Duke University Historian professor Nancy Maclean, author of the new book, democracy in chains the deep history of the radical rights stealth plan for america. Maclean also uncovers the instrumental role the late libertarian economist James Buchanan played in the Rights Campaign to eliminate unions, suppress voting, and privatize schools. Buchanan was an economist to train at the university of chicago and went on to a number of virginia institutions over the years. He won the nobel prize in 1986 for his original contributions to our understanding of political economy. It was James Buchanan who taught charles koch for capitalism to thrive, democracy must be in chains. Amy President Trump says the Environmental Protection agency will roll back and obama policy environmental policy. Pres. Trump the socalled waters of the United States rule is one of the worst examples of federal regulation and it has truly run amok. Amy this comes as the intercept reports the person trump has tapped to be the epas water safety official is a former lobbyist with deep ties to a fossil fuel Advocacy Group that promotes the Dakota Access pipeline and offshore drilling. We will speak with Investigative Reporter lee fang. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Republican leaders scrambled wednesday to rescue a senate plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care act after at least republican senators nine said they could not support their partys bill. Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell said he hoped to finish a revised bill by friday and would submit it to the Congressional Budget Office for review ahead of plans to take up the measure after a weeklong recess for the fourth of july. Mcconnell abandoned a push for a vote this week after some republicans balked over the cbos finding that the senate bill would cause 22 million americans to lose their Health Insurance over the next decade. At the white house, President Trump predicted the senate would still pass a repeal of obamacare. Pres. Trump health care is working along very well. We could have a big surprise with a Great Health Care package. Any big surprises . Pres. Trump it is going to be great. Amy meanwhile, on capitol hill, demonstrators flooded the offices of several republican senators wednesday in what they called a last stand to prevent a repeal of the Affordable Care act. At a sitin protest at the offices of pennsylvanias dan toomey, protesters chanted, kill the bill, dont kill me. Similar protests targeted senators tom cotton of arkansas, marco rubio of florida, rob portman of ohio, and cory gardner of colorado. Meanwhile, constituents of Lisa Murkowski flooded the alaskan Senators Office urging her to vote no on the republican healthcare bill. They were met by murkowskis aide, kevin sweeney. Senator murkowski is very deliberate. Senator murkowski she has shown us in the past she wants to do what is right for alaska, but she needs to know exactly what it is that she is doing. She wants to know what the impact is going to be on alaska. It is going to kill people. It is not hard to figure out. This bill has actuaries attached to it that show the only way these numbers come about to the cbo is if people die early. Amy arrested 40 people on during wednesdays protests, Police Arrested 40 people on misdemeanor charges of unlawful crowding, obstructing, or incommoding. President trumps ban on refugees and travelers from six muslimmajority countries will partially take effect this evening after the Supreme Court said it will examine the constitutionality of the order. The ruling will affect some travelers from libya, iran, somalia, sudan, syria, and yemen. Beginning at 8 00 p. M. Eastern time, foreign nationals from those countries who cant show a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States will be barred from entering the country. The ban is set to last for 90 days, meaning it will expire ahead of an expected ruling from the Supreme Court in october. In afghanistan, leaders of nato say the military alliance will send more troops to you work with u. S. Backed Afghan Security forces, extending the longest war in u. S. History. Nato secretarygeneral Jens Stoltenberg said thursday 15 nations will contribute to the increase, though he did not say how many additional troops nato members would send. U. S. Military leaders have asked for an additional 3000 the 5000 troops after president gave the pentagon authority to set troop levels. Back on capitol hill, antitorture protesters interrupted a senate panel wednesday as it heard testimony from the Trump Administrations pick to become the transportation departments top lawyer. The protests came during a confirmation hearing for steven bradbury, who formerly served in the justice Departments Office of legal counsel. In 2005, bradbury authored memos justifying the bush administrations use of torture in interrogations. This is democratic senator Tammy Duckworth questioning bradbury. And architect for detainee abuse in the form of