On today’s show, host Allen Ruff speaks with journalist, media critic, author, and activist Norman Solomon about his article, “How the Warfare State Paved the Way for a Trumpist Autocracy.” Solomon says that so many military projects are being undertaken under the name of “defense,” but this is a smokescreen for vast amounts of spending that support the “warfare state.” He writes that “militarism has been integral to the rise of the billionaire tech barons who are now teaming up with an increasingly fascistic Donald Trump.”

When Trump first ran for president in 2015, he understood that the nation’s thrill for the War on Terror had wanted, says Solomon. But Hillary Clinton’s campaign was set on the status quo when it came to military spending. That’s why, Solomon says, that Trump could simultaneously call democrats “wimps and warmongers.”  The reality is that both parties are war parties. And now Trump can say he wants peace in Ukraine meanwhile supporting Israel’s renewed genocide in Gaza. 

Solomon will be part of a teach-in tonight on how to organize against authoritarianism. 

Norman Solomon is the national director of RootsAction.org and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. The paperback edition of his latest book, War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine, includes an afterword about the Gaza war. 

Featured image: remix of the cover of War Made Invisible by Sara Gabler/WORT.

The post The Warfare State with Norman Solomon appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.