The Last American Vagabond - Sam Husseini Interview - Can A Corrupt System Be Changed From Within?

Starting point is 00:00:00 You were put on notice and you backed it and you backed a genocide to the hill for years on end. How dare you talk about corruption? How dare you talk about corruption? Thank you for your diatribe. Oh, you get to make a speech every day. You get to make a hypocritical speech every day. And God forbid, you should be questioned about your diabolical record. It's amazing that you can show your genocidal face. Public. I'm Ryan Christian.

Starting point is 00:00:56 Welcome to the Last American Vagabond. You know, Americans like those moments, right? We like to see the corrupt get called out to their face. Now, the sad thing today, what we're all, I think a lot of us bumping up against, is recognizing a disconnect between the accusations, the criticism, and being accountable, being held accountable. And so I'm talking again, a friend of the show, journalist, author, Sam Hussein, he's joining me today to discuss multiple things, his recent calling out, you know, of corruption all across the spectrum, is talking about running for

Starting point is 00:01:28 Congress, as well as just discussing the larger problems we're dealing with today. Sam, welcome back to the show. How are you today? Good to be with you. Thank you, Ryan. Just, you know, it's just great to see. You know, as much as it is like I'm highlighting and I want to get into with you, a lot of what we see today from other people who don't mean what they're saying, and I believe you do, it's a lot of yelling and accusations and then no follow through and nobody's ever held accountable. And that's a really important point right now for a lot of Americans all over the spectrum. You know, hashtag arrest someone, like even from Republicans. You know, it's becoming very frustrating. So just on that first note, you know, it's nice to see him being called out because I think it's obvious these people are corrupt on both

Starting point is 00:02:07 sides. And I believe we share that opinion. And so let's just get into this and first, you know, what happened there, how you were banned afterward and which is not new for you trying to call corrupt people out and being banned from places of journalism. And then let's talk about, you know, what you think is changing and then overlap that with Congress and like how you want to change that. Like let's see some accountability today, you know? I, it was an event at the press club where I'd been a member for 20 years. It was against corruption sponsored by public citizen, presumably anti-corruption organization. And I found out that they weren't going to take questions. for Schumer. There were other parts of the event where they would have Q&A, but it was clear that Schumer wasn't

Starting point is 00:02:53 going to take questions, and I just thought that this was preposterous. So after he, you know, spoke for a minute or two, I stood up and called him up and said, you know, you're talking about corruption, or it could be more corrupt than backing genocide. And I think that it's, you know, not just simply cathartic, but it's especially important to do as Democrats are trying to rebrand themselves somehow, you know, being the party opposed to the Gaza genocide, for example, including, you know, central figures in the Biden administration. So I thought that it was important to do that. You said I haven't been banned. I've been, you know, taken out of places, but I don't recall ever being outright banned. Oh, I guess I was referring to you not showing back up at the State Department.

Starting point is 00:03:46 Well, they actually did let me back into the State Department because they didn't have a case as to they rescinded my access for a while and then with virtually no explanation, regranted it. But then they had assigned seating. So they put me way in the back right near the door if they want to drag me out again. And they kind of threatened me with security once I was, you know, chiming in in ways that they didn't like. And then about a year ago, the State Department stopped having press briefings altogether. The State Department has not had a normal. scheduled press briefing with a spokesperson for over a year now. So they just pulled a plug on, you know, any kind of minimal accountability altogether after, you know, taking pains to avoid me and violating their own rules and so on. But here, this is a press club that's supposed to be an organization dedicated to press freedom. Back in 2011, I was actually suspended from there for asking a Saudi autocrat tough questions. But they were, they, they had. had the Ethics Committee kicked in and overturned that suspension. It was just a two-week suspension at the time.

Starting point is 00:04:56 And it got play. I mean, I got covered in the Washington Post and other places. This time, I've seen no coverage in any mainstream outlet. And the president and executive director of the press club won't even tell me who the chair of the Ethics Committee is. you know so you know just another you know threat of degeneration and I got the letter a letter just a little bit ago from the executive director telling me that I had been banned completely banned from from the club not just a suspension for a period of time or anything like that which also

Starting point is 00:05:35 wouldn't be justified they concocted this narrative where I was somehow a threat to safety and security you know, it just, you know, complete lies. And, you know, hopefully either the press club elements within it will realize the damage that they're doing to themselves, not to mention just journalism and also defaming me, but also, you know, folks like you and hopefully other media will awaken to this and, you know, start covering it. Hopefully. Yeah. I mean, so all that, all those points that the media not covering it, the state department shutting down briefings, you know, some of these points are generally, you know, not wanting to talk about what's happening, but you know, you've done this a long time. It's not unprecedented, but all these things together, what sense does that give you? What does that show you in what's going on today? Yeah, that, you know, institutions that are supposed to do things have been even more hollowed out than they were five, 10 or 15 years ago. you know, just this complete capitulation to this, you know, Trump mentality of he's the big threat and nobody else is going to be scrutinized. I mean, you know, Schumer is Mr. Wall Street. And he's

Starting point is 00:06:55 talking to public citizen against against corruption allegedly. I mean, there are so many preposterous layers to this. And you're right, I have been at this for a long time. And, you know, I've lived outside, you know, near D.C. for 30 years now, trying to do this kind of work. And part of what I'm doing now is running for Congress because, you know, I feel like I've been battling against official Washington, getting into news conferences and working, you know, trying to get good information into establishment media and so on and so forth. And I've lived in what is now Maryland's fourth congressional district for most of that time, some 20 years. And I want to try to organize people in the area. I don't want to run a campaign for the sake of it. I feel like a lot of campaigns, political campaigns, sort of try to exploit movement.

