Transcripts For RT The Alex Salmond Show 20240713

United kingdom we asked top toward a common creator peter put of the onset of the crisis will affect the health of 2 corsi of the listenership between the johnson government and much of the Reading Press from the United States we ask Pulitzer Prize winning journalist chris hedges one of the strains of the crisis has already affected president trumps reelection prospects or not for the better the 1st to glasgow and if youre pretty sure emails and your messages. Thank you alex and here are some of your responses to last weeks show which featured from a chief medical officer for scotland. And then piece of paper irelands kristina how fast and the m. P. For human in the us. I should add to the extended interview by alex smith said. Alexs Facebook Page and on his channel captain victor its not Rocket Science these successful countries to follow the guidelines picked on by. People who knew how to manage the circumstances we need to get away from the westminster advice prone to new says fascinating at the feeder islands Testing Capacity was originally developed for the fish farms he then goes on to say i like the suggestion of a tobin tax for Public Health kevin judges building talents as a scot in singapore im very proud of your dedication and sensible approach i so wish we had independence and we could be like the feeder islands david however says there are many folk more qualified to be honest and they all say that lockdown was not the way to go and finally sharmeen says this program is vitally important to watch ive 110 percent agreed with every guest on the show today the u. K. s press and wider media started from a position im early march of broad support for the johnson governments handling of the crisis level come progressively more critical as a realisation has dawned that the u. K. Submerging as the worst country in europe i asked peter or both of them what is going on how thats going to affect the press coverage ill eventually how will that impact on the public view of the outcome. Vitor of on the johnson government came into the scrapers with a pretty fair wind from the press they were newly reelected most of the media in the u. K. Certainly the print media are sympathetic anywhere but there hasnt been coming out like an uncritical analysis of their performance why is that well the media is very well disposed towards mr johnson and it started out being said and of course we had the drama of mr johnsons fight with death and of course quite rightly people were very sympathetic and local tap in mr johnsons illness but only 8 at the same time its right and proper that the media should insist back and judge an expose any failings in the government response the well a couple of incidents which seem to indicate something of a coming point in the medias attitude to the governments handling of the crisis in the u. K. The 1st one occurred in mid april where fast the Financial Times and then the sunday times over the course of one weekend subjected the government performance to some sept analysis how crucial were lead supports and terms of affecting the the accent by which most of the media were covering the pandemic. I think the Financial Times and in particular the sunday times reports were very important to this someday time report something times report was very kind of him very give a little insight into the attitude of the government in the early days of the crisis the revelation that mr johnson had not attended the 1st 5 meetings 5 out of 5 meetings of cobra the Emergency Committee which coordinates responses to crises was quote he did suggest that he didnt grip the crisis with anything like the the energy which might be expected and the other thing was of course it came from Rupert Murdochs sunday times now the sunday times had been a pushy well a subservient follower of the fortunes of the early months of the johnson government and throughout the general election when it took the dining Straight Line without much question and then under a new editor amateur sadly it started to produce reports which question the government line of expose things the government would really rather not have seen the light of day so that was in a significant moment when a pro government paper moved to a much more detached position and how about the differing positions in the 4 nations of the United Kingdom and the the inability of mr johnson to convince their well scottish anonymous 1st ministers to follow him and his change of a slogan theres the deafening positions present on coming difficulties for the westminster government i was struck by the 1st minister scotland nicholas surgeon saying that yes we consulted before mr johnsons speech on sunday i. Bill that was a difficulty i mean that he needs to keep everybody on board they include his own cabinet there was quite an arresting report from an anonymous cabinet minister saying that there was fury in cabinet that they were could sell to about the speech now that simply that is potential political trouble for the Prime Minister and his cabinet arent being brought in on the decisions and then dont get to feel responsible for them so the political handling of the last few days as being questionable and the problems will emerge. And how about parliamentary scrutiny weve had socially distanced parliamentarians is setting in their places but the appropriate distance apart that westminster of a survey says pass the attended house of commons for obvious reasons and weve had the social media questioning does that let you yeah and for the days of the the holy bali of an intense atmosphere is a very difficult for opposition to sustain an attack on the government when were in that position i think that the a lot of the british media a lot of british