Democracy Now! Audio - Democracy Now! 2026-06-08 Monday

Episode Date: June 8, 2026

Headlines for June 08, 2026; Iran Warns Israel over Escalating Attacks on Lebanon After Iran, Israel Exchange Strikes: Trita Parsi; Graham Platner’s Billionaire-Bashing Message Resonates in Maine Senate Race, Despite Controversies; Peru Votes for President Amid Trump’s “Unprecedented Program of Aggression” Against Leftists in Region

From New York, this is Democracy Now. President Trump's called on Israel and Iran to immediately stop shooting after the two sides attacked each other for the first time since the April so-called ceasefire. Iran says it will stop attacks for now. We'll speak to Trita Parsi of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. Then to Maine, a day before the state holds a closely watched primary. We have an opportunity here in Maine to do something that will change the political structures in this country for a long time to come. We'll look at the rise of Oisterman and Marine veteran Graham Plattner, the progressive Democrats, seeking to unseat Republican Senator Susan Collins. Plattner's progressive populist message has resonated with many voters in Maine, but the campaign has faced new. numerous controversies. We'll get response from the heads of now, the National Organization for Women, and the group Community Change. Then to Peru, where Keiko Fuhimori, the daughter of Peru's former imprisoned dictator, has a slight lead over her progressive challenger, Roberto Sanchez, and Peru's presidential runoff. In keeping with our democratic commitment, we have fulfilled our response.

and I urge all our fellow citizens to vote responsibly to save Peru and strengthen democracy. Let us respect the free vote and have the capacity to honor the agreements and the election results, always calling for democracy, justice, and social peace, and to move Peru forward. We'll go to Peru, then speak with Pulitzer Prize winning historian Greg Grandin. All that and more coming up. Welcome to Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the Warren Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. Iran and Israel exchanged fire overnight in the most serious escalation of fighting since a U.S. Iranian so-called truce was declared in April. Just this morning, Iran said it's halting its attacks on Israel, saying, quote, if the aggressions and acts of mischief continue, including in southern Lebanon, much more severe and crushing actions than before will follow, unquote.

Earlier, Iran had launched a wave of missiles at Northern Israel, claiming it was in response to Israeli attacks near Beirut on Sunday. Israel responded with attacks on Iran with explosions reported in Tehran, to breeze an Isfahan. The Israeli army also confirmed it struck a petrochemical plant in Meshire. Israel attacked Iran, despite President Trump telling Axios news on Sunday, he planned to call Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to urge him not to, to respond to the first wave of Iranian missiles. President Trump also told the Financial Times, Netanyahu had no choice but to accept to deal with Iran, saying, quote, I call all the shots.

He doesn't call the shots, Trump said. This morning, President Trump posted on truth social, quote, Israel and Iran must immediately stop shooting, unquote. This after the Pentagon's DIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency recently raised the counterintelligence threat assessment for Israel to critical amidst growing concerns. concerns Israeli spy agencies are eavesdropping on American negotiators working on a ceasefire deal with Iran. Israeli airstrikes hit Beirut's suburbs on Sunday, despite a U.S. brokered ceasefire that was renewed just days earlier. On Saturday, Israeli attacks across southern Lebanon killed at least 10 people, including a brigadier general, a captain, and a Lebanese soldier. Since March, Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,500 people and displaced over a fifth of Lebanon.

population in Gaza. At least seven Palestinians were killed and 15 others injured on Saturday when Israel's military bombed a large tent encampment in the heart of Gaza City. Children were among the dead and wounded. On Sunday, an Israeli strike on a police station and a vehicle killed at least nine people and wounded 20 others. The attacks come despite last October's U.S. brokered ceasefire. Since then, Israeli attacks have killed about 950 Palestinians. This is Abdul Salam Juda, the uncle of a Palestinian killed in an Israeli strike over the weekend. We are ordinary citizens. We are looking for and asking for peace.

We are neither calling for war nor destruction nor anything else. We are people who believe in a just peace. In Ukraine, a Russian drone struck a nuclear fuel storage facility inside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone Sunday, damaging a fuel reception building close to where large amounts of nuclear material are stored. Ukrainian officials say radiation levels remain within normal range and no injuries were reported. The IAEA called the strike deeply concerning and said inspectors would visit the site. Meanwhile, in the Zaporicha region, Russian guided bombs hit a public transit stop and Balaban, killing three civilians and wounding three others. This is the principal of a local school.

A guided bomb was dropped near the education institution. The explosion was very powerful as there were casualties. The school was severely damaged. In France, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth used a D-Day anniversary ceremony at the American Military Cemetery in Normandy to attack European immigration policy saying the continent is facing a new invasion. Sadly, today, different European beaches are stormed by different dangerous ideologies. Beaches in Spain, in Italy, in Greece, and Bulgaria, boats and men arrive. When will European capitals do something about that invasion?