Starting point is 00:08:08 and I think we've seen that from presidents to senators to congresspeople to mayors and so on, that they actually use movements in order to gain public office. I'm prepared to take public office. I'm trying to get into Congress, but I realize that it's a severe long shot. But I'm more than anything trying to juice up movements rather than you know, suck them dry. And that means activating people who are outside of Washington, D.C. and could cast a shadow onto official Washington instead of being in the shadow of it. Right, right. Well, you know, I mean, I think, in my opinion, I think there's clearly movements that are

Starting point is 00:08:58 dishonest from the start or just, you know, not what they appear. But I think a lot of these movements are clearly genuine throughout history, but I think to it almost to a group, I end up seeing them co-opted, manipulated from the top down. You know, and that's that's kind of what you're, I think you're speaking to is that it's just a common practice to take things with good intentions and just squeeze them dry for the political motivation and drop them. You know, I've even seen memes going around about that, specifically from the left, you know, but it's both sides of this. We're seeing, I think, happening, we're seeing it, I think, happen right now with the Republican side of this, the MAGA movement and all of that. But, you know, I appreciate what you're trying to do.

Starting point is 00:09:28 My audience is very familiar with my stance on this about not that I believe, you know, since we know, if we're living in a state of society, which is what we are, not, not anarchistic, which is arguably what I think I would prefer. But since we are in this type of governmental society, I argue that the system done correctly requires informed electorate, engaged, voting, and expressing your opinions and being engaged. My point has always been that I believe these things have been stolen from us. And I think that's a very easy case to make from both sides,

Starting point is 00:09:59 whether it's voting machines or just corruption, voting manipulation. And so I'm always open to the idea that I'm wrong about the entirety of it. But I'm very skeptical. And I think most Americans are today. And so expressing all that, I'm just my opinion is that I don't even think I'm in the position or ever will be with all this to be out there in voting. But I do appreciate, and of course I could be wrong about that. And I advocate for people to do voting included, what they think is important. But my point is that I think that all that said that what you're doing is important, like Derek Brose, for example, did something similar, ran for a different reason, but still trying to get political momentum, get people to think about the right things. And so I support you in doing that. And I think that if anyone is going to have an it's somebody like you who I believe has good intentions and all this. And so that being said, you know, how do you see yourself making a difference in a system that you are, that you openly admit is broken and corrupted to a degree that, you know, all leave it there, just that is corrupted. You know, how do you see yourself making a difference through a system like that? I think virtually every system that we operate in, from media to being on X, which I probably

Starting point is 00:11:02 spend too much time on to, you know, to, I mean, even in the realm of armed struggle, you know, you know, every legal, the legal realm, you know, every realm is corrupted. And you realize that going into it. And I think the electoral realm is hugely corrupted. But that doesn't stop us from trying to use our smarts to figure out ways to short circuit the system to take what opportunities you know can avail themselves you know i mean i'm you know i've gained some notoriety because of my questioning and so on so i'm like okay could i actually you know make a run here for congress and knock a very pro-genocide establishment democrat down to size and galvanize this district so i think that there there are opportunities and you know you you you

Starting point is 00:12:02 you take them where you can and you try to, I mean, one thing that I want to do is start generating PDFs that people can download and print as part of the campaign. And I hope that this effort will take a life of its own after the campaign so that people can have an excuse to knock on their neighbors' doors, can have an excuse to be handing out flyers at metro stops, can can, you know, have build up the tools and the mechanisms whereby people can be engaged wherever they are with regal information and not just be I'm still torn about what names to give this PDF project. I have a version of it up right now called Papers Project, but I'm almost tempted to call it something like get off your phone and read a piece of paper that this person handed to you or something along

Starting point is 00:13:00 something shorter than that, but just maybe just get off your phone. And finding ways to engage people. Imagine hinting out flyers in front of military bases in front of health insurance companies, so on and so forth. I think that, you know, we have a line that comes to my mind a lot is the roomy line. be fiery cold ones so that heat can come. So to try to inspire people to, you know, in microcosm going from my tough questioning to, can we take that to other venues so that people can be, you know, active in their day-to-day life and produce a citizenry that's more meaningful.

