"Biden is not going to give universal healthcare, student debt forgiveness, an end to war or police violence. In fact, he has made clear he will expand both the police and military," Jared A Ball, a professor of communication studies at Morgan State University, told Mehr News Agency in an exclusive interview.
Here is the full text of the interview regarding the policies of the Biden administration:
With the Trump tenure coming to an end, how do you predict the effects of Trump's legacy - such as unilateralism - on global political equations in the future?
Trump’s legacy will largely be of his ability to cleanse and rebrand the routine function of neoliberal politics and undeserved legitimacy of mainstream US media. To the former point, Biden’s election is already seen by so many as an advance, meanwhile, he has returned so many of the Clinton and Obama cabinet machinery and already mobilized the US military back into Syria. The mechanism of empire is turned right back on while we are encouraged through theatrics, performance, and empty speeches to look the other way. To my second point, the mainstream press in the US which has fed its audiences a steady diet of baseless conspiracy theories led most recently by “Russiagate” continues to blame Putin for all that is wrong in this country and Trump as the cause rather than result of existing flaws in the economic and political systems here.
Some observers believe that Joe Biden will continue some of Trump's approaches to gain privileges from other countries. What is your take on this?
This does not require speculation. Already Biden mobilized the US military in Iraq and Syria, and has elevated Anthony Blinken to Secretary of State who, as one example, has made clear his intentions to expand US presence globally as a means of assuring peace. Blinken, another hold over from Obama and Clinton administrations, along with Biden of course, was present and supportive of all the military expansion of both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama and has already made clear his intent to promote more of the same. Oddly, Trump started no new wars and bombed far fewer people than did his predecessors, including Obama, Bush, and Clinton – all three of whom have come together and been projected as rationale leadership now that Trump has been used to create another false standard or marker of ineptitude.
How do you see the role of Trump in creating a drift in American society? Do you think Biden can mend this gap? And what will be the effects of this division?
Trump made room for existing problems with long, old roots to become more prominent. Biden will not mend any gaps because he, his party, his class, have helped create, maintain, and continue to benefit from these gaps. Biden is not going to give universal healthcare, student debt forgiveness, an end to war or police violence. In fact, he has made clear he will expand both the police and military.
Can the Biden administration improve the situation around racial discrimination in the US? And is there basically any difference between Democrats and Republicans on issues related to racism?
No. Biden is Mr. Crime Bill and Harris is Ms. Top Cop. Every issue facing representatives of the world’s majority (so-called “people of color,” women, and the poor) will worsen during Biden’s administration as he has made clear via his cabinet appointments, pre-election promises of increasing the police and military budgets, and his claims to Wall Street that nothing will change. All he has done is add diversity to the inhumane policies he, his party, and their donors will continue or expand.
Jared A. Ball is a father and husband. After that, he is a Professor of Communication and Africana Studies at Morgan State University in Baltimore, MD. and is founder/curator of imixwhatilike.org a multimedia hub of emancipatory journalism and revolutionary beat reporting. Ball is also author of The Myth and Propaganda of Black Buying Power (Palgrave, 2020).
Interview by Mohammad Ali Haqshenas