Or is it too late? I pray not, and I believe not. This comes as Pope Leo condemned rising European military spending to its highest levels since the end of the Cold War, calling it a betrayal of diplomacy. A federal lawsuit filed Saturday is seeking to block an ultimate fighting championship UFC events scheduled for June 14th on the White House South Lawn, which happens to be President Trump's 80th birthday. The White House's brandy UFC event is part of the United States 250th anniversary celebrations. The suit brought by the Public Integrity Project on behalf of a Vietnam War veteran and civic activists, argues the UFC fights would financially benefit President Trump and UFC President Dana White through promotional opportunities and stockholdings. The lawsuit cites a report that Trump bought 50,000.

in stock in UFC's parent company. It also argues the Trump administration's approval violated national park service regulations prohibiting commercial sporting events on specific federal parklands that Congress did not authorize the construction of a towering 600-ton steel arch on the south lawn and that no environmental review was conducted. President Trump stormed out of an interview with NBC News's Kristen Welker Friday after she questioned him about compensating the January 6 insurrectionists who attacked police, as well as whether he had any evidence for rigged elections. Trump had agreed to record the sit-down interview for Meet the Press ahead of an event in Wisconsin. Your elections are crooked and you're crooked and meets the press is crooked and so is ABC and C.

CBS and CNN. But, Mr. President. You're one-sided crooked networks. So let's call it quits because I've had enough. In more media news, Scott Pelley, the 60 Minutes anchor recently fired by CBS News, has accused editor-in-chief Barry Weiss of distorting news coverage to support false narratives being pushed by the Trump administration. In an interview with the New York Times, Pelley cited Weiss's intervention in a 60-minute segment on the killing of Renee Nicole Good in many last January by a masked border patrol officer.

Barry Weiss sends an email to my boss, Tanya Simon. Two of the things in the email include, can we make the protesters look more violent? Now, I'm paraphrasing. I don't have the quote, but that's what was communicated to me. And the other thing was, Renee Goods car. You need to describe her as driving toward the officer.

New Jersey, Governor Mikey Cheryl, has more than doubled New Jersey funding for a program that provides free legal services for low-income immigrants facing deportation. She also announced a rapid legal response initiative that will provide immediate representation to immigrants jailed at Delaney Hall, the GEO Groups for-profit. ICE, jail, and Newark. At least 90 people have been arrested at protests outside Delaney Hall over the past two weeks as prisoners inside hold a hunger and labor strike to protest inhumane conditions while demanding their freedom. One letter from a prisoner dated May 31st describes medical neglect, undrinkable water, expired and rancid food, unusable toilets, and poor

ventilation. The prisoner writes, quote, they constantly threaten to deport us, transfer us to punishment units and move us from one detention center to another. They take photos of us in the dormitories without our consent and tell us that we have no rights here, unquote. Meanwhile, New Jersey prosecutors have charged an Essex County police sergeant with stealing about $10,000 worth of equipment from reporter Angelina Katsanas. The photojournalist dropped her camera bag and had to be hospitalized after she was attacked by police while covering a protest at Delaney. Hall in May. In California, three prisoners at a for-profit ice jail in Adalanto were transferred to solitary confinement after they met last week with members of Congress to discuss their hunger

strike. Prisoners launched the fast in May to protest medical neglect, rancid food, and inhumane conditions. Democratic Congress member Judy Chu of Pasadena told the Southern California news group she was horrified to hear about retaliation faced by the three men who, she should She and Congress members Pete Aguilar and Jimmy Gomez visited last Monday. She said, quote, the fact that they're being punished for speaking out about these conditions only underscores the cruelty and corrupt management of facility that's profiting off of their suffering, unquote. In Ohio, gunfire erupted Saturday afternoon at a street festival in Toledo, wounding 12 people.

The victims ranged in age from 14 to 61. authorities say a search for the shooters is ongoing. And the European Commission has warned Albania's government against violating the EU's environmental rules after members of President Trump's family proposed building a massive luxury resort on an ecologically sensitive stretch of the Adriatic coast. Ivanka Trump revealed plans for the real estate project last month

when she told podcast host David Senra about how she had discovered a private island along a stretch of Albanian coastline while traveling aboard a yacht with her husband, Jared Kushner. And we stopped for a swim. Effectively, that's how we found it. We swam to the islands. We went on a hike, barefoot all the way up to the top, and we were just captivated. The area is part of a protected wildlife reserve that's home to seals, flamingos, and turtle nesting sites. Politico reports officials in Brussels have warned failure to protect the region could jeopardize Albania's bid to join the European Union. On Saturday, thousands of protesters marched through Albania's capital, Tirana, to oppose the luxury resort and called on Prime Minister Eddie Rama to resign.

