TEHRAN - A Canadian expert on American internal affairs, Arnold August, says the Democrats’ opposition to the “right-wing fascism” is not genuine.  

“The interest of the Democrats and its media, such as CNN, is not to oppose right-wing fascism, but rather to build a straw man for political gain in order to cover their own traces,” August, a member of the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP), tells the Tehran Times. 
August also says people in Europe and the United States know that “the US/NATO war against Russia” is the cause of unprecedented inflation in the recent decades.

Following is the text of the interview:
 
Q: Inflation and economic challenges have become the first concern of the American people in the recent election. How did the Democrats fail to protect the economy during the last six months?”

A: Let us take the first sentence: “Inflation and economic challenges have become the first concern of American people in the recent election.” The problem is that the sentence is biased because it takes for granted that the concerns of the people can actually be translated through voting. The question seems to assume, as does international mainstream media, that the people are actually involved in the elections. But are they? In the US, a felony is the most serious charge leading to incarceration. The United States is the only country in the world in which those who had served a prison sentence on felony-related offences are barred from voting for life, once having served their sentence. (The Sentencing Project.)  An estimated 4.6 million people (2% of the total US population eligible to vote) are disenfranchised due to a felony conviction. The figure has declined by 24% since 2016, as more states enacted policies to curtail this practice and state prison populations modestly declined. (Locked Out 2022: Estimates of People Denied Voting Rights, Christopher Uggen, Ryan Larson, Sarah Shannon and Robert Stewart, October 25, 2022). 

“Since its founding in 1776, the US has developed into a right-wing extremist white supremist colonial/imperialist state based on the genocide of the Native nations and slavery.”Now let us turn to voter turnout, that is the percentage of the voting-age population who actually vote, to evaluate the question, namely, whether the people’s concerns can be translated into real policies. More than 50% of the voting-age population says No. In the US midterm elections, including this one in 2022 (even though all statistics are not yet in), less than 50% actually vote. (Washington Post, Kati Perry, Luis Melgar, Kate Rabinowitz and Dan Keating, November 9, 2022.)

Let us look at the second part: “How did the Democrats fail to protect the economy during the last six months?” The most serious concern regarding the economy is inflation. Everyone knows that the cause is the US/NATO war against Russia. In fact, in Europe millions of people are demonstrating against the European Union’s involvement in the war, want out of NATO, the end of sanctions and thus access to Russian gas and oil. However, the anti-Russia, anti-Putin US narrative is so strong in the US that people cannot and do not want to make the connection that Europeans are already making at the grassroots level. The progressive anti-imperialist left forces in the US are fighting to relate the US/NATO to economic woes such as inflation. However, I have never witnessed such an air-tight bipartisan narrative dictating to the electorate, in this case the NATO anti-Russian narrative. It is a current feature of the US political system, without which no serious analysis can take place. Thus, on election night, at a White House press conference, Biden could extol the election results in this way: "It was a good day, I think, for democracy," he said. "And I think it was a good day for America. ... Our democracy has been tested in recent years, but with their votes, the American people have spoken and proven once again that democracy is who we are." Not one journalist asked him about the fact that less than half of the voting-age population voted.

Q: Some Republicans insist on voting-machine irregularities. How do they support their claim? What was the evidence of electoral fraud by Republicans?

A: This is the Republican claim: dozens of electronic vote-counting machines in the battleground state of Arizona were seized upon by former Republican President Donald Trump and his followers, who falsely claimed it was evidence of electoral fraud by Democrats. “The problem was that ballots were not lining up properly inside the machines and were not being read,” said Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, adding that “despite the problems all votes would be counted.” Richer called the malfunctions "disappointing" and correctly predicted that election deniers such as Trump would "exploit" the issue. Just a few hours into Election Day, Stephen Richer told reporters that about 20% of electronic vote tabulation machines in the state's most populous county were malfunctioning, and technicians were being deployed to fix them. (Voting machine problems in Arizona seized on by Trump, election deniers, by Tim Reid Reuters, November 9, 2022.) So, no fraud there by the Democrats.

However, the Democratic Party is as bad at electoral fraud and machinations as the Republicans. For example, Democratic activists fretting about potential Republican strength in North Carolina, a state considered to be leaning red for the midterms, have mounted an aggressive campaign to keep the left-leaning Green Party off the ballot there, to avoid diluting Democratic turnout. Green Party activists claim Democrats from the national party apparatus are spearheading a number of challenges to the legitimacy of Green Party petitions and trying to get people who signed those petitions to remove their signatures after the fact. (Democrats maneuver to keep Green Party candidates off the midterm ballot in swing state North Carolina, New York, The Sun, Russell Payne, July 14, 2022)

Q: Many right-wing groups like the Proud Boys became active during the last month. How urgent and serious is the threat of the extremists for American national security?

A: I have always found that the terms “extremist” and “right-wing groups” in US politics are misleading. It purposely nourishes the myth that in US politics there are “right-wing extremists” linked to the Republicans as opposed to the “left-wing” Democrats. If one takes the time, as I do, to watch the US mainstream media including the political satire shows that are influential in the US and the West, there is a virtual continuous emission of buzz words about the “right” Republican and the “left” Democrats. Is there such as a phenomenon as right-wing extremist? Yes. Since its founding in 1776, the US has developed into a right-wing extremist white supremist colonial/imperialist state based on the genocide of the Native nations and slavery. In fact, the current state is a vestige of slavery with the ongoing war against the Blacks in the US and abroad, now increasingly against Africa, while being the main supporter of the fascist terrorist Zionist entity. 

Q: Many analysts say the US is on the edge of a civil war. How close do you perceive it?”

Once again, taken at face value, the notion of “civil war” at this time feeds into the left Democrat mantra of pointing the finger at the right-wing Republicans as the cause of an impending civil war, for example by painting the January 6 Capitol Hill demonstration as an insurrection. The interest of the Democrats and its media, such as CNN, is not to oppose right-wing fascism, but rather to build a straw man for political gain in order to cover their own traces. For example, President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have built a solid reputation, among other reactionary traits, as architects of the mass incarceration of Blacks. Thus, how convenient is January 6, 2021.
None of us in the West can forget how we were virtually lynched for opposing the narrative behind Biden’s bid in the 2020 US presidential election, consisting of a so-called anti-fascist united front vote against Trump.
Now, this brings me to your last question: 

Q:  How do you see the 2024 presidential election from the general point of view?

The same as I saw the 2020, 2016, 2012 and 2008 presidential elections. In a chapter entitled Democracy in the U.S. in my 2003 book, I based myself on the Black radical revolutionary tradition which argues and organizes against the notion that the people must choose the “lesser of two evils.” In my case study of the Obama 2008 mandate, published in that book, I highlighted this radical tradition to indicate that Obama is not the lesser of two evils but rather the most effective of two evils. Has history proven this thesis, elaborated originally by the late Glenn Ford of Black Agenda Report, to be wrong? (Page 42, Cuba and Its Neighbours: Democracy in Motion, Arnold August.) No, the lesson is as valid as ever, that is the need for those of us outside the US to support those forces in the US which prioritizes organizing against the two-party system. The current Biden Administration is as illustrative as Obama of how the lesser of two evil mantra operates in order to maintain the imperial status quo. How is that? Look, Biden has at his disposal the so-called left of the democratic party such as the fraudulent Bernie Sanders and the AOC scam to get the people to swallow the pill of Biden’s most dangerous escalation of wars by the US since World War II, literally getting away with murder.