politicians are rather. Old fashioned they dont understand that social media is where politics political communication now happens much more than in the newspapers or even the t. V. And that means that actually the Communications People in downing street who arent born yesterday are like that much but theyre not born yesterday focusing far more on facebook than they would be on whatever the the popular papers are saying and so this is where the fortunes of the Prime Minister will rise and fall much more than on whether he gets the right headline in a newspaper in the last year in free social media any time you like in the course of the day and really the the prince in years media is close to irrelevant. In quite a lot of the discussions which are going on i would expect her to be and level casualties of least fronted of the sins of the major titles i think one of the affects of the current of our us pandemic will be to accelerate history and it will do so you know kinds of ways which we still come predict one of them im sure is geopolitical one of them is financial but it will also excel or 8 existing trends in fleet street i dont im as you know. Ex im a journalist in my blood i love print journalism i love newspapers and of course in the world of that the most i have bought but i tell you something that i write there are a bunch of the mergers and titles are bound to disappear and it fills me with unhappiness to the fair to geopolitical empat of such a pandemic give us an outline of what you think that effect will be well the most obvious. Soon the gray versts is relations with china which is all the same for the case now that the emerging world part challenging the us hegemonic has been is china ill show you there is too theres been a wave of attacks on china from very senior places in the west youve got tory m. P. s in protection in particular but also i saw the foreign secretary mr rob saying something i know that if you see trump who seems to be launching a series of attacks on china he did this of course in 2016 when he was being elected but its much stronger now and its much more vicious and have at the domestic political scene well the revelation that they they to kingdom is likely to have the highest death rate in europe empat on the public consciousness when we eventually pull through this Health Crisis will that have significant effects and how the public regard the government over the medium term i think its not appropriate to go heavily into that at the moment is the right questions now are you move forward but if it turns out to be the case and nobody wants any country to do badly that britain has has made mistakes along the way which of course thousands or tens of thousands of lives then of course there must be an accounting no less really. For purposes of political point scoring but simply said if a pandemic or when a pandemic happens again we know why it was what were the right things the citizens issue maybe what were the wrong ones and so i do project that there will be political consequences and but there are more to do with understanding what has been a very grave situation theres been some quite vigorous criticism that bothers johnson didnt make his statement about the strategy out of the pandemic out of the crisis to parliament the choice instead to do a private estate of address on a sunday night direct on television is not a substantial complaint are our m. P. s merely beckoning about not being given their place and status what should have happened is that mr mr johnson should have come to Parliament Monday he should set out the his policy in the schematic way he did on sunday night at the same time they would have published the documents giving the precise details and then in the evening or monday evening he should have addressed the nation directly and i think they made it was an insult to parliament therefore an insult to parliamentary democracy and of course its one of the reasons why cabinet ministers are reportedly feeling upset because they were excluded to another words making the announcement the rhetoric on t. V. On a sunday night im not to parliament he is open you know i am him self up to justify criticism bitter over in london thank you very much indeed and its always a huge pleasure to talk to you alex. Coming up after the break we move across the atlantic and consult with Pulitzer Prize winning journalist chris hedges. Back geysers financial Survival Guide liquid those that you can burn in sick pass quite easily. To keep in mind no assets i mean to place a. Record. Welcome back in the u. K. As weve have at the start of the crisis much of the media were pretty supportive of the newly elected johnston government over the atlantic much of the press were already critical of the trumpet ministration and his handling of the crisis as criticism many times over to analyze this time to chris hedges the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist author and post them i condemn it chris welcome back to the alex salmond show thank you chris the president clearly sought to deflect responsibility onto his feet assess that ministration for lack of preparations on to the World Health Organization for mis calling the the crisis as the president sees a lot indeed on to china if a big ologist the crisis how successful has he been thus far in deflecting responsibility elsewhere with most of the country not successful at all within his base. While it has taken hits in it remains affective you have these kind of astroturf protests outside of state capitals i live in new jersey we even had one in new jersey these are people who are not in new jersey who show up with weapons demand a reopening i think its hard to underestimate the power of news outlets like fox fox news which had all the kinds