country. I don't want it to be sold to somebody else. It's dirty money. They discovered this island. What do you mean? It's been discovered. It's ours. And those are some of the headlines. This is Democracy Now. Democracy Now.org, the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. In the most serious escalation since a U.S. Iranian so-called truce was reached in April, Iran and Israel exchanged fire overnight. Iran launched a wave of missiles. Iran launched a wave of missiles. at Northern Israel, saying it was in response to Israeli attacks near Beirut on Sunday. Israel responded with attacks on several areas of Iran, including the capital Tehran. Earlier today, Iran announced its halting strikes on Israel, but warned it'll carry out a more

severe response if Israel continues to attack Lebanon. Israel attacked Iran despite President Trump telling Axios on Sunday that he planned to call Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to urge him not to respond to the first wave of Iranian missiles. Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson, Ismail Barayi, spoke in Tehran earlier today. America has direct responsibility in any action that the Zionist regime carries out in relation to violation of regional peace and security against Iran. We're joined now by Trita Parsy, Executive Vice President of the Quincy Institute for Responsible

Statecraft, author of several books including losing an enemy, Obama, Iran, and the triumph of diplomacy. His latest piece for responsible statecraft is Iran strikes Israel, proving it will use hard power on behalf of Lebanon. Why don't you elaborate on that? Were you surprised by this major violation of the so-called ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran? And what this says about how much power President Trump has over Netanyahu. He said he warned him not to do. this not to respond to Iran attacking Israel for Israel attacking Lebanon? Thank you, Amy. It's good to be with you. I was not surprised by the Iranian attack on Israel. In fact, a couple of days ago, just before Trump had his first colorful conversation with

Netanyahu, the Iranians had already signaled that they were about to strike Israel. They were probably 45 to 60 minutes away of doing so. That's when Trump intervened. And the situation was diffused. So the fact that the Iranians were going to enforce their red line in Lebanon, I don't think was a surprise. And I think the U.S. government took it seriously as well. What is perhaps a bit surprising is the immediate reaction that Trump had. And of course, then, that the Israelis defied Trump's expressed wishes. And where that goes from now, we will have to see. But it's important to understand that what the Iranians were trying to do and what really worries the Israelis is that they were trying to extend their deterrence. They had already established

their own deterrence in the sense that any attack on Iran clearly would be retaliated against. But now they were trying to say that even if the Israelis were to attack Lebanon, southern Lebanon, they would also face Iranian retaliation, which would be the first time in a very long time that a major power would put real hard power behind a warning or a deterrent against an attack by Israel on a third country. And this is part of what the Israelis are worried about because if it suddenly means that they can no longer have that complete maneuverability in Lebanon and Gaza and elsewhere that they enjoy, that they are enjoying because the West is more and less enabling that to happen,

they're politically defending it, et cetera. And for the last couple of decades, it has not been challenged by any regional state in a sincere or serious way. this appears to have been an attempt by the Iranians to challenge that to establish this extended deterrence. And this is part of the reason why the Israelis have acted so aggressively against this attempt, as they call it, to establish a new equation in the region. I mean, it's interesting. Because it would dramatically minimize Israel's maneuverability if it were to stand.

So Trump has spoken to Netanyahu. It's interesting that it's Iran first that says they're not going to attack Israel if Israel doesn't attack again Iran or, I presume, Lebanon. And is this Iran saying you can't have a side agreement that's being negotiated in Washington that excludes, says Bala, between Israel and Lebanon? It is part of the ceasefire, so-called ceasefire, with Iran. The Iranians have from the outset said that if there is to be a ceasefire and an end to the war between the U.S. and Iran, has to be region-wide, meaning that it has to encompass Israel as well. If it doesn't, if Israel is unrestrained, it will have an ability to restart the war and the ability to drag the U.S. back into

the war. Since the objective is to end the war and to end it in a durable manner, making sure that the Israelis cannot have the freedom of starting the war again or bombing Lebanon or other places has to be included. That is the Iranian perspective. The question is, if now when they are signaling that they're willing to back off, are they doing so in order to put pressure on the U.S. to now deal with Israel, or are they doing so because they're regretting their attack and realizing that the Israelis would strike at them much harder? It remains to be seen exactly what the calculation is. But I don't think that the Iranian side is going to back off from its demand that any end to the war has to be regionwide and has to include Lebanon and Israel as well.

Talking about a ceasefire in Gaza and a ceasefire in Lebanon, can we still use that term? Or should we be saying increase fire? I mean, we're talking about thousands of Palestinians and Lebanese dying since this so-called truce in both areas. These so-called ceasefires that have been established in Gaza or in Lebanon are exactly what the region doesn't want, exactly what the Iran, at this point seem to be rallying against because they're completely one-sided. They're Swiss cheeses of a ceasefire and fundamentally unacceptable. And what their worry is is that the US would put some pressure on the Israelis to ceasefire. And the ceasefire would only last a couple of days or so.