Starting point is 00:13:51 Yeah, most definitely. And I personally love that for the reasons you stated, but also just the idea of where all this goes. You know, everything digital, no, you know, even from the COVID-19 era, you know, no contact. You know, I think that's in a lot of ways challenging where the world, you know, in a, you know, governmental sense, I guess, just controlling sense is going, where it's, you know, less contact, more online. So I appreciate that. But, you know, I guess in the larger point of it is in a system that is designed to not change, you know, I guess, I mean, all you can do is have hope that you can

Starting point is 00:14:21 change it from within if you want to effectively change it. That's where I sort of lose that momentum is that I'm just so battered down with examples that it's designed not to. And so it's like, but same point from the beginning, I wholeheartedly support people's desire or an effort to try to change that, whether or not it can be. It's like it's still, you know, but I just hope I'm wrong in that because I know there are good people around this in it, you know, less in it today than ever, but clearly there are people that are choosing to try to do things for the right reasons.

Starting point is 00:14:46 I'd like to believe Amassi is trying to do that. I'm going to hold people's feet to the fire, yourself included, and hope that they follow through. Absolutely. Your history has shown that you will and that you demand that. those kind of questions. And I say about Massey all the time is somebody who's honest should be demanding themselves be a question.

Starting point is 00:15:00 So I very much appreciate that. So what are some important things that you think you want to start with in this? You know, like what will be your, you know, not necessarily your entire, you know, campaign, but, you know, some primary focal points for you. Before I answer that, I'd love to give a little bit of a historical context to this because, you know, I think that the system does produce a lot of dead ends and a lot of co-optations, But in that, there are openings. I mean, for example, after Vietnam and Watergate, you had Carter come in who very much consolidated the system.

Starting point is 00:15:34 But you also had people like James Aberresk, who became a senator in South Dakota and was an incredible rebel rouser in the Senate. And similarly with the end of the Cold War, you had Clinton come in and consolidate the system. And then after the Iraq invasion, you had Obama come in and basically consolidate the system. And each of those consolidations laid the groundwork for further aggressions. You know, Carter started the rapid deployment force, which became CENTCOM, which became the instrument for all, you know, all the wars that we've seen in the Middle East. So there's an insidiness to it. But with the Gaza genocide, I think that the Democratic establishment is attempting frantically to consolidate it in many ways.

Starting point is 00:16:24 and to co-op the movement against genocide. I mean, I think a lot of politicians who talk about Palestine now, I don't, you know, I'm not a mind reader. I don't know what's in their hearts, but I feel like they're benefiting more from the cause than they're actually giving in to the cause. I actually know you're most of exactly about that today. And I like to do.

Starting point is 00:16:46 Yeah, I mean, that's an extreme example of Hakeem Jeffrey. And by the way, my opponent, Glenn Ivy, has actually taken more money from APEC and APEC-related super PACs, even than Hakeem Jeffries. He's way out there. So, I mean, that, you know, the whole Gaza genocide is central and not just simply, ethically and not just simply because it's our tax dollars, but also because I think that the issue of Israel is central, and the U.S.-Israeli establishment relationship is central. to the corrosion of democracy and freedom in the United States in terms of big tech,

Starting point is 00:17:29 police training, and so on and so forth. So, you know, I think that these are central issues that affect us. It isn't an issue. It's emblematic of making the U.S. more and more of an empire and even less of a democracy. So I think that that's completely central. But my other issues, I mean, some of them are very boilerplate, you know, progressive stuff for enhanced Medicare for all. And, you know, there's clearly a dire situation in terms of health insurance and health care coverage in the United States.

Starting point is 00:18:10 But, you know, at a deeper level, there's a real unequivocal commitment to civil liberties and to building up what we have in the United States rather than continue draining it for the benefit. of the Epstein class in terms of where the resources, resources go. Yeah, I love it. I mean, these are, I mean, what's interesting is you'd expect almost everybody. I guess we'll see more as we get closer to, you know, I guess primarily the presidential election. But these would be things you'd hear from politicians. Because in my opinion, and tell me if you agree, I think it's pretty obvious the vast majority left and right of the field have generally these criticisms about these larger issues.

Starting point is 00:18:53 And so I'm surprised to see less, not as many people, you know, stating that, and not meaning it. You know, that's what a lot of politicians do, kind of like Jeffrey's saying, stop with the genocide and continuing to support the genocide, whether it's funding or so on. But what I guess what's important, though, is that, you know, these are things that I doubt I will see in that. Because I think they're so, I mean, from every, everybody that I can see has some kind of connection to funding through some kind of a lobby connected to Israel, some kind of a merchant of death out there, whether either these days, Palantir, Oracle, or even going back to the old school ones, you know. And so clearly I think that a lot of them are just stuck in this old kind of status quo system. And I think that's one of the reasons that people are starting to see through all this.