of conspiracy theories that trump. Propagates out of the white house and that the anti science sentiments which of course cater to the christian right that perhaps a 3rd of the country that doesnt believe in evolution and you know thinks trump is me as any one percent support among the evangelical movement this is a nonreality based. Movement which. Is kind of impervious to news outlets that still remain rooted in verifiable fact the death toll from less that levi of us thus far the United States is by some measure of the highest in the world but of course by head the population at the still as we speak running at half the level compared to the United Kingdom all italy are indeed fronts so a feeling in the United States the that the as some sort of National Shame in the above the tragedy of having such a high death toll relative to other countries i would again say among a majority of the population 50 or 60 percent of the population thats true now the New York Times ran a story the other day about how trump support among the elderly and it was high among the elderly as eroding because of course the white houses through its a rush to reopen the economy which it knows will exacerbate the spread of corona and of course the death count that comes with it the theres there are signs that among the older supporters of trump they realize theyre being sacrificed i think i cant stress enough this massive chasm that has opened up in the United States between those who merge fact and opinion and those who still remain rooted in any universe where facts matter youre been pretty critical of the 1200 dollar payment the the socalled helicopter money but many economists would argue that the least as being a way of getting some cash into the the hands of a population who are in many cases a badly in need of any finance athol whats been the basis of you have done this policy because its too meager. And 1200. 00 you know the average rent that isnt going to cover your rent of course we have now rent strikes throughout the country in essence theyre de facto rent strikes because people cant afford to pay their rent that money gets vacuumed up by Credit Card Companies or and has gone Unemployment Insurance has been extended although many people cant access the system because its antiquated systems crash. You know were now projected unemployment rates 2530 percent by this summer so my criticism is that its almost a symbolic gesture towards a population when i mean if youve seen the pictures the breadlines now the of in the United States stretch for miles and as this situation continues and and i think because of the trump inability to handle the pandemic we are and this of course most. Infectious disease experts are now saying this we are just going to see wave after wave after wave which will not only put more strain on an inadequate for Profit Health care system but have exacerbate the economic crisis that the United States is in so if i have this right in britain you pay employers and then employers pay workers 80 percent of their wages thats not whats happened here so you have Small Business after Small Business that is now going bankrupt well not even Small Businesses major jim chains golds gym for instance or there are all already declaring bankruptcy and weve just begun so its a wholly inadequate response to the economic devastation that has been visited on the american working class and shows no sign of abating let us be the only common sale of the private to the latest the saw. Altho on the a bomb the killer medicare in the middle of a Health Crisis is at sea even by some as a misstep to fall from the trumpet miller station or will that once again play to the president s Political Base blocking entry into obamacare means they dont have any Health Insurance at all so just the callousness and the. Inability on the part of donald trump in the Republican Party to grasp whats happening i think means there will inevitably be blowback in the terms of social unrest how that will manifest itself given the configurations of American Society i dont want to predict it very well could manifest itself in a kind of extreme right wing blowback but that the system has betrayed. The working class and the working poor it was true before this pandemic were now seeing that system utterly shut its doors to people in deep distress and that will have consequences you know to what extent trumps base can be penetrated by reality i remain nav i spent 2 years writing a book on the christian right im not completely convinced that it can i think that the christian right in these groups that engage in magical thinking essential a function what in the same way that what anthropologists will call crisis call where the assault of the fact based real world is just too much. So were headed for uncharted territory and i think we must never forget that the United States is a deeply violent culture where you have huge numbers of american Citizens Armed with essentially military grade assault style weapons you know you can see them with kalashnikov sir. They are fourteens or fifteens standing on the steps of state houses in Southern States and in the last couple weeks so the dark pathologies of the United States are coming out the pandemic is bringing them out with a vengeance and and where thats going to lead i i think it would be very difficult to predict the only thing i would say is that its probably not going to lead anywhere good but the National Emergency a Health Crisis of fun precedented the proportions but you would think within that political up of china thief of the Democratic Party a to really achieve ascendancy is that i me prospect a figure like governor of collateral as as got great praise for the for his the Daily Press Conferences that is there any chance of