The US-Saudi Split and the Yemen War
Will Saudis’ battles with Joe Biden help end Washington’s support for their brutal war in Yemen?
871 Article(s) by: Branko Marcetic
Branko Marcetic is a Jacobin staff writer and the author of Yesterday’s Man: The Case Against Joe Biden.
Democrats Were Dithering on Railworkers’ Rights. The Left Just Forced Their Hand.
Democrats were ready to throw railworkers to the wolves, letting even Republicans outflank them on labor rights. But thanks to a last-minute legislative push by Bernie Sanders and his allies today, railworkers may be getting the sick leave they’re demanding.
Elon Musk, “Free Speech Absolutist,” Has Launched a Crackdown on Left-Wing Twitter Accounts
Many of Elon Musk’s critics seem to think he’s an overzealous champion of free speech. In fact, while reinstating noxious right-wing voices, Musk has been censoring the Left.
The Fed’s Rate Hikes Are Hurting Workers — and Exposing the Scam of American Capitalism
Months into the Federal Reserve’s quest to engineer a recession, ordinary Americans are feeling the pinch. Meanwhile, without the balm of rock-bottom interest rates, we’re getting a glimpse of how much of the American business world has been built on fraud.
Nancy Pelosi Delivered Little for the Left, but We Might Miss Her Anyway
In her time as House speaker, Nancy Pelosi compiled a record that was more mixed than either her biggest fans or her biggest critics would likely admit. But whoever succeeds her will undoubtedly be far worse.
A Missile Strike in Poland Shows Why Government Agencies Can’t Be the Sole Arbiters of Truth
After a Ukrainian missile mishap in Poland, misinformation blaming Russia quickly spread. The lie came from precisely the “authoritative sources” now being treated as the arbiters of truth by social media platforms.
Trump Always Seems to Bounce Back From Adversity. This Time, It’s Hard to See How.
Donald Trump’s lackluster speech announcing his 2024 presidential campaign epitomized the state of Trumpism since last Tuesday’s “red tide” failed to materialize: exhausted, petty, and obsessed with the past. Don’t count him out yet, though.
The 2022 Midterms Were One of the Best Elections the Left Has Had in Memory
Put the mainstream Democrats aside. After the midterms, more left-wing insurgents are going to the House, Bernie Sanders has two strong allies in the Senate, and progressive ballot measures passed everywhere. Election night was a good night for the Left.
Centrists Were Wrong: Left-Wing Candidates Won
It’s hard to look at Tuesday’s election results and still take seriously the centrist attack line claiming that left-wing candidates aren’t electable. We won plenty of big races to be proud of.
After the Midterms, the Democrats Should Do Some Soul-Searching
Republicans wasted a plum opportunity last night. But Democrats may have squandered voter backlash to GOP extremism by lacking an economic message.
The Quiet Merger Between Online Platforms and the National Security State Continues
The Department of Homeland Security is helping to coordinate tech company censorship efforts according to recent reporting. The line between tech firms and the national security state is only getting blurrier.
Republicans Are Planning an All-Out Assault on the Working Class If They Win Next Week
Draconian spending cuts, attacks on labor organizing, stoking war with China, and speeding up climate disaster — these are just some of the things Republicans are planning if they win big on Tuesday.
Brazil’s Election Shows the Dangers of an Increasingly Far-Right Police
Lula’s election victory was nearly derailed by a Bolsonaro-supporting police effort to suppress the vote. It was only the most recent episode in which politicized police forces have intervened to thwart democracy — and the US is far from immune to the problem.
Today’s Hawkish Discourse Makes the Cuban Missile Crisis’s Nuclear Brinkmanship Seem Sane
In the 1962 US-Soviet nuclear showdown over Cuba, there was no shortage of voices calling for escalation or decrying “appeasement.” But there was always broad support for the kind of talks that ended up saving the world — something frighteningly absent today.
John Fetterman’s Post-Stroke Struggles Are Brave. They’re Also Irrelevant.
John Fetterman’s post-stroke impairment is temporary, it doesn’t affect his cognitive capacity, and plenty of sitting senators have suffered from much worse. So why is his condition getting more attention than his opponent’s sleazy history?
With Progressive Congress Members Pulling Their Ukraine Letter, Diplomacy Is Now a Four-Letter Word
War fever in Washington has reached such a pitch that even mild calls for cease-fire talks, as House progressives articulated in a now-retracted letter, are now beyond the pale. That’s dangerous at any time, let alone when nuclear tensions are high.
The January 6 Riot Was a Spectacular Failure of US Law Enforcement
The monumental security failure that led to the breach of the Capitol building on Jan. 6 has always been something of a mystery — and it still is. But one thing is clear: there is a disturbing level of support for right-wing extremism within US law enforcement.
Biden Has Fired the First Shot in a New Kind of Anti-China Cold War
The Biden administration just ratcheted up “strategic competition” with China with a round of export controls aimed at hobbling China’s semiconductor industry. But the move could end up blowing back on the US and its allies.
We’re Closer to a Nuclear Incident in Ukraine Than You Think
There’s a disconnect between Western leaders’ increasingly hawkish public discourse and the quiet consensus among their military experts that any armed encounter with Russia would likely end in a nuclear catastrophe.
Democrats Went All In on the January 6 Hearings. Voters Don’t Seem to Care.
Recent polls suggest that the Democrats’ sidelining of economic issues to go all in on the Capitol riot hasn’t borne fruit. While voters are most concerned about inflation, they think the party’s main priority is January 6, which barely registers.