Starting point is 00:19:30 You know, that we're, I mean, I guess I don't want to jump ahead to this. But since you mentioned the two-party illusion, I was kind of an end with this, that I think that, you know, what are you're, we've talked about this before, in fact. You and I had an interview about this going back to Elon Musk that I think you were 100% correct on. Elon Musk, save your free speech or the great digital divider, I'd like to believe that's pretty clear today. but to the larger point about the two-party illusion, you know, do you see that right now playing more of a factor? Like, do you see there being a divide between these two sides? Or do you think they're all kind of locked in when it comes to the larger issue? And what does that say about where we are as a country? Yeah, I think that a lot of the screaming and shouting between the Democratic and Republican

Starting point is 00:20:07 establishments is largely performative and that they effectively foster the same interests or severely overlapping interests of Wall Street, big tech, military, industrial complex. U.S.'s empire, Israel, and so on behind the scenes, and sometimes not even behind the scenes. So I think that it's still very much a major issue. And I think that they, you know, you know, we've seen a marginalization of the issue of the Gaza genocide, even as it's continued. And I think that it's part of a very calibrated effort by the establishment to put it out of sight, out of mind, and to substitute it with issues that are more amenable to, you know, this facade of a great debate, whether it's immigration, for example, or, you know,

Starting point is 00:21:02 the buzzword of today, socialism. These, I think, are propaganda terms and mechanisms of the establishment to get people to get them stuffed back into their partisan boxes. So that they got to back Trump because they don't want the socialists. They got to pack the Democrats because Trump's going to, you know, is using ICE for all of these diabolical ends, ignoring the fact that the Democrats, generally speaking, aren't for abolishing ICE. They're not for, you know, they perpetuated this system. And the crisis of immigration largely came from issues. that the two-party duopoly agrees on corporate trade deals, drug wars, and interventions. These are the things that cause desperate immigration.

Starting point is 00:21:58 And then the sort of result of that is desperate immigration. And then the duopoly uses that to stuff everybody back into their partisan boxes. And even the creation of ICE, you know, that came out of the aftermath of 9-11 and the false flag Pygantrax attacks as part of the whole so-called reorganization of the so-called Department of Homeland Security, the Patriot Act, and all of that. So all of these issues that are used for partisan division are effectively the results of duopoly collusion. Yeah, I mean, I think that's one of the most central issues of our time. I really think most people, just in this last administration, I mean, I would even argue like to double the amount of people, if not the majority today, that see that or at least are beginning to question it. I get pushed back on that, but I think it's beginning to develop more clearly.

Starting point is 00:22:56 But on the part of the Israel aspect, because again, to Americans, and at least as I see it, it has become a central issue. And this is not anything about anything other than the reality of the Israeli government dictating or manipulating U.S. policy. And so like Section 219, for example, in the National Defense Authorization Act or previous elements of legislation that are there, you know, do you think that's a driving factor here? And to what degree do you think Israel is at least trying to influence U.S. policy? And then how does that play a factor in your potential, you know, if and when you become a member of Congress? I think it's very much a driving factor. You know, I view it as empire elements within the United States and Israel collude, you're your mileage. may vary as the whole, you know, the whole, you know, tail wagging the dog and all all of that. I think, you know, people, goodwill can, can debate that. I, I am concerned and part of the reason I'm running, honestly, is that, you know, there's murmurs of a third party from, you know, Tucker Carlson and company. I'm concerned that that's not going to happen. I'm concerned,

Starting point is 00:24:05 or that if it does happen, it's just going to be another tentacle of the establishment. And, you know, some activists with the Green Party went out and did the work here in Maryland and got on the ballot. And some Green Party people kept knocking at my door saying, we had an open ballot line here saying, you know, I mean, I've known other decent people who, you know, ran for office and spent their entire time trying to get on the ballot. So this was handed to me on a silver platter. So that was part of my thinking. And part of my thinking is to, you know, to put forward a context. of this is a political figure who actually means what they say, and we should be expecting this. This should be the norm. This shouldn't be a novelty. And that it's here and now. It's not hoping

Starting point is 00:24:54 that Tucker Carlson and company come to the rescue like the cavalry in two years, because they could very well end up folding behind J.D. Vance or something, you know, or who knows what. this is here and now and I'm hoping that it will resonate with people and I think it already has been resonating with people in the last just a week, 10 days around the country and especially within the district. Yeah, I absolutely agree. Now, just to be clear, so you are running on the Green Party? Is that what the, I didn't get that in the first place. So good. Yeah. I actually got about that because I understand the logic a lot of minds about why that might hinder your effort to potentially win. But to me, all of this is about principled stances. You know, that's really what Americans

Starting point is 00:25:41 want from what I can see and just as they don't get it. And so as much as, you know, I don't believe right now representing either side of the, you know, left-right system is a good look. I don't think they're accurate or honest. And I mean at the at the level, you know, DNCRNC. And I think that's pretty clear. So I'm glad to hear that. Even though I do have my thoughts about any of them, like I said, the whole system, you know, I have good, you know, I have good, you know, you know, feeling about this and your intentions. And so I think that goes a long way. And I believe people will pick up on the, you know, what you're laying out and that I believe you'll follow through with it as best you can. And I think I, you know, it'd be a rise for freshen change,

Starting point is 00:26:12 put it that way. And people in power right now. So it's good to hear. I've, I've been open of my criticisms of the Green Party, particularly around thing about, I shouldn't say the Green Party, members of the Green Party, primary members, and particularly on the issue of COVID origins and other related things, which I've done a lot of work on, as you're aware, Ryan. And, you know, part of what resonates with me is some of the early greens would say, we're not from the left or right. We're, you know, we're up front. We're forward. And that resonates with me as well. Yeah, absolutely. You know, and like you said, we should be questioning it, you know, because people across the political spectrum will tell you what you want to hear, right? So question