the if figures such as that made the. To overtake the lord profile the Vice President biden well the democrats have certainly selected probably the weakest candidate they could find in joe biden theres all sorts of talk within the Democratic Party and wild scenarios running ellerey clinton with barack obama as the Vice President or drafting andrew cuomo or but i dont think the democrats know you know how that would play out you know it would it would have to be before the convention or the convention on the 2nd ballot would have to draft a can i dont know i dont think anyone knows but that the Democratic Party is concerned is clear with good reason biden is an extremely weak candidate against trump chris hedges you have no one for a quite a pessimistic and forceful analysis of the of the state of the american body politic is another thing youve seen in terms of response to this crisis at state level perhaps the give you some cause for optimism the way that it be. Love rally driving to tithe help the fellow human beings and this and this type of strength to well the state response is a varied depending on the state. So some states have not taken the pandemic seriously especially in the midwest other states new jersey i live in one of the although we have the 2nd highest death rate in the country. And new york state you mention Governor Cuomo have. Of course some in the heroism of the front line workers and not just the medical workers but the food service and all of those people actually keep a society functioning has been impressive what has been distressing is the inability on the part of the government to ensure their safety and the fact that they have a sustainable wage there is heavy pressure on the part of corporations and the oligarchy can lease to put human life on the altar of profit they would just rather lose more citizens and in fact more citizens than see this economic devastation continue so the response of the United States unlike Great Britain has just its theres been no coordination and thats part of the problem so if you have a state like new jersey where we are the schools are now closed for the rest of the year and there are very strict guidelines about social distancing and you have to wear a mask in public but then you have state south dakota montana mississippi everywhere else where there are georgia where theyre just opening for business then youre just in essence creating new clusters which means that this thing will be with us the spend demick will be with us for months and months and months with all of the attendant problems that come with it chris hedges from new jersey thank you very much indeed thank you. In this week of the 75th anniversary of victory in europe day its hardly surprising that the Coronavirus Crisis is often depicted in wartime terms on that basis Neither Administration in london or in washington is having a good war initial plaudits for the Johnson Administration are now but a fading memory as the u. K. Government comes on the ever greater scrutiny for its handling of the crisis meanwhile the heat has such a fever pitch in washington the president from has actually threatened to abandon his daily briefings as a result of press hostility in reality it is neither of the u. K. Governments faltering performance nor the american president s occasionally bizarre briefings that are responsible for the mounting chorus of criticism and the press sharpening their knives what really matters is the monckton toll of the dead and the dying with both the United States and the United Kingdom vying with each other to be the worst performer and International Terms there is no doubt the International Comparisons look bad for both governments now both countries to some degree are engaged in loosening the law dont restrictions to fight having in place a fully developed system for testing for tracing for isolating for both administrations this represents a massive gamble it is not just the reputation of governments but the reputation of entire countries that are likely to be governed by the performance during this Global Crisis for both the United States and the United Kingdom right no the transit line takes special relationship looks like one of failure so for me and the rest of the team its good bye for now i stay safe and well see you next week. Long enough to reach. Some degree and you have a lot of people where you can keep barry im a good member i think at least. You could probably. Body in the street in the birth week that was really the beach. Business which. Was that of a mean you. Reach a goal ask yourself how are you going to survive how are you going to protect yourself a little bit feel cools off your focus go up or the flu than your block of quality through in a field or 2 to look you in the court a lot of the little store. Where you go to is a. Gizmo its using technology where theyve been able to name x. Peoples private information on a cell phones and see what youve seen if you have crossed paths with somebody who is positive and coronavirus and if you are if you have a meeting seen your message across parts of somebodys positive tease you must be in our emptiness home. But i think that there was an interesting thing is that all people around them are in the same situation. Was. It was in your back and was. Some e. U. Countries easing go put the talking up tourism for Many Companies in the sector its already too late as they warn of almost certain bankruptcy. With face masks making liberating impossible the u. K. Charity calls for better ways to help people avoid even greater isolation. And as a u. S. Senator introduces legislation to sanction china and beijing the whole speech from australia we look at all that has to do with calls for a full probe into the origins of the pandemic