYghXfvF2GAh.

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Greg Shupak discusses America’s horrible “maximum pressure” sanctions campaign against Syria, and the media’s total willingness to cheer it along. Shupak reminds us that despite what policymakers claim, sanctions really only hurt the regular citizens of a country, particularly the poorest and most vulnerable, while leaving the wealthy and powerful more or less untouched. In theory, say the Madeleine Albright types, if the U.S. and its international allies can exert enough pressure on a country’s populace—meaning making life miserable enough for them—they will rise up and depose their governments. In reality, of course, the results of sanctions can be thousands of civilian deaths and cruel economic hardship for the rest of the population, while almost never achieving the desired result of regime change anyway. Unfortunately, the corporate media seem totally willing to carry water for the sanctions regime, helping to deceive the American people about inexcusable tragedies like Syria.

Discussed on the show:

• “Media Conceal—or Celebrate—Depriving Syrians of Food and Medicine” (FAIR)
• “Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act” (United States Department of State)
• “Syria’s Brutal Dictatorship Suffers a Severe Setback” (Washington Post)
• “Sanctions on Syria Can Help Stop Assad’s Atrocities” (Foreign Policy)
• Humanitarian Impact of Syria-Related Unilateral Restrictive Measures” (United Nations)
• “Syria: ICRC adapts to combat COVID-19” (The Red Crescent)
• “U.S. Hits Assad Family With ‘Caesar Act’ Sanctions” (Wall Street Journal)
• National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020
• “The United States Used Depleted Uranium in Syria” (Foreign Policy)

Greg Shupak teaches media studies at the University of Guelph in Canada. He is the author of The Wrong Story: Palestine, Israel, and the Media. Find him on Twitter @GregShupak.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Listen and Think Audio; TheBumperSticker.com; and LibertyStickers.com.

Donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal, or Bitcoin: 1Ct2FmcGrAGX56RnDtN9HncYghXfvF2GAh.

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Scott talks to Giorgio Cafiero about the devastating catastrophe facing the people of Yemen in the form of the coronavirus pandemic. Cafiero describes the way that a virus—or indeed any natural disaster—has the potential to decimate a country like Yemen, where it’s hard to count on the distribution of even basic necessities like food, water and medicine. To make matters worse, the divided powers in Yemen seem unwilling to temporarily put aside their differences in the name of fighting the pandemic. Scott reminds us that the U.S. has just as much responsibility for this war as Saudi Arabia and the UAE do, and perhaps even more, since the President could end it almost instantly with a phone call. Until the American people decide to make this an important issue, however, things are unlikely to change.

Discussed on the show:

• “COVID-19: Yemen’s ‘unprecedented calamity’” (Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft)
• “The Houthis Are Not Hezbollah” (Foreign Policy)

Giorgio Cafiero is the CEO and founder of Gulf State Analytics, a geopolitical risk consultancy based in Washington, DC. He writes regularly for the Middle East Institute, The National Interest, and LobeLog. Find him on Twitter @GiorgioCafiero.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Listen and Think Audio; TheBumperSticker.com; and LibertyStickers.com.

Donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal, or Bitcoin: 1Ct2FmcGrAGX56RnDtN9HncYghXfvF2GAh.

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Phil Weiss joins the show to discuss what he views as the internal collapse of Zionism, especially in America. It is starting to become obvious to everyone, as signaled by a recent Peter Beinart piece, that the idea of a two-state solution has pretty much been an empty promise all along, used to placate Palestinians and to win the support of liberal Jews in America. Despite the growing clarity into what the Israeli government is really doing, Trump continues to be one of the most permissive presidents in history when it comes to allowing Israel to do whatever it wants to the Palestinians. Against all odds, says Weiss, Biden is positioning himself even further to the right, and even further in favor the Israeli Zionist project.