Starting point is 00:26:53 it, hold their feet of the fire and hope, though. You know, that's one of the things I talk about today is that, you know, if we're not hoping that something like this becomes what we want to, then what are we doing? You know, it's a lot of people end up in that position where nothing is ever possible, you know, and I get framed that way, but I'm very hopeful. Even when it comes to the Tucker thing, and I don't have good feeling about it, but I still hope that it ends up being what we would want, you know, same thing with the left, right, presidents, you know, you just don't hope that they do the right thing, but be honest about it, because truly it's, you know, pretty clear if you're being honest with yourself, you know?

Starting point is 00:27:23 So I'm looking forward to that, Sam, and I hope we can follow up on that point as it, as it develops. I know a central part of this as well, and I'm sure, and you already mentioned, this is a central part of this for you as well, is the direction of this technology, the, you know, the technocracy direction, in my opinion, the idea of the, the reason I frame it as technocracy in particular, as opposed to just like technological surveillance, is because I'm of the mind, and I think it's very obvious that it's not just the growth of surveillance, the, the transition of the surveillance state into some technocratic or, excuse me, technological side of it, but that it merges with the government part of it, you know,

Starting point is 00:27:56 the actual technocratic side, like the, you know, going back to the original idea of like the engineers and the scientists going to running things, which it's not that so much anymore. If people look up the term of technocracy, it's become more of a, in my opinion, you know, a transition of society into some sort of like CEO run tech level country. And that's what they're openly discussing. And so all of that said, take it wherever you want, whether it's the focal point of data centers and their issues or the larger government side of it, you know, where is your mind when it comes to data centers, flock cameras, the whole thing as it pertains to Americans? So many things come to find out.

Starting point is 00:28:30 I will try to be coherent. When you say the CEO, I got to mention a local thing here. There is not a superintendent of schools here in Prince George's County where I am. There is a CEO of schools. What you're talking about resonates in so many ways so that you have schools that look like prisons and are probably designed by some of the same people. And I think that that dovetails with the technocracy that you're exactly talking about. And I think it's very inspiring to see a lot of the activism around the data centers and so on.

Starting point is 00:29:12 And it's fascinating to see the demonization of that saying, oh, there are Luddites and so on. If you go back and read, and I don't mean to deify these figures, but Bertrand Russell and Frank Lloyd Wright and their warnings about technology and where it was leading and how it would be used for the benefit of the few until we fixed our political and economic systems, right? You know, they saw, you know, Einstein and Bertrand Russell put out a manifesto mostly dealing with nuclear, the threat of nuclear war, but there were other strands in their thinking. And they basically said, unless we, and until we fix our economic and political life, all of these technologies will be used for the benefit of a few. And, you know, so they almost, especially in the case of Bertrand Russell, who I know did some bad stuff, he was pro-Eugenics early on in his life and so on. You know, it was basically became an enlightened Luddite, you might say. You know, he's not anti-technology by any stretch of the imagination. He's anti-this technology that this establishment is putting forward to use as an instrument to further dominate us.

Starting point is 00:30:35 And it's really fascinating to see young people today sort of know and realize that instinctually. It's also to credit of people like yourself and the other independent journalists out there, they're calling it out and our ability to reach them today, which is growing. But also what you said. But I think that's important to note that things are changing in the way that our society operates. And I think that's largely what this transition is being driven for because people starting to see through things doesn't work for the establishment. Yeah, absolutely. But the threats are tremendous, you know, the threat of nuclear war of, you know, you know, a few elite making horrific decisions that would basically destroy humanity has sort of given away to the threat of enslaving humanity using this techno-fascism or technocracy or however you want to term it with constant surveillance. And I think a huge part of it is the disparate. of it. Like, like, I could imagine a reasonable society where everybody lived in a glass house and therefore nobody threw stones, right? It would be like living in a village and everybody

Starting point is 00:31:47 knows everybody's business and it's equal. That's not what we're tending towards. We are tending towards a system where a privileged few have complete secrecy to do every diabolical thing you can possibly imagine and some that you can't while the rest of us have absolutely no privacy in any part of our lives. That is completely horrific and completely empathetical to any decent ethical system. And this is the craziest thing for me. I bring this up often and people that people still can't see what you just highlighted, despite the fact that Larry Ellison can sit there in front of a million, you know, I think a large audience and just simply say in the, you know, what we're building the future, everyone will be on their best behavior because you're all being

Starting point is 00:32:35 watched. Like just openly tell you that, you know, or Mark Andreessen or Joe Rogan talking about how that's the reality of the world and you've all been lied to. Democracy doesn't exist. You need the good oligarchs to save you from the bad oligarch. You know, and but people, it just doesn't connect. It's almost as if they're talking about some hypothetical distant future. They're talking about right now. They've written books about all this, you know? So it's such an important point to see, you know, and I'm glad I just, it's important to, I'm glad to see that this is something that is on everybody's radar, but importantly, people like you who are trying to work through the system to change that, you know, because, I mean, before I forget, actually,

