As voters awake in anticipation of Tuesday’s primaries in 6 states, including Michigan, “Intercepted” podcast host and journalist Jeremy Scahill takes a deep dive into Joe Biden’s appalling record on everything from civil rights to women’s rights. In the first half of the more than hour-long episode, Scahill speaks with Current Affairs Editor in Chief Nathan Robinson, who predicted early in 2016 that Hillary Clinton would not be able to beat Donald Trump in a general election.
Robinson and Scahill both pick apart Biden’s track record, beginning with his push for a “tough on crime” stance that targeted people of color, an approach that also in part explains his friendship with one of the most notorious racist politicians in recent history, Sen. Thurgood Marshall. Biden was also an outspoken supporter of the Iraq War and was credited with providing the legislative inspiration for the Patriot Act by George W. Bush’s attorney general.
If his record is not worrying enough, the two also delve into the question of his mental condition. Noting that throughout his campaign he has not only made a series of gaffes but has often repeated lies and has seemed confused and incapable of articulating anything from his wife’s name to the opening lines of the Declaration of Independence. Robinson notes that all of these factors compounded make the former vice president an extremely risky candidate for the Democratic Party to run against Donald Trump.
In the second half of the podcast episode, the Intercept journalist speaks with two feminists about the very real, inspiring alternative to Biden that still exists in Bernie Sanders and, perhaps more importantly, his movement. Organizer Astra Taylor and poet Aja Monet, who along with dozens of feminists released the statement “Rising for a Global Feminist Future with the Movement to Elect Bernie Sanders” for International Women’s Day, discuss Sanders’ policies and how they would help women and people of color. The two also examine Biden’s record on women’s rights, pointing out he’s had to be “dragged” into his current position on abortion.
Listen to the full the episode here.