There's something very interesting going on
with Noam Chomsky.
Now, Chomsky's in his 90s and Noam Chomsky
has for a long time been a progressive hero
to many on the left.
Until recently, when he started saying things
that sound, to be quite frank, more like me,
I'm often called a neo liberal shill by some
on the left who think I'm just not quite progressive
enough in Noam Chomsky suffering a lot of
the same fate right now.
Recently, Noam Chomsky said it's so important
to remove Trump that every Bernie supporters
should vote for Biden.
I agree with that.
Noam Chomsky now agrees.
A lot of people in a suit in a sliver of my
audience were very mad about Noam Chomsky
saying that Chomsky was recently interviewed
by a non Gary Dhara Das, who's been a guest
on the show.
And Chomsky again said things that sound a
lot like me.
And some people on the left are now furious
with Chomsky.
Now, one of the things I've been saying is
that as a presidential nominee for a major
party and as a possible president, Joe Biden
is running to the left of just about every
candidate candidacy I can think of in the
modern political era.
Biden is to Obama's left on climate and on
health care and on financial policy.
And it makes sense because it's 12 years later
the country and the Democratic Party have
moved to the left.
So it would follow that Biden is to the left
of Hillary and to the left of Obama, and his
campaign indeed is.
And I took a bunch of heat from my viewers
for saying that some people writing in and
saying, David, that's meaningless to say Biden
is the furthest left because Biden might not
be sincere in those policy ideas and he might
not actually get it done.
That applies to any candidate.
That's an impossible criticism to address
because you can apply it to any candidate.
Well, now, Noam Chomsky has said almost the
same thing, who said to a non degree dhara
das quote, take Biden's campaign positions
farther to the left than any Democratic candidate
in memory on things like climate.
It's far better than anything that preceded
it, not because Biden had a personal conversion
or the DNC had some great insight, but because
they're being hammered on by activists coming
out of the Sanders movement and others.
The climate program, a two trillion dollar
commitment to dealing with the extreme threat
of environmental catastrophe was lost, largely
written by the Sunrise movement and strongly
endorsed by the leading activists on climate
change.
The ones who managed to get the green New
Deal on the legislative agenda.
That's real politics.
This is a true, pragmatic sort of realpolitik
from Noam Chomsky, and it actually gets even
more pragmatic.
And it's fascinating to see Chomsky and I
suddenly exactly on the same page on this
issue.
This next quote is from the debate over whether
Biden is good or merely less bad than Trump
and.
We should be thinking about that, and Anon's
says to Chomsky, this is interesting coming
from you, your support for Biden is more than
merely grudging.
You actually seem to think that the platform
is surprisingly good, given who he is and
given where we are.
And Chomsky responds, quote, This is not support
for Biden.
It is support for the activists who have been
at work constantly creating the background
within the party in which the shifts took
place and who have followed Sanders in actually
entering the campaign and influencing its
support for them, support for real politics.
The left position is you rarely support anyone.
You vote against the worst.
You keep the pressure and the activism going.
Chomsky is pointing out it's not new, that
the left is in a position of supporting the
least bad.
It's common that the left is choosing between
options that are not ideal or perfect or great,
and that that's how progress works.
And yet, on the one hand.
Sure.
Systemic change has to come in order to really
improve society.
I'm with you.
But another four years of Trump pushes us
towards this bizarre neo fascism that Donald
Trump has espoused even more at.
And and it gives us another four years of
falling behind on climate and on so many issues
and things will get worse.
Now, some people will say it's the Biden types,
one after another.
You know, Obama, the Hillary candidacy now
Biden.
That's what led to Trump in some fundamental
sense.
Everything that happened before today led
to where we are today.
The outcomes are a result of everything that
has happened.
But it is ridiculous to say it's only because
of the Democratic nominees that we now have
Trump.
That's a silly argument.
It's indefensible.
We also got Trump because of anti intellectual
ism, xenophobia, racism, Obama being half
black.
You know that there's this very long list
of factors and there is no evidence that another
four years of Trump in power will generate
the collapse that some on the left want to
see because they believe it will usher in
some truly left system of government.
There's no evidence that that would happen.
The last four years have proven that.
And it's very interesting to hear this not
from me, although this sounds like my monologues
from four months ago, but from Noam Chomsky.
We'll have continued coverage of this on the
David Pakman show.
Instagram David Pakman show.
And you can follow me on Instagram as well
at David Dot.