Starting point is 00:33:05 the point, though, about you made about the glass house and the village, you know, you, you were making a point there, and I think it's important to see the contrast, but just from my perspective, I would argue that that's not, I wouldn't, I wouldn't want either, you know, and I understand that. I understand that, but, but there is a difference between no privacy for anyone and what we are getting towards. Well, that's what I was saying. You clearly making the point there of the contrast. I'm just simply highlighting, which, and maybe you agree with me, but that ultimately it comes down to the choice, you know, and I think that's the issue is even right there, which I think will end up in a position in the near future, already we're seeing versions of it where it becomes

Starting point is 00:33:41 some kind of a thing like that, where it goes, okay, well, fine, do you want this one or do you want that one? And it shouldn't be a false binary, you know, and this is what I think Americans need to get around. It's not left or right. It's not going through the same hamstring wheel. It's trying to find different paths, you know, and it's not always easy to see. And sometimes it's not one person with the answer. But I think that's important is that it's about, you know, people choosing their own path and how they want to live their lives. Hey, if you want to make a community where everyone has glass houses, then you guys can all gravitate towards that. But it's about forcing people into it, you know, and these people truly believe that they either know what's best for us or honestly,

Starting point is 00:34:14 I think some of them are just truly, as you said, diabolical, just, you know, self-serving interest. But both of those are alarming to me. Absolutely. And as you say, this is, a real-world thing that's unfolding and people can see it, you know, and you know, you'll, you know, you'll, you know, have a medical issue that you email a friend about and suddenly you see ads dealing with the medical issue if you're typical, you know, phone user and so on. So that kind of thing is obviously snowballing more and more. Corporate and government interests know virtually everything about you, even things that you don't share with, you know, actual people.

Starting point is 00:34:53 in your actual life. And you know absolutely nothing about the insidious things that they do. So something definitely has to come to a head to, you know, really genuinely deal with that. And I mean, the obscene stuff is, I think, a window into that immense disparity. But there are certainly other. Well, so on that point alone, though, do you have any thoughts on what you're, you know, at least as it pertains to your, you know, constituents? What if and when, what do you, what would you try to do to do to stop that? Massive government disclosure. You know, if I were to actually get into office, I would be pushing for massive government disclosure on all fronts as, you know, as rapidly as possible before, before they can use AI to rewrite. government documents before God knows what else happens to prevent further disasters to massive government disclosure about the origins of the pandemic about all kinds of insidious government

Starting point is 00:36:12 actions I think is one one major remedy I mean I've tried to push the envelope in terms of what it means to be a journalist and I'm going to try to be pushing the envelope as to what it means to be a candidate to try to activate movements rather than to sponge off of them. And if I were to end up in Congress, I would try to redefine what it means to be a member of Congress. I mean, I think it's scandalous that you have members of Congress who, to their credit, are calling bombings of Yemen by Biden, unconstitutional or bombings by Trump of Iran as unconstitutional. But then aren't taking the obvious next step of introducing articles of impeachment, for example. It only takes one member of Congress.

Starting point is 00:36:57 And I think that, and there had been some, Al Green put forward a thing in the summer of 2025 when Trump first bombed Iran. And he got suffocated by the rest of the Democratic Party sandwich and then he lost his seat. So there are obviously diabolical mechanisms that are targeting anybody everybody who tries to to make a stand.

Starting point is 00:37:26 But I'm trying to make a stand that I can. And I mean, I would fulfill a very unique role in that I would call out both sides in various ways. I would, you know, any president conducts an illegal unconstitutional or I would seek to impeach of either party. I would call out the Democrats for their complete denial. nihilism and propaganda regarding the origins of COVID. And I would call out the Republicans in pretending that this is a reason to demonize China or to pretend that it was all Fauci's a horrific actor. And I called them out fairly early on in the pandemic and to some extent even before.

Starting point is 00:38:14 But it's an entire structure, for example, of bio-weapons, which, you know, I'm in Maryland. It's not in the district, but Fort Ditrich is here. So I've put forward a challenge to Maryland Greens and others progressives that we need to confront Fort Dmitrick, the largest biodefense facility in the world, which was likely responsible for the false flag anthrax attacks in 2001, which Congress never investigated. You know, 2001, after 9-11, Congress suffered a false flag bioweapons attack, and Congress never investigated it. And that's ridiculous. I'd certainly put forward that there should be a serious investigation of those anthrax attacks.

Starting point is 00:39:06 They tried to pin around one guy, and he ended up dead. Right. You know, so. We've been covering that for quite a long time in the surge of the COVID-19 time frame. kind of, absolutely. We get about dark winter and so on. We, it's, it's, you know, still, and I'm glad to bring it up, though, because, you know, these things are from the background.

Starting point is 00:39:23 And it's like people become generally just aware, but there's never accountability, you know, so I'm glad to hear. I swear your headline, your tagline should be, we will impeach people. I just, you know, trust me. I don't know, I can get to impeachment, but one congressperson can put forward articles of impeachment. Right, right, right. What can mean is we'll start it.