And then slowly but surely the Israelis would once again restart attacks against whether it is Lebanon or whether it is Gaza. And they don't want to see a scenario of that kind be repeated. and as a result, they're now using some of their hard power to essentially signal that any ceasefire, any end of the deal has to be complete, otherwise it will be a complete war instead of this kind of shameful situation you have right now in which we call it a ceasefire with more than 3,500 Lebanese have been killed in that so-called ceasefire. So what do you expect to happen at this point? I mean, while President Trump has said he could be Prime Minister of Israel in the Umbuds,

In fact, how much sway does President Trump have over Netanyahu? I mean, can Netanyahu continue attacking Iran if Trump doesn't want him to, given the amount of weapons the U.S. gives and can withhold from Israel? Without a doubt, just a phone call or some angry quotes to the media is not going to be enough to get Netanyahu and Israel to back down. If Trump is serious about restraining the Israelis, it has to be combined with a restriction of arms sales, sharing of intelligence, and other measures that enable the Israelis to conduct these attacks in the first place. I suspect that the Trump administration's calculation, however, is they do not want to have that massive fight with Israel about a real restraint on them unless they have a deal

with Iran. It is not worth it for them to take a gamble and have that big fight with Israel in the hope of getting a deal with Iran, because then they may end up spending all of that political capital, fighting the Israelis, and still not get a deal with Iran. So I think the administration's position is that they will only do so if there is a deal with Iran. And the Iranian position is that there won't be a deal with Iran unless you prove your ability to restrain the Israelis. Trita Parsy, want to thank you for being with us, Executive Vice President of the Quincy Institute for Responsible State. will link to your latest piece. Iran strikes Israel, proving it will use hard power on behalf of Lebanon. Coming up, we go to Maine to look at the campaign and controversies around Graham Platner,

the oysterman, marine vet, progressive Democrat, who's seeking to unseat the Republican Maine Senator Susan Collins. Stay with us. ...by Sophia Shari. This is Democratic. Democracy Now,democracy now.org. I'm Amy Goodman. Voters in Maine are heading to the polls Tuesday for a closely watch primary that could help determine whether Democrats retake control of the U.S. Senate. On the Republican side, Susan Collins is running unopposed as she seeks her sixth term in the Senate. On the Democratic side, 41-year-old Oisterman and Marine Vet, Graham Platner, has led the polls for months running. running as a progressive populace backed by Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, Congressman Rokana, and others. On the campaign trail, Plattner's repeatedly targeted the billionaire class and called for a wealth tax, Medicare for all, and other progressive policies.

In late April, Maine's Democratic governor, Janet Mills, suspended her Senate campaign after polls showed Plattner easily beating her in the primary. But Governor Mills never officially withdrew, and her name remains on the ballot. Since launching his campaign, Plattner has faced numerous controversies, many stemming from his actions in the years after returning from fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, a time when he says he was suffering from PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder, and was self-medicating with alcohol. The initial controversies focused on old posts Plattner made on Reddit and on tattoo on his chest that resembled a Nazi symbol. Plattner says he got the tattoo while on military leave in Croatia 20 years ago and is denied knowing about the designs association with Nazis.

He's apologized for the social media post saying they were written at, quote, a time in my life where I was struggling deeply, unquote. In recent weeks, two more scandals emerged. First, it was revealed. He'd sent sexually explicit text messages to at least six women after getting married in 2023. Then the New York Times published an article headlined several women who dated Graham Plattner recall unsettling behavior, unquote. On Thursday, Plattner interviewed by Chris Hayes on MS Now said this. There are some allegations in this piece that I just want to be kind of unequivocal about

are simply not true. anything alleging physicality, anything alleging that I knew what my tattoo was, these are the statements of someone who's politically motivated. In this piece, there's a lot about my struggling, not being a good boyfriend, certainly self-medicating with alcohol, and I've been very upfront since the beginning of this campaign. That was a pretty dark period of my life after I came back from my combat service, and that's what that kind of life looks like.

and so there are things in this that I absolutely will take responsibility for and have been speaking about openly for months now. But those serious allegations are just not true. You did not grab her by the wrist. You did not put your hands on her shoulders. You did not push her into a room that you close the door on. She's lying about that, is what you're saying. Yes, that is not true.

On Friday, Graham Platner campaigned in Barr Harbor, Maine, where he took aim at the name. nation's billionaires. In the time in my life where that hard work ceased being enough, we have also watched the largest transfer of wealth from the working class to the ruling class in the history of this nation. In 1990, there were fewer than 80 billionaires in the United States. Today there are over 900. I ask you, when you look around, do you see a state of Maine that this 10 times wealthier than 1990? No.

Do we have 10 times the schools? No. 10 times the hospitals? No. Do our paychecks go 10 times as far? No. Do we have 10 times the free time? No.

No. In fact, we have less. Fewer schools. Fewer hospitals. Our paychecks run out earlier in the month. and we have less time because everybody's working harder. Democratic Congressman Rokana also spoke at the Graham Platner Bar Harbor rally on Friday. On Sunday, he appeared on CVS's Face the Nation, as was questioned about Platner by host Margaret Brennan.

