Musk and His Rich Friends Are Looting the Federal Government
DOGE’s slashing and burning has nothing to do with “efficiency” and everything to do with further enriching Elon Musk and his fellow plutocrats.
261 Articles by: Ben Burgis
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Ben Burgis is a Jacobin columnist, an adjunct philosophy professor at Rutgers University, and the host of the YouTube show and podcast Give Them An Argument. He’s the author of several books, most recently Christopher Hitchens: What He Got Right, How He Went Wrong, and Why He Still Matters.
“Antiwar” Trump Wants the US to Ethnically Cleanse Gaza
Donald Trump and his allies have often promoted him as antiwar. Yesterday Trump said that he wants the US to “own” Gaza and kick out all its inhabitants — which, in addition to being ethnic cleansing, would require more war to accomplish.
RFK Jr Is Wrong. Health Care Is a Human Right.
In his confirmation hearing, Robert F. Kennedy Jr told Bernie Sanders that he opposes health care as a human right. His reasoning reveals how libertarian talking points are being used to defend a cruel and irrational health care system.
Trump’s First Moves: Toward More War, Nothing for Workers
Donald Trump’s first executive orders should dispel any fantasy of him as either a noninterventionist or an economic populist.
Biden’s Bleak Presidency Was Always Going to End in Trump
Joe Biden came into office promising to be the next FDR. Instead, his presidency of empty gestures and moral failures has given us something far more dangerous: a reinvigorated Donald Trump armed with a popular mandate and a drive for retribution.
Capitalist Housing Markets Make Natural Disasters Worse
From price gouging to risky developing to insurance dysfunction, the dynamics of private housing markets are making the Los Angeles fire disaster considerably worse. We don’t need to prioritize real estate profits over people’s housing needs.
The Los Angeles Fires Didn’t Have to Be This Bad
From budgetary neglect to climate inaction to private monopolies, political choices have fanned the flames of California’s devastating fires.
How Capitalism Undermines Freedom
In his refutation of the famous libertarian arguments of Robert Nozick’s Anarchy, State, and Utopia, socialist thinker G. A. Cohen showed the absurdity of thinking that we had to accept an unequal society in order to preserve liberty.
Elon Musk Is Inaugurating a New Era of Billionaire Rule
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, just used his political influence to shut down a bipartisan deal to keep the government open. It’s obscene — but it’s just one example of the ways billionaires dominate American democracy.
No, Brian Thompson Wasn’t a “Working-Class Hero”
Commentators like the New York Times’ Bret Stephens have called slain CEO Brian Thompson a “working-class hero.” You don’t have to condone murder to see through that ridiculous claim about a man who was at the helm of a legalized extortion racket.
Privatizing the Post Office Would Be a Disaster
Yesterday Donald Trump confirmed that he’s considering privatizing the US Postal Service. That would be a big step in the direction of a libertarian dystopia.
Tulsi Gabbard Stands for Nothing
Some observers are hoping that Tulsi Gabbard, as Donald Trump’s pick for director of national intelligence, will be a counterweight to warmongering “neocons” in his administration. But a sober look at her record doesn’t inspire much confidence.
Hunter Biden Was Pardoned Because Laws Are for Little People
It’s obscene for President Biden to withhold pardons for far more deserving people while helping his own son.
Calling a Football Riot a Pogrom Insults Historical Memory
Israeli ultraright football hooligans rampaged through Amsterdam, and regular fans were targeted with violence in turn. The whole episode was atrocious, but calling it a pogrom is historically ignorant and trivializes genuine horrors.
The Election We Could Have Had
No law of history dictated that a right-wing billionaire would win over vast swaths of the working class in this year’s election. It simply didn’t have to be like this.
On Joe Rogan’s Show, Trump Had Nothing to Offer Young Men
Donald Trump went on The Joe Rogan Experience to connect with young men and demonstrate he has solutions to their concerns. Instead, the conversation showed the hollowness of his brand of fake populism.
There’s No Pride in a Dick Cheney Endorsement
Kamala Harris and her surrogates keep bragging about Dick Cheney’s endorsement. It’s deeply obscene: Dick Cheney is a depraved war criminal whose image should not be rehabilitated.
The Strangely Empty Politics of Kamala Harris
With Kamala Harris’s campaign struggling to extinguish the possibility of another Trump presidency, she seems willing to try everything — except for a clear political vision that folds together broad antiwar sentiment and economic populism.
One Year After 10/7, Israel’s Eye-for-an-Eye Logic Must End
One year ago, Hamas killed hundreds of Israeli civilians. Israel has since killed tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians, justifying it as righteous revenge. The only way out of the entire region spiraling into war is to slam the brakes on retribution.
At the VP Debate, Neither Candidate Spoke Up for Peace
At last night’s vice presidential debate, Tim Walz spoke eloquently and passionately on abortion rights. But on Israel, Palestine, and Iran, he might as well have been J. D. Vance.