Starting point is 00:39:43 We'll start the process, you know, but that's, it's nice to hear because, people there's a lot of that happening and you know not so much accountability right so in a sense you know people might try to peg me as a radical or you know coming from the orange or something in a sense if i were to get into congress i feel like i would be the only one actually upholding their pledge the constitution regardless of partisan games right i mean even even even the best democrats never i don't think even thought of impeaching uh Biden for his illegal bombing of you of Yemen, for example, even when they called it unconstitutional. Exactly. Right. And because, I mean, not to give a pass or anything, I think it's just

Starting point is 00:40:23 as corrupt as do this, but there might might just be that it's bad for the party. So we can't do it, you know, to the accountability calling them out. But that, that's, it's just so clear. That's, I think this last administration right, right now of the Republicans getting frustrated with nobody being held accountable just shows you that, you know, that was such a cohesive thing at the beginning. And they just, you know, I mean, they've lied and challenged almost every promise they put forward. people are just tired of that. But speaking of the Iran war, and we can kind of finish on this, is that, you know, it's, it's an interesting addition to all of this. I mean, it's, I'm not going to act like I know why things look different or why Trump keeps cycling through this weird series of

Starting point is 00:41:01 lies. It's just weird. It doesn't even line up for me. But clearly it's different. You know, the straight of Formoose has been talked about for a long time, about the potential of what that might do. You know, I just want your general thoughts on all this. Do you feel there's more about this that is about some kind of energy transition? Do you think this is just about Israel forcing war to take out Iran? You know, what are your thoughts? And how do you see, you know, I mean, well, let's leave it there because we talked a lot about the two, the left, right paradigm. I don't think either side cares, honestly. But what are your thoughts about that going forward for the future of it? I think it could be a whole series of things from Trump and his cronies playing the markets,

Starting point is 00:41:35 you know, in sort of a micro, profiteering sort of way to a geo-eastern sort of way to a geopolitel. politically how they are trying to figure out how to ensure that bricks is what's sometimes called part of the sub-imperial structure. They may well be, you know, trying to form an accommodation with elements within Iran. You know, I mean, obviously all of the Arab governments are completely acquiescent to, you know, the apartheid genocidal state of Israel dominating the Palestinians, they haven't done a damn thing other than obviously Yemen and Serala and Hezbollah. And we saw the horrific deaths of Nasrallah and others. But to what extent is this become a show to distract from Israel?

Starting point is 00:42:35 To what extent is it, I mean, it is obviously open aggression by the United States against Iran. I don't want to minimize that at all. And Iranian people have paid a heavy price in terms of sanctions and so on and so forth. But you do end up with, you know, sort of these militarists on both sides gaining primacy to some extent and to what end to, you know, how will this affect things in a positive way? I mean, if we end up, there are just so many scenarios, it's hard to parse it all out, right? I mean, if we end up with a toll on the Straits of Hormuz and the Iranian establishment, the U.S. establishment rake in some cash, you know, I don't know that that's a real win here. I want actual accountability for the horrific war crimes that the U.S. and Israeli governments have committed.

Starting point is 00:43:36 and I want actual freedom for the people of the region, not just the Palestinians, but the people throughout the region. And in some cases, I, you know, I made a slight foray into poetry at the height of the pandemic. I wrote a piece, Palestine will free us all, which was basically about everything from seeing through the diabolical intricacies of the, you know, party or the duopoly, whatever you want to call it, to people in various countries, Arab and otherwise seeing through the duplicities and complicities of their governments and seeing through the fact that we have what's basically a Palestine laboratory of surveillance and so on that

Starting point is 00:44:29 will affect and is affecting all of us where they try out their surveillance and drones and other mechanisms of control on Palestinians and then roll them out to others and that if there's a, you know, strong enough solidarity effort that Palestine, the issue of Palestine, will free us all. So, you know, I don't know where the cracks are going to emerge. I mean, they could emerge in the U.S. military. They, you know, they could emerge on the Arab street. They could emerge in the citizenry in districts around the U.S. I mean, I'm certainly hoping that one effect of my campaign will be to galvanize the people in this district, but also to indicate, you know, how can we strategically use campaigns?

Starting point is 00:45:26 I mean, Malcolm X always talked about, you know, I'm for anything that is intelligent. You know, in the past, I don't know, I bet we've talked about this, Ryan. You know, I've talked about, you know, vote pact, you know, disenchanted Democrat, disenchanted Republican pair up and both vote for a third party. I haven't emphasized that in this campaign because my current district is overwhelmingly Democrat. It's very deep blue. And on the face of it, it's quite establishment. I mean, Bernie Sanders did very poorly here in primaries in 2016 and in 2000 against Clinton and Biden. But I do think that there's a restlessness beneath the surface that I'm hoping to tap into and hoping to activate.