Can he survive another scandal? You have five months here. Well, it depends what. I'm not, you know, I mean, obviously, if there was any evidence that comes out that there is actual domestic violence or assault. I have zero tolerance for that. I led the fight against the Epstein class, which has been a cover up for sexual abuse with Thomas Massey. I've been at the forefront of championing women's rights and rights of survivors. But here you have a case of someone who had a dark chapter in his life, who was in toxic relationships, was ashamed about it, who served this country. And the main voters are saying, look, let's give him some grace. And his focus is stopping these wars. And it's getting national health.

insurance and is taking on economic inequality. To talk more about Graham Platner's run for the Senate, we'll be joined by two guests. In a moment, we'll go to Portland, Maine, to speak with the anti-racist organizer, Shea Stewart Boulay. But first, we're joined by Kim Villanueva, the national president of the National Organization for Women PAC. Kim, thanks so much for being with us. Talk about the race, what you're concerned about and why you're telling people to vote for. for Governor Mills, who actually, while she didn't pull out of the Senate race, she did suspend her campaign. And even with these controversies, didn't reenter with rallies like Platner is having right now to take on Senator Collins.

Right. Well, we endorse Governor Mills very early in the race because of her record on women's rights and women's issues. And the fact that she has shown leadership over time, she's been a district attorney. attorney general and a governor. And we feel that her record is the best and her leadership is the best to represent women. So talk about your concerns with Graham Platner right now. You heard, for example, Rokana saying he's the leader on demanding respect for the women in the case of Epstein and the release of the Epstein files. But he is supporting Plattner right now for his progressive position. Right. Well, we've also worked with Representative Kana on the Epstein files and certainly defending the survivors of sexual violence and sexual abuse. In this situation, just because someone holds a progressive policy position, doesn't excuse them for making or holding harmful views against women.

Hate speech is hate speech. And so that's what now is about. We call out statements against women. We want people to respect women. of a president who thinks it's okay to make nasty comments about women and make fun of women. And so when that happens, we call it out. The question, one of the questions is who can beat the Republican, Susan Collins, who supported, for example, the nomination of and the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh as Supreme Court Justice. let me go to a clip right now. This is Graham Platner speaking in Bar Harbor.

We are up against one of the most powerful political systems in the history of the world. It is a system of billionaires in special interests. It is a system of corrupted politicians like Susan Collins. Susan Collins, who for years has given up some charade that she's a moderate, that she stands up against her party, that she cares about her constituents more than she cares about those that donate money to her. We see through it. We see through the charade and we see through it because of what she does. She voted to confirm Brett Kavanaugh, who before he was busy dismantling the Voting Rights Act and taking voting rights away from

black Southerners. He was busy getting down to the work he went there for, which was dismantling a woman's right to choose. And she told us, she told us that that was settled law. She looked him in the eyes and he told her that he would never do such a thing. Well, either she lied to us or she's a fool. Either way, you shouldn't be a United States senator from the state of Maine. So that is Graham Platner. Are you concerned that now's position could help elect Susan Collins? Well, now endorsed Governor Mills

very early in the race because of her record. And the purpose of an endorsement is to lead, not to follow. So we stand by that endorsement and feel that she is still the best candidate on the ballot. In terms of who's going to take on Trump and the establishment and the systems of oppression, we think that it's Janet Mills. She's already shown that she has taken on Trump. When he threatened to pull federal funding from Maine, she looked him in the eye and said, I'll see you in court.

So that's leadership under pressure. We think that she's the best one to take on the systems that are hurting American families and American women. She did stand up against Trump pulling federal funds from Maine over trans athletes, support for trans athletes. But right now, even as Governor Mills said she hasn't pulled out of the race, she only suspended it. It's not as if she is campaigning.

What will that mean in the general election if she takes the position she does and Susan Collins vigorously campaigns? Well, I think that by winning the primary will invigorate the campaign, and certainly people will come out and want to support anyone who's going to take on Trump and anyone who's going to help women, children, families. I mean, we're all suffering under the Trump regime. We have to do something. And we think that Janet Mills is the best person to lead us to do that. Kim Villanueva, we want to thank you for being with us, national president of the National Organization for Women PAC. To talk more about the main primary and Graham Platner's campaign,

we go now to Peaks Island off of Portland, Maine, where we're joined by the longtime anti-racism organizer, Shea Stewart-Boulet, the executive director of Community Change, Inc. Shea, thanks so much for being with us. A lot has come out on Graham Plattner from the tattoo that he has emblazoned on his chest to the most recent New York Times Exposé on Sousay on some of the women he was romantically involved with questioning his behavior. Can you talk about your thoughts, as Graham Platner just had a major rally in Portland? Yes, I can. Good morning. And thank you, Amy, for having me. I have so many thoughts. As someone who has been following the Plattner campaign, really since that first day when that first video was released and was very cautiously, enthusiastic perhaps about him, who then after the initial revelations in October of the Reddit post and the tattoo became quite skeptical. It was after then that I actually met up with Graham,

