D.C. Gutted. Grassroots Galvanized.

First, Ralph welcomes economist James Henry to discuss the Trump administration's latest attempts to disable our corporate watchdogs and dismantle the IRS. Then, Ralph is joined by America's Number One Populist Jim Hightower to get his take on what's been happening in our government, and how to fight back.

James Henry is an economist, attorney, and investigative journalist who has written numerous articles and several books about international private banking, offshore havens, debt, capital flight, and development. He is a Global Justice Fellow at Yale, and a Senior Fellow at Columbia University’s Center for Sustainable Investment. And he is a Senior Advisor to the Tax Justice Network, an international NGO that has led the fight to dismantle tax havens. He has also been an active pro bono environmental and constitutional lawyer in New York.

In the past, when so-called business elites (Wall Street, and so on) saw the US government discomforting them, they would send a delegation to the White House. They've done it on matters far less serious than the massive destabilization and disruption that's occurring now.

Ralph Nader

Corporations are not known (and CEOs are not known) for their courage. But when they see their whole world starting to convulse into chaos… you've got to believe they're going to make their efforts known.

Ralph Nader

One thing that I'm just shocked by—it's hard to be shocked by this administration any more than by anything else, but he's basically dismantling the IRS... A lot of what we're talking about here is illegal activity. It isn't even a question.

James Henry

Countries are pushing back at this bullying tactic. And so this is going to hurt growth. It's going to raise inflation. It's going to blow the deficit targets through the roof. And it's going to also hurt millions of Americans who depend on the government for all kinds of vital, essential assistance…So if you thought there was a rational reason behind Trump's economic plans, this is very hard to justify.

James Henry

Jim Hightower is a syndicated columnist, national radio commentator, and America’s Number One populist. He is a board member of Public Citizen, and he is a founding member of Our Revolution, an organization inspired by the issues brought up in the Bernie Sanders campaign. He has written several books including Swim Against the Current: Even a Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow, and his newsletter The Hightower Lowdown publishes twice a week on Substack.

Well, the good news, as you point out, is that the people are revolting (in the very best sense of that word, by the way). And it is happening in rural towns, counties, as well as big cities, as well as college towns, working class communities, immigrant communities, et cetera. The rebellion is on. And the people are doing it themselves.

Jim Hightower

Big money happened. And that big money took over the Democratic Party. My party decided, “Well, you know, we could get some of that corporate money too.” The corporations were willing to fund our campaigns. Well, I can tell you that if you accept a corporate check, written on the back of it is the corporate agenda. And they cash the check, not you. And so that led to my party's abandonment of its populist values, its working class constituency, its values—economic fairness, social justice, equal opportunity for all—those are the populist values. And my party turned into a Republican-light organization. But the people keep rebelling.

Jim Hightower

People are in the streets in state after state and community after community all across our country because people know this is the undoing of the common good. And that is essentially what's at stake here. The billionaires have decided that the common good doesn't matter, only their good matters.

Jim Hightower

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