Starting point is 00:46:25 And obviously, with this Iran war, going back to your question, And, you know, just on the face of it, costing people, according to Moody's, $700 per month, just an increased fuel and other costs, never mind the toll as taxpayers. You know, that should jolt people out of this, you know, sleepwalking and thinking that putting in a completely establishment Democrat, Glenn Ivy, my Democratic moment, who ran over to Israel. twice at least, you know, during the height of the genocide to meet with, uh, quote unquote, Netanyahu, you know, and was put in, as I mentioned earlier with, with APEC money. He defeated Donna Edwards back in 2022, who, you know, was a Democrat, but, you know, was as good of a Democrat as you're going to. She actually went to Gaza in 2009. So I think. that that put a target on her back in the apex circle.

Starting point is 00:47:33 So when they saw their chance in 2022, they knocked her out. She ran for the Senate, lost, tried to win her house seat back, and that's when they got her. So, you know, this system is diabolical. There's no question about that. The question is, what tools can we use? Media, art, comedy, legal mechanism. activism obviously or what combination of those can we use in order to meaningfully change things and that's what I'm trying to do right now if I can plug the website as samhusani.com

Starting point is 00:48:14 for the campaign obviously people can donate but they can volunteer we're going to be setting up phone banking and we're going to be trying to generate these PDFs and hoping that people can be passing them out, can be really meaningfully engaging the public square. And yeah, it's, you know, it's ring the bells that still can ring. I don't, I got my problems with Leonard Cohn, too. But that goes through my mind a lot. Well, I'm glad to hear it, Sam. And, you know, I think that this is, you know, like I said before, I think you have good intentions. I think you have, you know, I think what you want to do is what I would like to see happen. So in so far as that goes, I support you in that. But I, you know, like I said, I just don't think the system is something. I don't, I don't think

Starting point is 00:49:07 I'm going to be voting anytime soon. Put it that way. But I just, I hope people will support you either way. And if you think the voting makes a difference in this and I advocate that you do it, because I believe that Sam has good intentions here. But, you know, it's nice to see this even get talked about. That's what's so crazy about this. I mean, just last opinion on the way out. Don't you find it insane that these things are even being discussed right now? I mean, 20, I mean, a couple of years ago, I wouldn't have said we would be discussing what Israel was doing the way that we are discussing some of these things and such, you know, it's become surface level. And I think that that is a testament to the power of independent media and people like yourself,

Starting point is 00:49:39 journalists out there who are just, you know, have principles and care about the truth and try to fight to get it out there. I think there's a win there. You know, and I think that's like I said, why a lot of this negative stuff is happening. So as much as it's, you know, kind of darker before the dawn, you know, darkest before the dawn, I do think that we're having positive momentum. And so I hope that people can see that with what you're doing as well and support you. So any other final thoughts before we wrap up today, Sam? Yeah, I mean, I think that, you know, people have pointed to a change in public opinion polls. I mean, I'm still amazed that anybody says that they support Israel after what we've seen.

Starting point is 00:50:09 So, and, you know, and, you know, I mean, who would have thought three years ago that they could get away with all of this? And then, yeah, who's still be in power and so on and so forth. So I think that they have gotten away with a hell of a lot. And I'm sort of, you know, in this part, one of the things that I'm doing with this candidacy is saying, okay, they're supposed to be the shift in public opinion. Where is it? You know, it can't just simply be two or three races in New York and maybe a senatoral race in Michigan of people who you're not even sure they're really going to put their shoulder to the wheel if they get into office. Right.

Starting point is 00:50:52 Right. You know, I mean, I'll say he's already said that he will not, that he so fervently against the filibuster. Well, that's the main thing that a senator can do. A sole senator, if you want one senator to stand up to APEC, the first thing that they would do is use the filibuster to call out everybody else. And he's already positioning himself to not be in a position of doing that. So I'm sort of, calling everybody on, you know, is there really a big transformation in public opinion and where is it manifesting itself in a way that will actually make a difference or will the system consolidate? Just like it consolidated after the Iraq War, just like it consolidated after the end of the Cold War, just like it consolidated after the Vietnam War and enough consolidation. we have to find ways of breaking with the system. And that's part of what's galvanizing me to do this and to do it in the way that I'm doing it. I'm not simply running.

Starting point is 00:52:00 I'm saying I'm going to run an activist campaign that is trying to activate a particular district right outside of Washington, D.C. that has a lot of government workers. That means a lot of potential whistleblowers, right? That means if there's a real systemic shift in pockets of this country that really change, then that begins to crumble the edifice of empire and something truly beautiful emerging from that. Well, I love to hear it, Sam. And I wish the best, and I hope that you actually succeed in this. And at the very least, I hope that your efforts will bring attention to some of the things that people aren't thinking about.

Starting point is 00:52:42 So hopefully we can follow up during it afterward, you know, and continue to talk. about this, Sam, so I appreciate your work. So keep me accountable, Ryan. I will, trust me. You know, I will. Thank you. We'll be there for today. As always, everybody out there, question everything.

Starting point is 00:52:55 Come to your own conclusions. Stay vigilant. From the president's office in the White House in Washington, D.C. We present an address by the President of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower. In holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal

Starting point is 00:53:17 and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific, technological elite.

The Last American Vagabond - Sam Husseini Interview - Can A Corrupt System Be Changed From Within?

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