and we had a conversation, and over the course of the probably last several months, we've had a series of conversations and observations. And I think what's interesting about this race and about Graham is that in Maine, I would say a lot of people have a very different perspective of him than what the national media is showing. I think that despite his controversies, he is really speaking to the people of Maine at this moment. As I've been writing, and I wrote recently, it is estimated that one and two Mainers are struggling to make ends meet. Nationally, I think people think of Maine is this, you know, it's nicknamed Vacation Land. So people think that everybody here is probably quite prosperous. And actually, that's the opposite. It's a rural

state. It's a state that doesn't have a lot of resources. It's a state where, honestly, it is not uncommon for people to work two or three jobs, seasonal jobs. And so I think that, you know, one of the reasons people have continued to support Platner, despite these controversies, is because for the first time, in a long time, he makes people feel heard. I only recently heard him speak to an audience. Because my interactions with him had been primarily one-on-one, I had heard about how he, when he speaks to a crowd, but I have to say it was really interesting to experience hearing him and seeing, more importantly, the audience, how enthusiastic they were. At the same time, I live on Peaks Island, Maine. It's a predominantly very white little enclave

island here. We have a few folks of color, and it's a community that people would probably think of as fairly prosperous. yet he was really connecting with them. I think as a person, he is absolutely complicated and messy. There is no getting around that. He's a very complicated, messy individual who I think if these were more normal times, I think the campaign would have tanked probably several scandals ago. But I think that given the current reality of the country, we're running in with the folks running in it, people are feeling a little bit more generous in forgiving his personal situations. Let's hear Graham Platner speaking last night in Portland.

We need to return to the politics of dreaming big. Because the challenges we face today, we can no longer afford to play around on the margins. We've been doing that, and it has failed us. We need universal health care in this country. Medicare for all. We need universal child care. We need a public. education system that provides high-quality education to every young American from kindergarten

all the way through higher ed and train schools. And we need a foreign policy that prioritizes international institutions and international law over the well-being of corporate interests. So that's Graham Platner speaking last night in Portland. If you can talk about the the allegations of several women who he dated, one of them being a Republican operative. I mean, she says it herself, she runs ladies for Kavanaugh, now the Supreme Court justice, the significance of this and what the allegations are. And those who say, it's not enough to say he suffers from PTSD. Certainly Rokana talked about the damages of the, of war. And Plattner himself talks about what it means that war is violence and how veterans have suffered, but that you have to take responsibility for how you act afterwards. Yes, yes, you do. Like many folks, I read the piece in the New York Times a few minutes after it dropped. And I will say, I really struggled initially with what I was reading.

I think for me I believe in restorative justice. The nature of the work that I do just within the world of anti-racism work allows for restorative justice. And so life is not an either or. It's more of a both and and really asking for myself, do I believe that people even deserve a second chance? First and foremost, these are serious allegations. I don't think there's no excuse for the harm that he caused these women. think that if I were to say one thing, I would love to hear him speak more about ways in which he can make amends to the women he's harmed. He needs to be held accountable to those women.

At the same time, we find ourselves in this very, very awkward situation in the state of Maine and really in the state of the country. 18 months into this second term of Trump, we have watched our country turn upside down in ways that we have never imagined. So we find ourselves with, in the case of the main Senate race, we have a candidate who most certainly inspires people. I know when I went to his public event here on peaks, I saw young folks of color who had taken the ferry over just to hear him speak. We also, and I'm sorry, I just completely lost my thought there. I think that we have to reckon with the reality of war and violence. I was thinking about this morning knowing that, you know, this would probably be a part of

the conversation. In some ways, I see Plattner as sort of the result of this country that we send people to war. They come back and then we don't do a lot for those people. But more than that, when we talk about violence, in this case, there is personal violence, but then we also have state violence. We have someone who went to war suffering from the effects of state violence, who has now inflicted violence upon folks personally. And so it really becomes a very messy situation in terms of how do we reckon with that? How do we figure out how to go forward? I think in this moment, what's hardest for people to gather and to understand,

and certainly is something that I've struggled with, given everything that we've seen going on in this country, is the fact that historically we've expected our politicians, we've held them to a certain standard. We've expected certain behavior. And I would say, you know, in the years since Trump, all of that has been turned upside down. I think over on the left, we've held ourselves to a standard that we don't want to be anything like those folks. And so here we have this person who is a messy walking contradiction. On the one hand, he has values in terms of what he's putting out there that speaks to us, but his personal life is messy. So it's one of those, what do we do?