Discussed on the show:

• “Liberal Zionists use arguments — ‘There is no equality between us and the Palestinians’ — that echo white nationalists” (Mondoweiss)
• “Opinion | I No Longer Believe in a Jewish State” (The New York Times)
• “Yavne: A Jewish Case for Equality in Israel-Palestine” (Jewish Currents)
• Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy
• The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir
• Coming to Palestine
• “What Social Animals Owe to Each Other” (The Future of Freedom Foundation)
• “Notes on the State of Virginia” (Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello)

Philip Weiss is the long-time editor of Mondoweiss.net. Follow him on Twitter @PhilWeiss.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Listen and Think Audio; TheBumperSticker.com; and LibertyStickers.com.

Donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal, or Bitcoin: 1Ct2FmcGrAGX56RnDtN9HncYghXfvF2GAh.

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Scott interviews Wayne McElrath about the proliferation of military equipment in America’s police forces, and its harmful effect on police practices. McElrath describes the process by which local police departments are given “outdated” equipment from the military, like body armor, automatic weapons and armored vehicles. To prove how alarmingly easy it is to get hold of this equipment, McElrath and his team created a fake police department and submitted deliberately vague and spurious requests to the Pentagon, which were approved. McElrath contends that this militarization has a powerful effect on the psyches of police officers and on the communities they serve, making the relationship more like that of an occupying force than of a public service organization.

Discussed on the show:

• “Police reform begins with cutting Pentagon money, militarization program” (USA Today)
• “7/17/20 Ted Carpenter on the Bogus Russian Bounties Story” (The Libertarian Institute)

Wayne McElrath is a Senior Investigative Advisor to the Project on Government Oversight and is the former Director of Forensic Investigations with the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Follow him on Twitter @mcelrath_wayne.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Listen and Think Audio; TheBumperSticker.com; and LibertyStickers.com.

Donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal, or Bitcoin: 1Ct2FmcGrAGX56RnDtN9HncYghXfvF2GAh.

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Ted Carpenter talks about the Russian bounties story, including all the ways it has been misreported by the media. Carpenter reminds us that the original intelligence that was leaked to the press was based on very flimsy anonymous sources, and may have been obtained via torture. Almost as soon as the CIA introduced the narrative, the NSA came out to publicly assert their skepticism about the credibility of the intelligence. And the Department of Defense, which thoroughly investigates every American death in Afghanistan, hasn’t found any evidence of these supposed bounties. But the fact that the national security state and their mouthpieces in the mainstream media were able to get 60% of Americans to believe the story, even temporarily, was enough to derail President Trump’s plans to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan. Even if the story had been true, says Carpenter, wouldn’t that be all the more reason to get out?

Discussed on the show:

• “How the Media Mangled the ‘Russian Invasion’ of the Trump Administration” (The National Interest)
• “Russia Secretly Offered Afghan Militants Bounties to Kill U.S. Troops, Intelligence Says” (The New York Times)
• “NSA Differed From CIA, Others on Russia Bounty Intelligence” (WSJ)
• “Ten Most Embarrassing U.S. Media Failures on the Trump-Russia Story” (The Intercept)
• “Opinion | Don’t Let Russian Meddling Derail Afghanistan Withdrawal Plans” (The New York Times)
• “BOUNTYGATE: Scapegoating Systemic Military Failure in Afghanistan” (Consortium News)
• The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy And Its Geostrategic Imperatives
• “Ep. 1689 Scott Horton on the “Russian Bounties” Story” (Tom Woods)
• “Speech and the Following Discussion at the Munich Conference on Security Policy” (en.kremlin.eu)

Ted Galen Carpenter is a senior fellow for defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute. Carpenter has written 10 books including America’s Coming War with China: A Collision Course over Taiwan and most recently NATO: Dangerous Dinosaur. He is a contributing editor at The American Conservative Magazine and the National Interest.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Listen and Think Audio; TheBumperSticker.com; and LibertyStickers.com.

Donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal, or Bitcoin: 1Ct2FmcGrAGX56RnDtN9HncYghXfvF2GAh.

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