waterboarding and other forms of torture, in my opinion, that alone should disqualify you for future Government Service posted and while youre nominated to serve as dot and not as justice, your willingness to aid and abet torture demonstrates a failure of moral and professional character that makes you dangerous regardless of which agency you serve in. Amy steven bradburys confirmation hearing came as the u. N. High commissioner for human rights blasted what he called President Trumps persistent flirtation with torture. Zeid raad alhussein said the president of the United States of america has said that torture could be necessary in certain circumstances. There is no longer any pretense. They are breaking longheld taboos. The dangers to the entire system of International Law are therefore very real. In media news, three reporters with cnn resigned this week after their network retracted a report alleging a senior trump adviser is under investigation by congress. Cnns story cited a single anonymous source who alleged the Senate Intelligence committee was investigating whether the adviser, anthony scaramucci, met with the chief executive of a Russian Investment Fund ahead of Donald Trumps inauguration, and whether the pair discussed u. S. Sanctions against russia. The retraction prompted a twitter rant from President Trump, who tweeted so they caught fake news cnn cold, but what about nbc, cbs abc . What about the failing New York TimesWashington Post . They are all fake news meanwhile, the Washington Post reports the Trump Organization publicly posted framed copies of a fake Time Magazine cover lauding donald trump at least five trump properties. The phony time cover features a portrait of trump next to the headlines, the apprentice is a television smash and trump is hitting on all frontseven tv Time Magazine has asked the president to remove these fake covers from his properties. The head of the Environmental Protection agency met privately with dow chemicals ceo ahead of an epa decision to allow the use of a pesticide that has sickened farm workers and is known to cause brain damage in children. The Associated Press reports epa chief scott pruitt met for about half an hour with dow ceo Andrew Liveris at a hotel in houston, texas, on march 9. 20 days later pruitts agency , unexpectedly reversed course and approved use of the pesticide, which is manufactured by dow. Meanwhile, the epa has announced new plans to roll back an Obama Administration policy that environmentalists say will remove Drinking Water safeguards for one in three americans and threaten wetlands and thousands of streams that flow into larger rivers and lakes. The 2015 regulation determined more than half of the countrys waterways are covered under the clean water act. In a statement tuesday, epa chief scott pruitt announced plans to rescind the rule and launch a review of which water bodies will fall under federal protection. Meanwhile, the intercept reports that the person trump has appointed to head the epa agency in charge of water safety is a former lobbyist with deep ties to a fossil fuel Advocacy Group that promotes the Dakota Access pipeline and controversial offshore drilling efforts. Dennis lee forsgren will help oversee the epas office of water, which implements the landmark clean water and safe Drinking Water acts that were passed in the early 1970s. This includes studying the toxic effects of fracking on groundwater safety, the downstream consequences of industrial pollutants, and the Environmental Impact of oil spills. We will have more on this story later in the broadcast. Libya, rescue workers recovered the bodies of five migrants wednesday who drowned in the mediterranean as they attempted their trip to europe. The bodies were found as libyas coast guard said it picked up some 5000 migrants at sea. Meanwhile, the italian navy brought hundreds of migrants to shore after, including and if it who died of heat related causes shortly after he and his mother were rescued. International organization for migration sent some 11,000 migrants have been pulled from unsafe and overcrowded boats. This week alone. In mexico city, journalists and their supporters rallied wednesday outside the National Palace to call on the government to take action to end a spate of attacks on media workers. The protest came as the committee to protect journalists said mexico is the worlds deadliest country for reporters so far in 2017. This is mexican investigative reported alvaro delgado. Committee to protect journalists there is a serious crisis of violence against journalists. It is not new, but even in recent years. It is in the context of the violence that exists in the country, but to a large extent, the crisis is worsened by the disdainful and often complicity conduct by the government of mexico. Amy the protest came after body of journalist salvador adame was discovered in the state of michoacan more than a month after he was kidnapped. Adame is at least the seventh journalist to be killed in mexico this year. Back