And in this moment, I ask myself, do we discard him? I know your previous guest spoke a lot to his opponent, Janet Mills, who suspended her campaign and is now, you know, last week reminded us all that she is still on the ballot. And I know as a mainer, as a mainer of color, I don't see her track record as being quite as rosy as somebody on a national level might. Just a couple of things I wanted to mention. And just recently she vetoed LD 1911 this year, which was the clean slate law, which really would have given folks with a criminal background in certain cases a second chance. There was also the other veto that she did the LD307, which would have placed a moratorium on state and local governments issuing permits for data centers. As we know, the conversation of data centers is really big across the country. Those two vetoes alone for many, many main voters really were a turnoff.

So, again, the national perspective on Janet Mills versus the reality on the ground are two different things. And I think for many people, main voters, that's left people really conflicted. I mean, we do have two other candidates, a right-in candidate who, of course, isn't on the ballot, but has been campaigning really hard. And then we have one other gentleman on the ballot, David Costello, who many people just don't know who he is. So Maynors find themselves in a really tough situation in terms of this is a person who is saying the things that we're, we want to hear. And at the same time, we're hearing these allegations in their personal life that are pretty disturbing. I can say that when it came down to my deciding whether or not I wanted to support him, I knew if there were any criminal allegations, that was not something I was going

to do. I'm still not comfortable with what I've heard at the same time. It feels like, while we can say is it an excuse the PTSD from the war, it is also a reality that many people returning from war do face. Jay Stewart Bulley, I want to thank you for being with us, longtime anti-racism activists in Maine, executive director of Community Change, Inc. Coming up, we go to Peru, where Keiko Fuhimori, the daughter of Peru's former imprisoned dictator,

has a slight lead over her progressive, challenger Roberta Sanchez and Peru's presidential runoff. Stay with us. Granny with your dog, yes, I yes, yes, I guess, yes, yes. Only if I turn her hallucinize. Granny, she's tired, I don't want her to bite me now. No, oh, the dead and gone, and he left me here to lead them on. Granny where you dog by, granny, she's tired, I don't want her to bite me. You know that dog on by rising stars, Fife and Drum Band at the Brooklyn Folk Festival. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org. I'm Amy Goodman. Peru's presidential runoff is too close to call.

After voters took to the polls Sunday in a heated election between the daughter of a former imprisoned dictator, her name, Keko, Fujimori or Fujimori, and a leftist lawmaker, Roberto Sanchez, Proving election officials warned final results could take up to a month to confirm. The latest ballot count this morning showed Fujimori leading by just about a percentage point. Ahead of Sanchez, according to Reuters, Sanchez spoke from Lima Sunday. Graham went to Iraq. In keeping with our democratic commitment, we have fulfilled our responsibility, and I urge all our fellow citizens to vote responsibly,

to save Peru and strengthen democracy. Let us respect the free vote and have the capacity to honor the agreements and the election results, always calling for democracy, justice, and social peace, and to move Peru forward. Keiko Fujimori is the daughter of Peru's late U.S.-backed ruler Roberto Fujimori, who was convicted and imprisoned on crimes against humanity committed during his regime from 19, 1990 to 2000. Peru's reeling from a period of political turmoil with Sunday's runoff, marking the nighttime Peruvians take to the polls to elect a new president in just 10 years.

The entire Latin American region is experiencing one of its sharpest political shifts to the right in recent years as President Trump aggressively intervenes expanding attacks against leftist governments while backing a series of right-wing candidates in recent presidential elections. including in Colombia and Honduras. Meanwhile, Mexican president, Claudia Shanebaum, has also accused far-right sectors in the U.S. of coordinating with domestic groups to destabilize the Mexican government.

For more, we go to two guests. In Lima, Peru, we're joined by Gustavo Gera, Garcia Picasso, a Peruvian economist and public policy expert, who's held various high-level government and academic positions over the past 20 years. Here in New York, we're joined by Greg Grandin, Yale University History Professor, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, his latest book, America, America, a new history of the new world now available in paperback. His new piece for the New York Review of Books is headline the Education of Pope Leo, the 14th.

We welcome you both to Democracy Now. Let's begin with Gustavo Gede Garcia-Pecaso. talk about what has happened, and if you've been surprised by how close this runoff is, and who Sanchez and Fujimori are. Thank for invitation. I'm very glad to be here with your audience. Well, Keko Fujimori, she's not leading the voting count. The last counting of votes that we have, what we call the quick count of the boats,

Roberto Sanchez is leading by 50.3% against 49.7% of Keiko Fujimori. So as this kind of quick counting boats has a very big sample, all indicates that Roberto Sanchez will be the next president of So talk more about, I mean, a daughter of a father doesn't necessarily represent her father's politics, but in this case, in fact, does Fujimori represent her father? Yes, Fujimori represents her father. And in the last years, democracy has been undermined by constitutional changes led by her that have disrupted the balance of powers. and allowed one branch of government to capture several independent branches.

Now, the president can be removed from office in a month, a week, or even a day, and it's urgent that reforms must be implemented quickly to restore a presidential system with check-on balances and to reduce political instability. And the responsibility of these new problems is Keiko's constitutions of 2024. And can you talk about Sanchez's position, and particularly his support for indigenous people, Sanchez, thanking the support of the Ketua, the Amara, the Amazonian peoples of farmers, teachers, shopkeepers, transportation workers, and young people. Roberto Sanchez is the leader of the poor in Peru.

We have now a result that shows us a divided society. The coastal cities from Lima northward versus the rest of the country. the interior versus Lima, the poor versus the wealthy. Now the government of the together for Peru Party must carefully reconcile the country by closing divides and solving problems. Obviously, Roberto Sanchez is representing the votes of the poor and the votes of the vast social majority of the country. And has President Trump had an effect on the Peruvian elections, Gustavo?

Not really. I think the government of the United States is having an effect on some public policies, like the pressure for buying far, excuse me, military airplanes, or the pressure for building a military base close to Lima in Kayao, in the Kayao province. But I think the American administration has been very cautious in not interfering with the electoral process of Peru. That certainly is not true for the rest of Latin America, President Trump's role. But first, Professor Grandin, I wanted to ask you about this piece you wrote in the New York Review of books, the education of Pope Leo the 14th. As a young missionary in Peru, the Pope witnessed a war on liberation theology

and was indelibly stamped by the movement's commitment to the poor. Start in Peru and then go broader to Latin America. Well, regarding the peace, regarding Pope Leo's peace, Peru in many ways was the cradle of liberation theology, that current within Catholicism, that radicalized the church, that committed the church to the poor and to promote political change, even radical political change, with many nuns and priests and lay people joining insurgencies or joining social movements. And Leo, at the time, Father Bob Prevost, from Chicago, from a kind of peace Catholic background, was very much influenced by this tradition. And he allied with Pope Francis, who at the time was the Archbishop of Buenos Aires. Of Argentine. Yeah. Of Buenos Aires. Yeah.

And in many ways, they work together to push back against the kind of Vatican attempt to undermine liberation theology. And they pushed back very effectively. They really kind of contained Opus Day within Peru. I mean, Leo's tenure in Peru over the course of 20 years, corresponded to Pope John Paul and Joseph Ratzinger, who became Pope Benedict's campaign to isolate and undisputed. mind liberation theology, and then Leo was appointed bishop by Francis, and then he presided over a kind of rollback of the rollback. So, and so in many ways, that's shaping his moral vision, his humanism. It comes in many ways out of Latin America. It's interesting. The world, in some ways you can watch the tension between Pope Leo and President Trump, as they also so take on each other. But in Latin America, in these last minutes we have, talk about the

right word shift, Professor Grandin, and talk about President Trump's role from Peru to Honduras, Mexico, and beyond. The best way to think about is compared to the Middle East, in the Middle East, the war in Iran, an unforced era, which has led Trump to a kind of box himself in with no exit strategy, unwilling, unable to restrain Israel as it goes into Lebanon, as it, as it meddles in Syria, it's a disaster and it's a fiasco. Latin America is exactly the opposite. You see a kind of full-spectrum press on the whole continent. Like, there's not a country maybe, apart from Uruguay, where the United States isn't

actively involved in the internal politics. And you see what's being put into places is the full spectrum of hard power. We have regime change in Venezuela, lawfare. We're seeing the United States allying with. militaries trying to expand as the military footprint of the United States in Peru, in Ecuador, relaunching the war on drugs. What's at stake with the election in Peru, the election coming up in Colombia is really, if Trump wins those countries back for the United States, I'm going to see a full-on re-escalation of the war on drugs, Planned Columbia, which was devastating for the countries involved,

devastating for Colombia. And that's, and that is, that is explicitly that planned. In Mexico, the United States is a union a combination of CIA covert ops in the north and lawfare in order to box in Claudia Shinebaum. In many ways, Claudia Shinebaum stands as a polar opposite of Bucheli in El Salvador. Shinebond and Buckely are the two most popular presidents in Latin America, and they represent polar opposite political projects. right. Buceli is basically this dystopian project of eliminating due process and filling

mega prisons and basically serving as a receptacle for the United States' castoffs. And Scheinbaum is trying to resurrect a kind of Mexican humanism, a Latin American humanism, a universalism through economic redistribution. But her room for maneuver is tight. Cuba is really just the tip of the iceberg. It really is a kind of unprecedented. We have 20 seconds. It really is an unprecedented program of regression that we're watching in Latin America.

And quite in many ways, we must admit, effective and successful. Greg Randon, Yale University History Professor, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, his latest book out in paperback, America, and Medica, a new history of the New world, and Gustava Gera Garcia Picasso, Peruvian economist and public policy experts speaking to us from Peru. That does it for our show. I'll be in Sheffield and England Friday night for the screening of the film about Democracy Now. Steal the story, please. And next week in Belfast on Tuesday night for Ireland Docs. That does it for our show. Go to a website at DemocracyNow.org. I'm Amy Goodman.