in the United States, a court in georgia has set in october 23 court date for u. S. Intelligence contractor reality lee winner who has pleaded not guilty unlinking documents claiming russian intelligence conducted a cyber attack on at least one u. S. Voting Software Company just days before last novembers election. Has been an ideal and is being held in jail in making county, georgia. In lincoln county, georgia. In minnesota, the city of st. Anthony will pay nearly 3 million to the family of Philando Castile to settle a wrongful death lawsuit less than two weeks after officer Jeronimo Yanez was acquitted on manslaughter charges for killing castile during a traffic stop last year. A family lawyer said the settlement will help benefit the Philando Castile relief foundation, set up to help victims of gun violence and to provide relief for the grieving. The settlement follows a similar deal struck last week in ferguson, missouri, between the city of ferguson and the parents of Michael Brown over the killing of their son by white Police OfficerDarren Wilson in 2014. In the netherlands, the widows of nine men who were hanged by nigerias military government in 1995 have filed suit against shell oil in a dutch court, charging the company with complicity in the depths. Among those hangs was kin sa rrawiwa. Despite Widespread International protests, he was hanged under the nigerian dictatorship after a sham trial along with eight other activists. In little rock, arkansas, a driver plowed into a monument to the Ten Commandments on wednesday, destroying the religious display less than a day after state officials erected it on the grounds of the state capitol. A video posted to facebook showed the moment the monument was destroyed. Oh, my goodness. Freedom amy the driver, michael t. Reed, was arrested on felony charges. Reed is accused of a similar act in 2014 that destroyed a public monument to the Ten Commandments in oklahoma. Arkansas officials have vowed to rebuild their states monument, even though the American Civil Liberties union has promised to challenge the display as a violation of the first amendments establishment clause. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Nermeen and i am nermeen shaikh. Welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. As Senate Majority leaders mitch as senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell attempts to revive a bill to overturn obamacare, we look today at the radical rights attempt to reshape the role of the federal government from health care to education to housing. While the Congressional Budget Office predicted 22 million would Lose Health Insurance as a result of the senate bill, some forces in the Republican Party, including the billionaire Koch Brothers, felt the bill did not go far enough. This comes as the Koch Brothers recently announced plans to spend between 300 million and 400 million in the 2018 midterm elections. During a retreat last week charles koch said we are more optimistic now about what we can accomplish than we have ever been. Amy well, as the Koch Brothers gear up for 2018, we turn now to look at the ideological roots that have reshaped the Republican Party in recent decades. A new book by the historian Nancy Maclean uncovers the instrumental role the late libertarian economist James Buchanan played in the Rights Campaign to eliminate unions, suppress voting, privatize schools, and curb democratic majority rule. Her book is titled democracy in chains the deep history of the radical rights stealth plan for america. Maclean welcome to democracy now it is great to have you with us. Lets start with todays headline. The health care bill. Deeply unpopular. Lets look quickly at the polls across the board. Yet the quinnipiac poll that says 16 of people in this country approved republican plan. You have the usa today poll, only 12 . You another one, 17 . And yet the republicans are attempting to revive it and push it through once again. Democracy in chains, you lay out the deep history of the radical rights plan for america. Talk about this is an example of what you have found. Yes. I had never encountered James Buchanan before i started the research that ultimately became this book. What i learned in the course of that research is at this economist who is trained at the university of chicago, who is frida, the same group as he went a distinctive way. Shes the economic tools he got at the university of chicago told that politics in a new way and produced the maliki the desk ultimately the cynicism that was see all around us today and that Donald Trumps candidacy and rhetoric embodies. In the Health Care Debate, what we see is that buchanan gave the advice to others on the right and to his corporate funders and donors and the people he talked to that for capitalism of the kind they wanted to thrive, democracy must be in chains, must be in effect shackled because it would take too much from people of great wealth and that would be a problem for them. So we see this being played out i